This book is about Gnostic prayrs, hymns and other material from the beginnings of Christianity, The authors were branded heretics and thrown out of the church. However, many documents of Gnostic spirituality have survived and have become more accessible especially since the spectacular discoveries at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. At the centre of Gnostic spirituality stands the question of what it is to be human: 'Who were we? What have we become? Where were we? Into what have we been thrown? Whither are we hatening? What are we freed from> What is birth? What is rebirth>' These key questions can be taken as a programme of the religious feelings of Gnosticism. Here they are illustratd y texts which, perhaps een more than contemporary material from the mainstream church, convey the feeling and the imagination of believers from a long time past. They give a lively impression of how Gnostics fely about the world, and with their shimmering images and poetic symbols attest their unique religious creativity. Gerd Luedemann is Professor of New Testament and Director of the Institute of Early Christian Studies at the University of Goettingen. Matina Janssen was his academic assistant.
