During the years of the writing, I’ve been acutely aware of how fortunate I am to be teaching at Princeton University, with colleagues whose great capacity for collegiality and friendship I deeply appreciate, from those in our subfield—Martha Himmelfarb, Anne Marie Luijendijk, Moulie Vidas, and Laura Quick—as well as many others, including Leora Batnitsky, Wallace Best, Judith Weisenfeld, and Jonathan Gold. Thanks to Jeffrey Guest, for countless “saves” from disastrous computer meltdowns; and to Mary Kay Bodnar, Kerry Smith, and Lorraine Furhmann, for everything they do every day for all of us, with such a generous spirit. Special thanks to Richard Trenner, for the time and artistry he took to help find the right jacket photograph; and to Barbara Conviser, friend and artist, who took the photograph of me now on the jacket, and generously gave permission for me to use it.
I owe special thanks, too, to my dear friend the late James Cone, who read all the drafts, suggested changes that much improved some chapters, and talked with me about this book and his, as this book emerged simultaneously with his most recent book Said I Wasn’t Going to Tell Nobody. And I’m grateful to Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary, for her great generosity to him, and also for her hospitality; and to Professor Kelly Brown, whose clear, calm, incisive, and generous presence helped steady all of us, including his sons, Charles and Michael; and his daughter-in-law, Janie; and his daughters, Robyn and Krystal, as we walked together, so far as possible, through the great loss of their remarkable and loving father.
Finally, I am grateful to those whose presence and encouragement, in ways known to each of them, have helped see me through these years, and mention in particular Elizabeth Diggs and Emily McCully, Catherine Mauger, Emily Mann and Gary Mailman; Jane Shapiro, Sandie Berman, Jeanne Carter, Idamae Trenner, Barbara Conviser; Judith Schramm, John Pollock, David Stout, Michael and Elena Wood, and Marvina White; to fellow members of “Margot’s group,” for the joy of our sustained friendship and shared meditation; and to Paul and Christina Jeanes, and their wonderful family, including Sophie, John Paul, Luke, Leslie, and Maria.
I owe most personal thanks to Kent Greenawalt for our ongoing close relationship, and to Andrei, Sasha, and Robert Greenawalt; to my daughter, Sarah, and her children, and her partner, Mark Toussaint; to my son David, and his extended family, including Len and Danielle Strickman; and to April, Jake, and Grace Harris.
Notes
CHAPTER 1: WHY RELIGION?
According to saying 70: Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2), saying 70.
The anonymous author: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 18:29–31.
To stanch the flow: Irenaeus, Against Heresies, III.11.9.
They even put forth: Ibid., III.15.2, and Preface.
Mark’s gospel says: Mark 4:10–12.
Even today, you can find: See, for example, the commentary by conservative scholar Simon Gathercole, The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishing, 2014).
Nearly two hundred: Athanasius, Pascal Letter, 39.
What I love: Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2), saying 25. In these and other citations from the Gospel of Thomas, the translation is the one that Marvin Meyer and I did together, published in Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (New York: Random House, 2004).
“Knock upon yourself”: The Teachings of Silvanus (NHC VII,4), 106:30–35.
While urging us: Gospel of Thomas (NHC II, 2), saying 2.
And when asking: Ibid., saying 5.
CHAPTER 2: LOVE AND WORK
Terrified, John says: The Apocryphon (“Secret Revelation”) of John (NHC II,1), 2:9–14.
Furthermore, nearly two thousand: Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I.21.3.
Becoming arrogant in spirit: Ibid., I.30.6. Note how sources found at Nag Hammadi confirm his account; see, for example, The Hypostasis of the Archons (a.k.a. The Reality of the Rulers) (NHC II,4), 94:19–26, and On the Origin of the World (NHC II,5), 103:3–18. For a fuller discussion, see Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Random House, 1979), chapter 3: “God the Father, God the Mother.”
Two thousand women: The Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1) 20:9–21:1.
Certain rabbis, playing: The Midrash Rabbah, Genesis XX.10.
So, this author: Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3), 47:28–48:1.
Some versions of this story: Genesis 3:16.
These heretical women: Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, in: The Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A. D. 325, Volume 3, eds. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1866–72).
Now that the people: Professor Raymond Brown, a prominent scholar of New Testament, called them that in his negative review of my book The Gnostic Gospels on the front page of the New York Times Book Review, “The Christians Who Lost Out” (January 20, 1980).
There, too, we met: Francis Deng, Dinka Folktales: African Stories from the Sudan (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1984).
The first story: Genesis 1:28.
I do not allow: 1 Timothy 2:12–1.
“You are the devil’s”: Tertullian, On Women’s Clothes, 1.12, in: The Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A. D. 325, Volume 4, eds. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1866–72).
Are we to believe: Genesis 3:8.
The anonymous author: Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3), 49:8.
Others read the story: The Apocryphon of John; for discussion, see Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity (New York: Random House, 1988), 65–68.
CHAPTER 4: GOING ON
Only decades later: Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System,” in: The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (Fontana Press, 1993), 87–125.
Biblical stories often suggest: 2 Kings 2:23–25.
When popularizing the teaching: Lucretius, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), V.110–112.
Like Lucretius, Freud: See, for example, Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989).
CHAPTER 6: LIFE AFTER DEATH
“Although grief therapists”: Renato Rosaldo, “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage,” in Culture and Truth: The Remaking of Social Analysis (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989), 10.
Only this, his informants: Ibid., 11.
Finding her body: Ibid., 9.
At the time he wrote: Ibid., 11.
When Cain’s anger boils: Genesis 4:6–7.
The Bible’s Exodus stories: Exodus 15:7.
Summoning the Levites: Ibid., 15:27.
Then he announces: Ibid., 32:7–29.
But he ends: 2 Samuel 24:1–16.
But as the angel: 1 Chronicles 21:1–14.
While mourning his dead: Job 1:1–22.
The Book of Job ends: Ibid., 42:7b–17.
But as the third: Ibid., 3:1–25.
But when he fails: Ibid., 16:7–9; 9:24.
Now Job confronts: Ibid., 38:1–7; 40:15–41:22.
We need to stop: Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 77.
Reading a book: Jeffrey Burton Russell, The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1970), 3.
Anyone entering this: IQS, Serekh ha-Yadah (Community Rule), 1.
As Mark tells it: Mark 15:1–15.
Everything we know: For details and discussion, see Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan (New York: Random House, 1995), 10, 29–33.
Mark’s successors added: Matthew 27:25.
And John’s gospel: John 8:44.
“Christian prejudices against”: T. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 252: “Constantine translated Christian prejudice against the Jews into legal disabilities.”
Throughout two thousand: For discussion, see Jessica Stern, Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill (New York: Ecco, 2004).
; CHAPTER 7: WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL
The biblical story: Genesis 19:4.
Another Bible story: 2 Samuel 11:26–12:19.
Now I was living: See David Remnick’s article “The Devil Problem,” from the profile he wrote about these events and the research that came from them, in a book of his collected essays, The Devil Problem and Other True Stories (New York: Vintage, 1996).
In the original: Mark 15:14–17.
This version ends: Ibid., 16:8.
This second ending: Ibid., 16:9–20.
Then Luke adds: Luke 24:1–35.
Like Mark’s second ending: Ibid., 24:36–53.
In Matthew’s final scene: Matthew 28:1–20.
And how could hope: Mark 13:19.
Luke says that: Luke 10:18.
He says, for example: Mark 14:23–25.
Jesus declares: Ibid., 14:60–62.
I recalled lines: Wallace Stevens, “The Well Dressed Man with a Beard,” first published in Parts of a World (1942), in: Collected Poetry and Prose of Wallace Stevens, eds. J. Richardson and F. Kermode (New York: Library of America, 1997), 224.
“Jesus says”: Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2), saying 3. Note that these, and others cited, are my translation.
Although we’re often unaware: Ibid., saying 24.
Instead, as one saying: Ibid., saying 5.
The poem called Thunder, Complete Mind: While translators most often render the title of this poem as Thunder, Perfect Mind, I have translated the Greek term telios more accurately as “complete”—a mind capable of embracing paradox.
“I am the first”: Thunder, Complete Mind (NHC V,2), 13:5–19:34.
One scholar, noting allusions: Bentley Layton, “The Riddle of the Thunder,” Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity, ed. C. Hedrick (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986), 37–54.
Finding new courage: Zostrianos (NHC VIII), 1, 1:24–4:13.
Here a spiritual teacher: Allogenes (NHC XI,3), 52:15; 56:16–20.
Then, he says: Ibid., 52:9–12.
CHAPTER 8: LISTENING TO THUNDER
Another revelation: The Secret Revelation of John (NHC II,1), 2:9–14.
To simplify such questions: For an example of such denunciations, see Irenaeus, Against Heresies, V.26.
Writing his famous prescription: Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, 10.
When such Christians: Ibid., 13.
Long before that: For discussion of Augustine’s view of “original sin,” see Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, chapter 5.
Evangelicals at Peninsula Bible Church: This phrase actually comes from the author of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews, 9:22, when referring to ancient Israel’s sacrificial practice (see Leviticus 17:1–15).
“God so loved the world”: Gospel of John 3:16.
“Christ died for our sins”: 1 Corinthians 15:3–8.
Although he’d never met: Galatians 1:8–9.
Disagreeing, they’d split: 1 Corinthians 1:12.
Determined to stop: Ibid., 3:1–2.
Instead, he says: Ibid., 2:1–2
For Paul says: Ibid., 1:21.
“We do teach wisdom”: Ibid., 2:6–8.
Only those whom: Ibid., 2:9–13.
“the deep things of God”: Ibid., 2:10.
“the mature”: Ibid., 2:6.
“You’re not that”: Ibid., 2:2.
He begins with: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 1:16–18.
“in the beginning”: Genesis 1:1.
Often they looked: Ibid., 1:2.
“a wind (or spirit, ruah)”: Ibid., 1:2.
“When he marked”: Proverbs 8:22–31.
“I am the thought”: Thunder, Complete Mind (NHC VI,2, VI,13–21,32); note that what’s quoted here are only excerpts.
But certain rabbis: Perhaps most famously articulated, for example, in Mishnah Hagigah 2:1.
When Paul and his followers: See, for example, 1 Corinthians 2:6; Colossians 1:10–17.
Overwhelmed by grief: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 17:4–36.
When the Father sees: Ibid., 18:16; 24:1–9.
Thus the author suggests: Ibid., 18:24–31.
Instead of seeing suffering: Colossians 1:27.
“the mystery of Christ”: Ibid., 1:27.
So rather than see: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 19:34–35.
“O such great teaching!”: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 20:23–31.
But what we can know: Acts 18:28.
“So, the speaker concludes”: Gospel of Truth (NHC I,3), 26:19–20.
Those who lack: Ibid., 28:16–29:25.
“Speak the truth”: Ibid., 32:31–33:8.
James defines religion: William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: Penguin Classics, 1985), 35.
Suddenly revealing himself: The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1), 11:18–26.
Index
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Abreu, José Antonio, 209, 210
Acute stress reaction, 118, 167
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (Pagels), 108, 143
Adam and Eve, 42, 44, 52–57, 100–101, 143–44
Adoptions, 82–85, 105, 132
Afghanistan, 185
Afterlife, 137–38
Alcohol, 63, 122
Alcoholics Anonymous, 63–64, 205
Allogenes, 181–82, 190, 206, 207
America (journal), 48
American Academy of Sciences, 128
American Civil War, 188
American Museum of Natural History (New York City), 38, 85, 135, 154
Amos, 101
Anger, 4–5, 96, 120, 138, 141–48
“Angry at God,” 116–17, 138–39, 141, 145–46
Anti-Judaism, 158–59, 160–61
Anti-Semitism, 127–28, 158–59
Anti-Vietnam war protests, 17
Aphrodite, 150
Apocryphon of John, 42, 44, 190–91
Apollo, 150
Asclepius, 102, 207
Aspen Center for Physics, 62, 71, 72, 96, 107, 108, 109, 116
Aspen Music Festival, 96, 97
Athanasius, 31, 161
Augustine, 108, 161, 194
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 8, 39, 65, 66
Balinese Cremation Ceremony, 95
Barnard College, 41–42, 70, 166
Barnard Women’s Conference, 43–46, 48, 49
Bathsheba, 167
Belief
origins of Christianity and, 32–33
“What do you believe?”, xiii–xiv
Benton, Katie, 111, 112, 118
Benton, Tom, 111, 112–13
Bernstein, Jeremy, 139
Bin Laden, Osama, 185
Bisexuality, 48–49, 52
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 173
Bonner, Yelena, 125, 128
Boogaert, Harry, 5, 6–7, 21, 35
Boogaert, Sophia, 6–7, 21
Book of Common Prayer, 39
Book of Exodus, 144
Book of Genesis, 45, 52, 53, 54, 56, 143, 156, 198–99
Book of Job, 147, 148–51, 156, 168
Book of Jubilees, 157
Book of Proverbs, 198–99
Book of Revelation, 186–90
“Born again,” 2, 15
Boston Marathon, 210
Boyle, Joseph, 117–18, 141, 153
Brandeis University, 18
Brigham Young University, 11
Brown, Raymond, 47
Buddha (Buddhism), 19, 151, 166–67, 204, 206
Bush, George W., 185–86
Byrd, William, 26
“Cafeteria Christianity,” 31
Cain and Abel, 143
Calvin, John, 194
Camarillo State Mental Hospital, 10–12
Camp Lejeune, 17
Candlestick Park (San Francisco), 1
Cardiac catheter
ization, 74–75
Celsus, 171–72
Center for Physics, 62, 71, 72, 96, 107, 108, 109, 116
Central Park, 73–74, 77, 82, 135
Chadwick, Henry, 47–48
Childbirth, 60–61
Church of the Ascension (Boston), 26
Church of the Heavenly Rest (New York City), 82, 95, 134–35, 193
Church of the Resurrection (New York City), 39
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), 126
Claremont University, 23
Clukas, Lowell, 8–9
Colossians, 201–2
Columbia University, 18, 41–42
Consciousness, 40
Constantine, 33, 160
Contemplative prayer, 98
Coptic language, 22, 23, 41, 126, 178
Coptic Museum (Cairo), 49
Corinthians, 195, 196, 200–201
Cosmic Code, The: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature (Pagels), 46–47
Cranach, Lucas, 187
Crater Lake, 98
Creation myths, 51–57, 198–201
Crossroads Nursery School, 154–55
Crusade for Christ, 1–2, 18
Crusades, 185–87
Darwin, Charles, 11
Dash, Julie, 181
Da Silva, Jean, 61–62, 68, 70, 85, 88, 124, 132, 134–35
Davis, Alice, 110, 111, 116
Dead Sea Scrolls, 27, 155, 157
Death of Jesus, 157–61, 168–69, 173–75, 193–94
Deng, Francis, 51
Depression, 79–80
Destruction and Overthrow of Falsely So-Called Gnosis (Irenaeus), 29, 30
Dickinson, Emily, 19, 32, 178
Diggs, Elizabeth “Lizzie,” 48–49
fertility ritual, 60
Heinz’s death, 111, 114, 116, 131–32
Mark’s death, 89, 93, 98, 100, 193
Why Religion? Page 20