Marvin Meyer était un érudit des religions dont l'œuvre a éclairé les anciennes religions à mystères, la magie chrétienne primitive et les textes gnostiques. Il est surtout connu pour ses traductions faisant autorité de documents essentiels tels que l'Évangile de Thomas et l'Évangile de Judas. L'érudition de Meyer explore en profondeur les courants spirituels et philosophiques complexes du monde antique, rendant ces textes fondamentaux accessibles. Ses recherches offrent des aperçus profonds sur la pensée et les pratiques religieuses primitives.
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, edited by Marvin Meyer, is the most complete, up-to-date, one-volume, English-language edition of the renowned library of Gnostic manuscripts discovered in Egypt in 1945, which rivaled the Dead Sea Scrolls find in significance. It includes the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, and the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, as well as other Gnostic gospels and sacred texts. This volume also includes introductory essays, notes, tables, glossary, index, etc. to help the reader understand the context and contemporary significance of these texts which have shed new light on early Christianity and ancient thought. The compilation of ancient manuscripts that constitute The Nag Hammadi Scriptures is a discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about the early Christian church, ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman religions.
The Gospels of the Marginalized provides an exciting new study of three of the most maligned figures in the New Testament story of Jesus: Thomas, usually considered the quintessential doubter among the disciples; Mary Magdalene, characterized as a repentant prostitute during much of the history of the church; and Judas Iscariot, presented as the despicable disciple of Jesus who betrayed his master for money. In this book Marvin Meyer, one of the most prominent of the scholars of gnostic texts and other early Christian literature, offers fresh and accurate translations of the Gospels of Thomas, Mary, and Judas, with their proclamation of the good news of the wisdom of Jesus, and he uses these gospels as the occasion to reexamine the place of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, and Judas Iscariot in the Jesus movement. His striking analysis suggests that Thomas was no doubter, that Mary Magdalene was a beloved disciple in the inner circles of disciples around Jesus, and that the tale of Judas Iscariot as betrayer of Jesus is a piece of fiction. Meyer adds a "Gospel of the Redeemed" as a vivid illustration of how the gospel story of Jesus might read with Jesus as a Jewish teacher of wisdom and Thomas, Mary, and Judas restored as loyal followers of the teacher from Nazareth.
Focusing on the translation and interpretation of the Gospel of Judas, this work presents an updated version enriched with new text fragments and insights from recent scholarship. The author, a key member of the team that first published the Gospel, shares personal experiences from the original research process and explores the broader literary context surrounding Judas Iscariot. This comprehensive commentary aims to reshape readers' understanding of Judas's role in the narrative of Jesus's passion, inviting deeper discussions on the implications of the text.
The people we’ve come to call gnostics were passionate advocates of the view that salvation comes through knowledge and personal experience, and their passion shines through in the remarkable body of writings they produced over a period of more than a millennium and a half. Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer have created a translation that brings the gnostic voices to us from across the centuries with remarkable power and beauty—beginning with texts from the earliest years of Christianity—including material from the Nag Hammadi library—and continuing all the way up to expressions of gnostic wisdom found within Islam and in the Cathar movement of the Middle Ages. The twenty-one texts included here serve as a compact introduction to Gnosticism and its principal ideas—and they also provide an entrée to the pleasures of gnostic literature in general, representing, as they do, the greatest masterpieces of that tradition.
The Gospel of Judas: On a Night with Judas Iscariot presents a fresh
translation of the Gospel of Judas, with introduction, commentary, and notes.
Originally published with considerable international fanfare in 2006, the
Gospel of Judas has prompted a vibrant discussion among scholars and other
interested readers about the meaning of the text and the place of Judas
Iscariot in the story of Jesus and the history of the church. Meyer, a member
of the original research team assembled by the National Geographic Society to
edit, translate, and publish the Gospel of Judas and the remaining texts in
what is now called Codex Tchacos, here offers an up-to-date and thoroughly
accessible translation of the Gospel of Judas, expanded with new fragments of
the text and informed by the latest scholarship. He adds reminiscences of the
work on the Coptic text when it first was coming to light in 2005 and 2006.
This book also includes reflections on the extensive literature, beyond the
Gospel of Judas, on the figure of Judas Iscariot, with suggestions for a
literary interpretation of Judas--an interpretation that may have a dramatic
impact upon our understanding of the role of Judas Iscariot in the story of
Jesus's passion. Endorsements: Marvin Meyer can justly be considered the
premier translator of ancient Gnostic writings in North America and one of the
world's leading experts on the Gospel of Judas. Now he provides a vivid and
compelling translation of this most important text along with an insightful
introduction and copious notes. Most intriguing of all, he narrates a
theatrical engagement with issues that emerge from recent reflections on the
world's most infamous and intriguing 'villain, ' Judas Iscariot. This is
intense scholarship and creative imagination at the highest level. -Bart D.
Ehrman University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Marvin Meyer has a track
record of a series of serious academic publications that are both readable and
reliable, which distinguished tradition The Gospel of Judas continues on the
same high plane. -James M. Robinson Claremont Graduate University Beginning
with the Nag Hammadi library, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Gospel of Judas,
we have a trinity of essential holy scriptures that radically enrich and alter
our knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. Now with his
definitive version of Judas and its latest fragments, Marvin Meyer bequeaths
the world a benevolent Judas. Meyer provides a crisp literary translation and
introduction to the fully annotated Judas text--as well as a surprise: 'A
Night with Judas Iscariot.' In his profoundly funny and thoughtful mystery
play, Judas stars as the redemptive figure. Hurrah for this revolutionary book
with its poetic enlightenment! -Willis Barnstone author of The Restored New
Testament and The Other Bible Author Biography: Marvin W. Meyer is Griset
Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University and Director of
the Chapman University Albert Schweitzer Institute. He is the author of
numerous books and articles on Greco-Roman and Christian religions in
antiquity and late antiquity, and on Albert Schweitzer's ethic of reverence
for life. Among his recent books are Judas: The Definitive Collection of
Gospels and Legends about the Infamous Apostle of Jesus (2007), The Gnostic
Discoveries (2005), and The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus (2005), and he has edited
or co-edited Essential Gnostic Scriptures (2010), The Nag Hammadi Scriptures:
The International Edition (2007), and The Gospel of Judas (2006).
A collection of Gnostic texts spanning centuries, geographical locations, and cultural traditions—“a wonderful achievement” (Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels) Gnosticism was a wide-ranging religious movement of the first millennium CE—with earlier antecedents and later flourishings—whose adherents sought salvation through knowledge and personal religious experience. Gnostic writings offer striking perspectives on both early Christian and non-Christian thought. For example, some gnostic texts suggest that god should be celebrated as both mother and father, and that self-knowledge is the supreme path to the divine. Only in the past fifty years has it become clear how far the gnostic influence spread in ancient and medieval religions—and what a marvelous body of scriptures it produced. The selections gathered here in poetic, readable translation represent Jewish, Christian, Hermetic, Mandaean, Manichaean, Islamic, and Cathar expressions of gnostic spirituality. Their regions of origin include Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, China, and France. Also included are introductions, notes, an extensive glossary, and a wealth of suggestions for further reading.
The book presents an extensive collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, compiling over 1,500 versions of 500 quotations from the New Testament and other ancient texts, including the Gospel of Thomas. Marvin Meyer enriches this collection by adding 200 additional epigrams and parables sourced from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. The inclusion of an insightful introduction and annotations offers context and perspective, enhancing the reader's understanding of these profound teachings.
