u/Just_Critical0

Hello everyone, now that I've finally finished all the Gnostic Texts in the nag hammadi scirptures, I felt I should create a list of what I believe should be priority to read, this is not a tier list of what is Important but more over rather a recommendation of what I believe should be read first. If you disagree I'm more then happy for you to provide your own list below, this isnt supposed to be definitive, more recommendative and informative for where to start when getting into gnosticism and what texts are from where. I'll be providing small tips of information for each though some may be a little off as I read some of the texts weeks ago and there was a lot to read so If I get anything wrong, please feel free to blast me in the comments.

This is only texts from the Nag Hammadi scriptures book I have, so not all gnostic texts may be here, feel free to put them in the commends and I may add them to the list! Hopefully this helps new comers find what they are looking for. and note, just because somethings low on the list doesnt mean you shouldnt read it. Each text will be labled with mainly Valentinian for Valentinian Gnosticism, Sethian for Sethian Gnosticism or Gnostic for Mixed.
Thank you for your time.

Highly Recommended.

• The Gospel of Truth (Valentinian): The gospel of truth is sort of the hub which the scriptures start with which sort of explains and give the reader a bit of understanding and information.
• The Tripartite Tractate (Valentinian): The TTT(I'll call it) is a Version of the creation story this also includes some of the over all cosmology of gnosticism and is sort of as i remember an expansion of the Gospel of Truth.
• The Apocryphon of John/On the Origin of the World/The Hypostasis of Archons (Sethian): This is the Sethians version of the gospel of Truth and Tripartite Tractate in short, it goes throught the cosmology and creation story but through a more Sethian lense, while you could choose one or the other, I wouldnt recommend it.
• Gospel of Thomas (Christian): The Gospel of Thomas while heavily related to gnosticism in general, actually isnt a gnostic text or well... wasnt originally intended to be one but held gnostic sounding views thus was rejected and adopted by gnostics, Its heavily recommended to read whether gnostic or just christian.
• Gospel of Mary (Valentinian): The GoM is heavily recommended to read, while i think if you read some of the other texts you wont be missing anything the Gospel of Mary says, Its still recommended.
• Gospel of Judas (Sethian): While heavily controversial and not entirely necessary to believe (you can choose whether you believe jesus asked judas to sell him out or not and so on) the cosmology which GoJ provides is pretty important in my opinion and healthy to atleast understand even if you dont agree with Judas's characters potrayal in it.
• The Sophia of Jesus Christ (Gnostic more Sethian): The Sophia of Jesus Christ is a pretty essential texts for understanding Jesus's character in gnosticism.
• The Dialogue of the Savior (Gnostic): Dialogue of the Savior is also the same as the Sophia of Jesus Christ.
• The Book of Thomas the Contender (-): The Book of Thomas gives more context and depths to Jesus in realtion to gnosticism and I recommend to read.
• Eugnstos the Blessed (Gnostic more Sethian): Expands the Sethian Philosophy and Mythology
• The First and Second Revelations of James (Gnostic): It exands more about the story of James the Just, and is in general I believe important to read.
• The Revelation of Paul (Valentinian): This gives a creative interpretation of what the soul will have to go through after death or atleast thats my interpretation of it.
• The Revelation of Adam (Sethian): I believe this examnds and talks about things that happens in The Origin of the world and The Hypostasis of Archons which is good to know if you are reading Sethian Gnosticism.
• The Letter of Peter to Philip (Sethian): Expands more about Sethian Gnosticism and the apostles and jesus.
• Three Forms of First Thought (Sethian): Heavily related to Barbelos and in general a pretty important read in my opinion.

Honerable Mentions (this is a section for texts which expand gnosticism but I can't exactly list as High recommended of Moderately recommended, so if you are looking to study or follow gnosticism, best to give them a read anyway)

• Authoritative Discourse (Gnostic): Talks about the soul and I believe how to harbour a healthy soul.
• The Concept of Great power (Gnostic): A Gnostic Apocalyptic text which seems to talk about jesus delivering knowledge and conquring the archons.
• Zostrianos (Sethian): These expand heavily on the cosmology and can be EXTREMELY confusing thus they go in honerable mentions as the contents within are very important but for more advance reading.
• The Second Discourse of Great Seth (Sethian): Really important but the reason its in this tier is that some Christians who are converting to Gnosticism may disagree/not believe it, in short it talks about the crucifixion upon some other things.
• The Apocalypse of Peter (Gnostic): The same as the second discourse of Great Seth, covers more of how the church uses Jesus's death to control upon some other things which is a good read but some may find controverial?
• Allogenes the Stranger/The Book of Allogenes (Sethian): While abstract, this text has a lot of philosophical parts to it which may be confusing to some, they are pretty easy reads so I'd recommend reading them.

Moderately Recommended (this is still an important tier but contains less direct texts of Jesus and or about Gnosticism, prayers, short texts and etc, you should still read these if you want to follow Gnosticism but if youre just researching it for other purposes, this tier may not be as important:

• Thunder, Perfect Mind (Gnostic): Gives perspective to Gnostic texts.
• Gospel of Philip (Valentinian): This may be controversial but I find the Gospel of Philip to be a bit too similar to the Gospel of Thomas while also being more of a reply to the Four Main Gospels and somewhat opinionated, many believe the gospel of philip was written not by philip but because the apostle Philip appears in the text.
• Exegesis on the Soul (Valentinian): One of my favourite texts, it changes the understanding of Sin and teaches that Sin isnt a rule of laws but something spiritual through the context of a Prostitute, personally highly recommend.
• The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (Hermetic): I believe has to do with the Heavens and about how to get to the fullness? Im sure someone can correct me if im wrong.
• The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (???): This story is really neet and I like it, it has some small gnostic influence here and there but ultimately reads more like a story from the bible then a gnostic texts, good read though.
• The Teachings of Silvanus (Non Gnostic???): Has heavy Gnostic themes but isnt directly a gnostic text.
• The Three Steles of Seth (Sethian): Expands the Aeons though seems to me more about Hymns and such then direct philosophical expansion.
• The Interpretation of Knowledge (Valentinian): Its a text gives christian themes in gnostic themes, recommended to read in general.
• Melchizedek (Sethian): Expands Sethian thought but is rather broken unforunately :(
• Valentinian Explosition with Valentinian liturgical Reading: Unforunately a good bit of this text is damaged but if you are studying Valentinian gnosticism for any reason I recommend the read as it gives good insight.

Low Recommended (This is stuff which while recommended to read, really only needs to be read if you intend a deep dive or fully study)

• The Testimony of Truth (Gnostic): A seeming opinion piece about what is right and wrong within gnosticism, it best works as a way to understand different perspectives of Gnosticism.
• The Prayer of Thanksgiving (Hermetic): Literally just a prayer, nothing crazy.
• The Pharaphrase of Shem (Gnostic): Is another version of the creation myth but in a different perspective, while if you are studying Gnosticism I'd recommend it, for people who are getting into gnosticism this could be a little repetitive as I personally felt it didnt deliver anything overly crazy new in concept.
• The Thought of Norea (Sethian): Extremely short text, which i recommend to anyone who wants to follow gnosticism to read but anyone studying it in general probably doesnt need to worry to to much.
• Marsanes (Sethian): Expands on Cosmology but also spends a long time on how to do the gnostic chants, recommend but some of it may not be of much importants to people, depends.
• Hypsiphrone (???): Literally less then a page, the contents is too broken up, some may find something within it tho!
• The Sentence of Sextus (Christian): Sort of like the Gospel of Thomas, has some gnostic themes but isnt really gnostic directly.
• Exerpt from the Perfect Discourse (Hermetic): A Hermetic text which gives a new perspective for Gnostics.
• Act of Peter (Christian): A neat story relating to Peter but not exactly relating to Gnosticism.
• Plato's Republic (Excerpt): Neat little excerpt though since its only a piece of the whole story, its probably better to read Plato's Republic as a whole.

And that is all the Texts, Thank you again for your time!

Anyone else seen “gnostic” influencers (more a specific one I’ve seen) online talk about how the gnostics believe “sin doesn’t exist” or similar sentiments?
While knowledge is essential to reach the fullness, where does the sentiment that “sin doesn’t exist” come from exactly? No where in the texts to me do I ever get the impression that sin is not important/false rather the opposite, the most I can point to in how sin is portrayed “differently” to what most associate sin as is in the ‘Exegesis of the soul’ which my interpretation is that sin isn’t more a literal thing then a spiritual and the more “dangerous” damage of sin is giving oneself to it rather then blankety committing it (which is still condemned and ill advised in the texts and even some others)
Is it just me in thinking that influencers who portray sin in Gnosticism as “unimportant” and “not essential” are wrong or did I miss some text which expresses that “sentiment” because none of the texts I’ve ever read entirely downplayed or belittled sin as something “not essential”?

I made a post on this subreddit a little bit ago about how the Bible pushed me away from Christianity, and during that time I decided to delve into other theologises on which I believe answers the greatest issue of Religion and especially the three abrehamic religions, and that is that religion should have never been an external entity.

When you look at Jesus’s life, you’ll find within the cracks a story that said Jesus wasn’t here to turn people to a god, but to turn into themselves. Self improvement, in Luke 17:20-21 Jesus says and I quote “God does not come with observation, nor will they say, ‘see here!’ or ‘see there’ for indeed, the kingdom of heaven is within you” and in the rejected book of Thomas they believe could have been written by the apostle Thomas “If those who lead you, say to you, ‘See, the kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds will precede you. If they say to you, ‘it is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you.” Both quotes and I’m sure other quotes tell a story that rather than a place in which you go, heaven is a place you obtain as well.
Buddhism and other such practices tell a similar story about “enlightenment” because from what I’ve seen through my deep dive into religion is that Sin isn’t supposed to be law, and Heaven isn’t supposed to be a place to go rather Sin governs the soul and heaven is a journey, not a destination.

There is a book called the Exegensis on the soul (which while a gnostic text) tells the story of a women who goes around sleeping with many men. Through my interpretation of the story, it less condemns her for the act but rather the faith and intention to which she puts in the men she sleeps with. While this is my own interpretation, I feel as though this was what sin truly is, not law but guidance for the ‘soul’
John 8-34 “Truly, Truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin”,
Mark 7:20-23 “and he said, ‘what comes out of a person defiles them. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immortality, Theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” to specifically look at this quote, 7 out of the 12 things are not physical actions.

What is my point? While I’m not telling you to convert to Hermeticism or Gnosticism or something, my point is that I believe the Bible materialised teaching which were meant to be spiritual, and for some, perhaps that can help you on your own mental journeys whether spiritual or just mental, because the Kingdom of god was never above or below, never a man in the clouds, The kingdom of god, while as cringe as it may sound, could very well just have been inside you all along.

Thank you for your time Ex Christian’s and… others who are in this subreddit Ex or not, Christian or not.

Hey chat, Just feel like dropping my thoughts about Gnosticism, and how its helped me since I’ve started getting into it, so maybe it’s not a post for you or maybe you’ve had similar experiences with religion or about Gnosticism.

I’ve always believed if there was a god, we didn’t know about them. I believed that whatever was the true answer, wasn’t as materialistic as the religions of today make it out to be. Though while I was spiritual I felt I never belonged, and those feelings solidified when I read the bible. The god I saw in the pages of that book did not fit what I believed a god to be, for the everything of our world, that god was vindictive and cruel, hateful and spiteful. I had hoped perhaps the story’s were just playing it up, that maybe god (of the Old Testament) wasn’t as bad as I thought. What I found wasn’t my god, and any lingering hope I had to have a place in Christianity died there. To be clear, I don’t hate Christian’s or there religion but I couldn’t align with the god of the Old Testament.

I had just gotten out of one of the worst years of my life and one of the most heartbreaking experiences I’d ever gone through, and I was looking for something to place hope in. I’d known of Gnosticism but hadn’t looked into it, I grabbed the book I had and started reading it and while it’s not perfect, like every religion it has its parts and pieces. However, it was everything I believed god to be, and while I don’t ever know if I’ll achieve “gnosis” and while I don’t know if it’s true (like with all other religions) it’s brought me peace. More peace than the Bible ever did, more peace than anything else.

Gnosticism had brought about more of an acceptance and appreciation for the other religions, while its possible one day I die and Christianity or Islam is “true” and I’m sent to hell for believing and having hope in “heresy” or whatever. I’d rather die standing for something I believe than what others tell me to believe and I’m sure many of you would agree with that sentiment.

So I just wanted to make an appreciation post for Gnosticism, and to all of you for being a good community of people just talking about something g they like/are curious about.

That’s all, thank you.