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Full Description
Since their discovery in 1945, the Nag Hammadi Codices have generated questions and scholarly debate as to their date and function. Paul Linjamaa contributes to the discussion by offering insights into previously uncharted aspects pertinent to the materiality of the manuscripts. He explores the practical implementation of the texts in their ancient setting through analyses of codicological aspects, paratextual elements, and scribal features. Linjamaa's research supports the hypothesis that the Nag Hammadi texts had their origins in Pachomian monasticism. He shows how Pachomian monks used the texts for textual edification, spiritual development and pedagogical practices. He also demonstrates that the texts were used for perfecting scribal and editorial practice, and that they were used as protective artefacts containing sacred symbols in the continuous monastic warfare against evil spirits. Linjamaa's application of new material methods provides clues to the origins and use of ancient texts, and challenges preconceptions about ancient orthodoxy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Contents
List of figures; Acknowledgments; Note on transcription and translation; Abbreviations; Introduction: the provenance controversy; 1. Christian book culture, new philology and gnosticism; 2. The find story and the ethics of post-modern manuscript archaeology; 3. The construction of Codex I: scribal errors as clues to context; 4. Notes made by monks: the marginal markings in Codex I and Codex VIII; 5. Vowel constellations and secret language; 6. The sacred symbols in the Nag Hammadi Codices: books as weapons in demonic war; 7. Textual fluidity and multiple versions in monastic textual practice; Conclusion: the Nag Hammadi Codices from a 'textual community' perspective; Bibliography; Index.
