An Introduction to the Gospel of Truth

November 21, 2009, 3:18 pm by dc-agape.

Well I happen to have taken a trip to Wilmington, NC and forgot to bring my copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  As a result, I will have to make some posts from the Nag Hammadi Library which I can get on line at The Gnostic Society Library.  Since I have finished the Pray of the Apostle Paul and the Apocryphon of James, I will introduce you to the Gospel of Truth.  Two translations of this gospel are available, so I will explain which one I have chosen to read and why.

Two translations exist on the Gnostic Society’s website.  The first translation is by Robert M Grant.  RM Grant is a prolific writer about Gnostic Christianity and early Church history.  The Second translation is translated by Harold W. Attridge and George W. MacRae.  Dr Attridge is a professor at Yale Divinity School and Dr MacRae received his doctorates from Cambridge University.  I have look at both translations and I enjoy reading Attridge and MacRae’s version better.  Grant writes with a very spiritual mumbo-jumbo style, probably very similar to the original, but more difficult to understand and read.  Attridge and MacRae have made a stronger attempt at making this material reader friendly.  Neither have offered an introduction on-line.  So I have done so here as my first post.

This Gospel seems from historical perspective to be written during the era of St Valentinus’ (120 – 160 AD).  During this time Valentinus was nearly appointed a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.  This would have lead to the first recording of this Gospel to between 140 and 160 AD.  Irenaeus (175 – 185 AD) does report Valentinus using this Gospel as Scripture and possibly being the author.  If Valentinus was the author, The Gospel of Truth was written by a 2^nd generation Pauline Christian.  One must understand that Valentinus studied with Theudas , who was a pupil of Paul of Tarsus.  This information is recorded directly from Clement of Alexandria (130 – 160 AD).  If this is the case then the Gospel of Truth is as significant as the writings of Luke (The Gospel of Luke – written between 59 and 89 AD, the Book of Acts – written between 63 and 70 AD), Timothy, or Barnabas (The Book of Hebrews – written before 70 AD).  The history of Theudas (a disciple of Paul of Tarsus) is sketchy at best.  Little is known about him, yet many of the Gnostics claim direct training from him and indicate that he was a contemporary of Luke, Timothy, Apollos, and Barnabas.  As a result, this Theudas could not be the same Theudas that died in 44 AD after starting a revolt against the Romans.  We can be certain of this because Paul did not write the First Letter to Thessalonica until 50 AD.   

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