Ebook: Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions Presented to Gilles Quispel on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday

In addition to the Quispel tribute and bibliography, this volume contains 27 contributions (17 English, 7 French, 2 German, 1 Italian) to most of the fields in which Quispel labors. More than half of the essays are devoted to Gnosticism, concentrating on specific Gnostic texts: from Nag Hammadi (van den Broek on the Apocryphon of John, Gillaumont on the Gospel of Thomas, Mussies on the Origin of the World [NHC II, 5], Klijn on the Apocalypse of Adam, Yamauchi on Trimorphic Protennoia, Zandee on Silvanus), and from elsewhere (Gasparro on Hippolytus' Naasene Homily, Pearson on Poimandres). Some address the Greek philosophical background of Gnosticism (Dörrie on Plutarch, Mansfeld on the idea of an evil demiurge in Parmenides, Empedocles, Plato and Aristotle), others take up with the question of the Jewish contribution to Gnosticism (Culianu on the angelogical background of Jewish and Gnostic ditheism, Gruenwald on anti-Gnostic rabbinic polemic, Klijn on Gnostic exegesis of the Genesis flood story, Pearson on Jewish elements in Hermeticism, and Yamauchi on the whole question of pre-Christian Jewish Gnosticism). Others look elsewhere (Colpe on the relation of Manichaeism to Zoroastrianism, Fossum on Samaritan conceptions of a demiurgical creator, Drijvers on the relation of the Odes of Solomon to Manichaeism, Wilson on Gnosticism's relationship to the mysteries in general).

Other articles deal with Christian exegesis (Bianchi on encratic influence on Luke's [20:36a] version of Jesus' saying on eschatological marriage, Harl on Origen's theory of Scriptural interpretation and van Winden on Origen's strange rendition of the "without form and void" of Genesis related by Calcidius). Two articles deal specifically with Attis (Gasparro on Attis as a demiurgical figure among the Naasenes and in Julian and Sallustius, and Vermaseren on Attis iconography). M. Tardieu analyzes the meaning of the palindrome Abaramentho as applied to Jesus, and H. A. Wegman presents and discusses a third-century Alexandrian eucharistic text (pap. Strassbourg 254). Two articles delve into the sociological significance of late-antique intercultic polemics (Grant on charges of immorality and Segal on the supposed distinction between magic and religion). Finally, J.-P. Mahe presents a complete critical French translation of the Georgian Book of Adam and Eve.

In terms of scope, valuable information and fresh insight, the Quispel festschrift constitutes a genuine resource for students of late antique religion and philosophy.