The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions Paperback – International Edition, 1 Feb. 2009

Contained in the fragments of this book is the explanation of Life, the human race, our place in existence and our creator. Its supremely difficult to comprehend but It answered every question i have ever had about the human race, our origins, our end, our religions, philosophy, death, life and why we exist and what will become of us when we die. Its incredibly deep in places, even for a philosopher or scholar.Its certainly not a simple read and i had to stop reading to reflect on many sentences and think deeply on their meaning before i could proceed to the next sentence or paragraph.Its probably way beyond most people to even begin to comprehend a fraction of it. Any question i ever had about the concept or reality of what we call God is answered in the lines of these scriptures. I also felt after reading and studying The Bible and The Quran in depth that we truly already have all the answers to anything we wish to know, all the keys to happiness and ultimate knowledge but like these Nag Hammadi scriptures the ultimate truth has been hidden from us in a cave for centuries and not become a freely available part of our lives. It has been hidden, obscured and changed to suit the purposes of Rulers and Kings for centuries. For example; the Book of Esther is in The Bible but not one of the Nag Hammadi scriptures is. The question is.....why?

If you're into this kind of stuff at all, then it's a must read.

The book itself is so unique , you can feel the effort of the people who translated for us this ancient Christian knowledge, strongly linked in content to the Bible, but with a depth in more unusual views, that can't be find in the Bible, some content of this book feels like a pure Christian revelation and other content it feels so shockingly different.

A mixed bag. Some good stuff. No as heretical as some seem to think. Atheists will always find "evidence" to undermine the truth but generally it's a confirmation of The Good News in my view.

Why are the powers that be hiding this information. This is a must read for anyone in search of the truth behind the science of religion and the true meaning of Christianity

Very thankful

Must have if you want to know the truth of everything they have been lying to the populace

I only just bought this copy, and, based on a cursory skim and scan of some of the texts I can see why this collection of books didn’t make it into the canon of the 27 texts that we know as the Christian Bible today. Maybe it is just the translation, but they are hard going, and, quite often undecipherable on a comprehensive and literary level. I am not saying that they are useless and a waste of time (heck, I don’t mind paying £16 for any religious-based work that ends at page 844 - that’s worth something!) But, I fail to see how they shed any major light on Christianity between the 2-4th centuries, other than that they reveal a host of tangential ideas that veer off into the downright esoteric. (It seems to me that if I want to find out about Christianity at this time then the Church Fathers are the way to go!)Further, though the “Nag Hammadi” were discovered in 1945, around the same time as the Dead Sea Scrolls, they are not in the same league, and do not have the same historical weight, in my personal view. I would also be reluctant to call them “Scriptures” as found in the title of this collection, but no doubt many will disagree.To me Jesus did not present the bulk of his teachings so that they would not make sense to his hearers. He spoke in parables, largely, had a preferential option for the downtrodden peasants of his era and those in debt (hence all his talk of wealth and its snares) and was very down to earth. You can deduce from this comment that I don’t buy into the “Jesus-sage” idea as one of the main keys for defining the person of Jesus and I get the sense that this is an over-arching idea that pervades Gnosticism generally, though I may be wrong here. It has to be said too, I think, that gnosticism itself is also an interpretation of the Jesus phenomenon, just as the Four Gospels are. But to collect in one place, a whole bunch of specific esoteric texts, as the “Nag Hammadi” does, is bordering on the cultic. To conclude: I am glad I bought this book as a reference tool, great value print wise etc, but it is certainly not a book to be read from cover to cover.