The Books Banned From the Bible: What Are the Gnostic Gospels?

What I found pretty cool in this interview was that after nearly 50 yrs. of studying this, Dr. Pagels was excited and animated when discussing things...

I wonder how these older people feel about being approached by Alex who is so much younger to talk about their work. They must be so so happy to share their thoughts and feelings in a way they wouldn’t usually.

What an incredible conversation. That woman is so learned and fascinating. Great post!

I so admire Elaine Pagels. A renowened scholar, translator and author, she is willing to sit down with Alex for hours and explore, revisit, explain, and converse. She is centered in her experience and scholarship (and spirituality) yet also has such an open, friendly receptivity. What a great dialogue as was the prior one with the great Justin Sledge. Thank you!

Glad to see you get actual Gnostics on here. This is a reminder to all: The Early Gnostics did not call themselves 'Gnostics' they considered themselves Christians and simply disagreed with the orthodoxy. According to the Apocrypha of John, the main Tragedy in the Gnostic Creation myth was Sophia (a child of the Original God) birthing the Demiurge (aka Yaldabaoth) without the consent of the original God. This was the tragedy instead of eating from the apple. I reccomend ESOTERICA as an introduction to the whole concepts its pretty interesting. 😊

Can you have Jesus on your podcast next time ? I think it would answer a lot of questions

I met Elaine Pagel in 1995 , she is wonderful. I use to mistake her for two other women in the community college who looked so much like her but their intellect wasn’t even close to our good lady Mrs. Elain PAGEL . .. . . What a Real Treat to listen to her here today . She captivated me back in the 1990’s and now here. Thank you 🙏 for this video .

Mr. O'Connor and Mrs. Dr. Pagels, job well done. Enjoyed your conversation on many levels. It was intellectual, spiritually and emotionally fulfilling.

She comes across as a believer who gets out of her comfort zone when demiurg and weird named realms come up.

The thumbnail got me hyped for a split second, did Alex get an interview with THE Jesus Christ? lol

What a remarkable interview! Thank you so much, Alex! Dr. Pagels is an extraordinary soul - so interesting - and you asked her great questions!

These books should be taken as seriously as the canonical books. Christians are losing members more and more and the teachings on these books can bring people back. That the kingdom of heaven is within us, that we can all reach Christ consciousness is revolutionary and it resonates with so many people

Having earned my degree in Religious Studies from UNC under Bart Ehrman, among others, it's very odd to hear a scholar dodge questions and say, "I'd prefer not to comment on that," and, "I dont like that [source] very much" every time anything contrary to her poisition is raised. Great interview Alex.

I found this discussion extremely fascinating; it resonated with some of my own thoughts about religions and Bible texts. I have listened to it ten times, and each time I go back, I discover another gem. One takeaway: I feel the first trinity is a mother, father, and son, not a father, son, and a spirit.

As far as Elohim being male and female. It basically says so in Genesis when he created man. “Let us make man in our own image…” “Male and female made He (God) him (Adam) male and female made He Them”(Adam n Eve) I agree the Roman Catholic Church wanted to downplay the role of women. When Paul talks about a woman not teaching or having authority over a man. He was talking about a wife over her husband. When Paul speaks of a woman keeping silent in the church. The word translated as silent means “chatter”. Keep in mind Yahweh (which means the “Existing One”, made Deborah a prophetess AND a JUDGE over Israel. Paul also reveals to us that: “” “in the spirit there is no male or female…” As far as not being able to say God’s name…. It’s because the word “Name” in Hebrew and in Greek means: “Authority/ Power”. It is why the High priest’s asked: “By what name or by what power have ye done this”. >> EMPHASIZE & (parentheses) mine. Christ says: “I come in my Father’s NAME (Authority/Power) and ye receive (believe) me not. Let another come in his own name (Authority/Power) him ye will receive (believe). Our Father has SO MUCH power and Authority that it is impossible for us to fathom it. Much less pronounce it. The closest we can come is “The Existing ONE” Or The Almighty. If one believes that their maker/creator/ Father of Heaven… IS the authority and Power of their life, they walk in His Name. If one believes that they themselves are the authority and power of their life, they walk in their own name. Blessings

Dr. Pagels is such an excellent scholar! Wonderful discussion!

Imagine a teacher saying: "I'm going to explicitly try and teach a group of students so they don't understand, then select a smaller group to teach them properly" That is different from: "They aren't at the level that would be able to understand, so I have to dumb it down for them to get the basics. You're more advanced so I can go more in depth"

I struggle with the lack of time spent on why the original church fathers felt the way they did about these texts. She makes it all feel very arbitrary. It seems apt to subject these texts to some textual criticism and dig in to why they were discarded.

In Kerala, India we believe that St. Thomas came to India in AD 52.

Thank you for this interview. I've been fascinated with Gnosticism for a couple years now. I was raised Catholic and when I got older, I began to have many questions. The teaching of Christianity never really added up but when I began to study Gnosticism it began to all come together. These teachings tied up a lot of loose ends. It makes it all more believable. Although I don't know if I'll ever have complete faith.