Fragments of a Faith Forgotten

by G.R.S. Mead | 1900 | 155,696 words

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Summary: This book is considered one of the best works on Gnosticism written before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library. The author highlights the diversity within early Christianity, showing Gnostic links to ancient religions like Pythagoreanism and Hinduism. His work relies on both the biased perspectives of Early Church Fathers and the scarce Gnostic texts available, including excerpts from previously untranslated manuscripts and summaries of the Pistis Sophia.

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Source 2: sacred-texts.com

Contents of this online book ( + / - )

The full text of the Fragments of a Faith Forgotten in English is available here and publically accesible (free to read online). Of course, I would always recommend buying the book so you get the latest edition. You can see all this book’s content by visiting the pages in the below index:

+ Some Rough Outlines of the Background of the Gnosis

. Preliminary Considerations

. Greece

. Egypt

. Philo on the Contemplative Life

. Jewry

+ General and Gnostic Christianity

. The Evolution of Catholic Christianity

. The Ebionites

. The Tendencies of Gnosticism

. The Literature and Sources of Gnosticism

+ The Gnosis According to its Foes

. The Gnosis According to its Foes

. Some Gnostic Fragments Recovered from the Polemical Writings of the Church Fathers

. The ''Simonians''

. Dositheus

. Menander

. The ''Ophites''

. An Anonymous System From Irenæus

. An Early ''Ophite'' System

. Monoïmus

. The So-Called Cainites

. The Carpocratians

. ''Epiphanes''

. Cerinthus

. Nicolaus

. Cerdo

. Marcion

. Apelles

. The Basilidian Gnosis

. The Valentinian Movement

. i. From a Letter

. ii. From a Letter

. iii. From the Letter to Agathōpus

. iv. From a Homily

. v. A few Sentences preserved in the Controversial Matter of Clement

. vi. From the Letter on the Community of Friends

. vii. A very doubtful Fragment from Eulogius of Alexandria writing at the end of the Sixth Century

. viii. The Myth which Valentinus made

. ix. From a Psalm

. Some Outlines of Æonology

. Hippolytus’ account of One of the Variants of the Sophia-Mythus

. The Number-Symbolism of Marcus

. Ptolemy

. The Hymn of the Robe of Glory

+ Some Traces of the Gnosis in the Uncanonical Acts

. Foreword

. From The Acts of Thomas

. From The Acts of John

. From The Acts of Andrew

. From The Travels of Peter

+ The Gnosis According to Its Friends

. The Gnosis According to Its Friends

. The Askew and Bruce Codices

. Summary of the Contents of the So-Called Pistis Sophia Treatise

. Summary of the Extracts From the Books of the Saviour

. Summary of the Fragments of the Book of the Great Logos According to the Mystery

. Selections from the Untitled Apocalypse of the Codex Brucianus

. Notes on the Contents of the Bruce and Askew Codices

. The Akhmīm Codex

. Some Forgotten Sayings

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Last Updated: 02 February, 2025