Beyond Belief

Zusatztext Pagels has accomplished a very rare thing! an examination of early religious writings that is a good read! accessible! and at times even dramatic and poignant. The Columbus Dispatch This remarkable book will stir and provoke thought. It offers rewards to any reader concerned with the promise and power of faith! and the hunger for spiritual discovery. The Christian Science Monitor Lucid . . . a spiritual as well as an intellectual exercise. . . . [Pagels] seems to rejoice that in the earliest years of Christianity there existed these strange! dissident doctrines. Frank Kermode! The New York Times Book Review "With the winning combination of sound scholarship! deep insight and a crystal clear prose style . . . [ Beyond Belief ] portrays the rich and beautiful heritage that was lost when champions of religious orthodoxy turned on many of their fellow Christians and declared them 'heretics'." Los Angeles Times Brilliantly lucid! elegantly written . . . [Pagels'] book is so readable you can't put it down. Providence Journal-Bulletin Just as topical today as it was nearly two thousand years ago. . . . Pagels is great at pulling together the details that allow us to understand not only what people were arguing about but why. San Jose Mercury News Majestic. . . . Exhilarating reading! Pagel's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a mystery writer. Publishers Weekly This luminous and accessible history of early Christian thought offers profound and crucial insights on the nature of God! revelation! and what we mean by religious truth. Karen Armstong As relevant as today's front page. The Washington Post Book World Informationen zum Autor Elaine Pagels Klappentext In Beyond Belief, renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy. Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group of researchers, Pagels returns to her investigation of the "secret" Gospel of Thomas, and breathes new life into writings once thought heretical. As she arrives at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the "rogue" voices of Christianity encourage and sustain "the recognition of the light within us all."CHAPTER ONE FROM THE FEAST OF AGAPE TO THE NICENE CREED On a bright Sunday morning in February, shivering in a T-shirt and running shorts, I stepped into the vaulted stone vestibule of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York to catch my breath and warm up. Since I had not been in church for a long time, I was startled by my response to the worship in progressthe soaring harmonies of the choir singing with the congregation; and the priest, a woman in bright gold and white vestments, proclaiming the prayers in a clear, resonant voice. As I stood watching, a thought came to me: Here is a family that knows how to face death. That morning I had gone for an early morning run while my husband and two-and-a-half-year-old son were still sleeping. The previous night I had been sleepless with fear and worry. Two days before, a team of doctors at Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, had performed a routine checkup on our son, Mark, a year and six months after his successful open-heart surgery. The physicians were shocked to find evidence of a rare lung disease. Disbelieving the results, they tested further for six hours before they finally called us in to say that Mark had pulmonary hypertension, an invariably fatal disease, they told us. How much time? I asked. We don't know; a few months, a few years. ...

ldquo;Pagels has accomplished a very rare thing, an examination of early religious writings that is a good read, accessible, and at times even dramatic and poignant.” —*The Columbus Dispatch

• “This remarkable book will stir and provoke thought. It offers rewards to any reader concerned with the promise and power of faith, and the hunger for spiritual discovery.” —The Christian Science Monitor

“Lucid . . . a spiritual as well as an intellectual exercise. . . . [Pagels] seems to rejoice that in the earliest years of Christianity there existed these strange, dissident doctrines.” —Frank Kermode, *The New York Times Book Review

"With the winning combination of sound scholarship, deep insight and a crystal clear prose style . . . [*Beyond Belief] portrays the rich and beautiful heritage that was lost when champions of religious orthodoxy turned on many of their fellow Christians and declared them 'heretics'." —Los Angeles Times

“Brilliantly lucid, elegantly written . . . [Pagels’] book is so readable you can’t put it down.” — *Providence Journal-Bulletin

• “Just as topical today as it was nearly two thousand years ago. . . . Pagels is great at pulling together the details that allow us to understand not only what people were arguing about but why.” –San Jose Mercury News

“Majestic. . . . Exhilarating reading, Pagel’s book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a mystery writer.” –Publishers Weekly

“This luminous and accessible history of early Christian thought offers profound and crucial insights on the nature of God, revelation, and what we mean by religious truth.” –Karen Armstong

“As relevant as today's front page.” –The Washington Post Book World

Auteur

Elaine Pagels

Texte du rabat

In Beyond Belief, renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy.

Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group of researchers, Pagels returns to her investigation of the "secret" Gospel of Thomas, and breathes new life into writings once thought heretical. As she arrives at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the "rogue" voices of Christianity encourage and sustain "the recognition of the light within us all."

Résumé
In Beyond Belief, renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy.

Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group of researchers, Pagels returns to her investigation of the “secret” Gospel of Thomas, and breathes new life into writings once thought heretical. As she arrives at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the “rogue” voices of Christianity encourage and sustain “the recognition of the light within us all.”

Échantillon de lecture
CHAPTER ONE

**FROM THE FEAST OF AGAPE TO THE NICENE CREED

On a bright Sunday morning in February, shivering in a T-shirt and running shorts, I stepped into the vaulted stone vestibule of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York to catch my breath and warm up. Since I had not been in church for a long time, I was startled by my response to the worship in progress——the soaring harmonies of the choir singing with the congregation; and the priest, a woman in bright gold and white vestments, proclaiming the prayers in a clear, resonant voice. As I stood watching, a thought came to me: Here is a family that knows how to face death.

That morning I had gone for an early morning run while my husband and two-an…