Giday, I'm Gary Stevens.

And welcome to the third season of the History in the Bible podcast.

In this final season, I explore how the Jews and the Christians constructed new religions when they were

sent spinning into the void after the destruction of the temple. All of the history, about all of the books beyond the Bible.

Episode 3.19, Knowing Me, Knowing You Part 1, the Children of Seth.

In the last episode of History in the Bible, I discussed how the Romans perceived and vilified Christians of the 2nd century, and how Christians responded to those perceptions and calumnies.

It's time we talked about Gnosticism, that baroque and confusing labyrinth of invention,

that threatened Orthodox Christianity for three centuries.

Until Gnostic books were exhumed in Egypt,

at Akhmim in the late 19th century,

and at Nag Hammadi in the 1940s,

all we knew about the Gnostics came from church fathers who hated them.

To refresh yourself about Akhmim and Nag Hammari, harken back to episode 3.1, the heirs of

Abraham.

The Gnostics exploded into public consciousness 40 years ago, with the publication of the

book the Gnostostic Gospels.

This was a popular work written by Elaine Pagels, then a young professor.

She is still going strong today.

Although nothing in the volume came as a surprise to scholars in the field, the book's comfortable style and illumination of an exotic subject,

excited a Christian public, unaware of the many colours and fabrics,

that formed the rich tapestry of early Christianity.

The book won several awards and became a bestseller.

...