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The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with

Annotations and Introductions. Translated by
Bentley Layton. Garden City, New York:
Doubleday & Co., 1987. xlii + 526 pp. \$35.00.

Robert M. Grant

Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture / Volume 57 / Issue 02 / June 1988, pp 215
- 216
DOI: 10.2307/3167189, Published online: 28 July 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009640700062466

How to cite this article:

Robert M. Grant (1988). Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture, 57, pp
215-216 doi:10.2307/3167189

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BOOK REVIEWS 215

institution can change and still remain the same is not an historical problem
at all but a philosophical one. The question can, however, be put another
way. Despite all the changes in its structures and all the developments in its
theology, did the Christian community to which Constantine granted tolera-
tion in 313 believe itself identical with the Church Jesus had founded? The
answer is clear. Of course it did." Walsh does not examine the truth of Loisy's
statement, he banalizes it.
This book, if it reaches a large readership, will clear up widely held
misconceptions and open new vistas. If only it were better.
St. Patrick's Episcopal Church JOSEPH W. TRIGG
Falls Church, Virginia

The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introduc-

tions. Translated by BENTLEY LAYTON. Garden City, New York: Double-
day & Co., 1987. xlii + 526 pp. $35.00.
This is one of the most important books on Gnosticism to appear in recent
years. It is intelligent, thorough, inclusive, well arranged, incisivebut why
continue as if listing Gnostic aeons? Any student of Gnosticism, beginning or
otherwise, will want it for reading and reference, along with such studies as
Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis (English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson
[Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark, 1983; American edition by Harper & Row]),
and Simone Petrement, Le dieu s'epar'e: les origines du gnosticisme (Paris: du
Cerf, 1984). One might wonder if it covers the same ground as Werner
Foerster's Gnosis (English translation again edited by Wilson [Oxford:
Clarendon, 1972, 1974]), or James Robinson's pioneering The Nag Ham-
madi Library (New York: Harper, 1977). In fact, the books are all different.
Foerster provides a systematic arrangement and adds much Mandaean
material. Robinson confines himself to the Nag Hammadi documents.
Layton deals with Nag Hammadi and the church fathers as well, and his
introductions, translations, notes, and bibliographies carry the reader much
farther into the subject. He also provides two treatises from the Hermetic
literature, though their presence makes one wonder where to stop. What of
the witness of Numenius and the Chaldaean Oracles, or the Hermetic
Asclepius as found at Nag Hammadi? One might question also the absence of
Manichaean and Mandaean literature, especially since Mani really wrote
scripture ("Manichaeus, an apostle of Jesus Christ") and Rudolph has
emphasized the importance of the Mandaeans. On the other hand, Layton
omits some "classic Gnostic works" because they are either too fragmentary
or too long (p. 22). What he gives, however, is fully representative, and the
book ends with a useful index of names and subjects and another of Scripture
(real Scripture) references.
The translations are clear and readable, sometimes more so than the
216 CHURCH HISTORY

underlying Greek and Latin texts. The renderings from Coptic are some-
times not very clear, but scholars often disagree on what these texts mean, and
Layton seems to provide a reliable overall picture. The headings Layton uses
to divide up his materials are very helpful, and it is interesting that he refers
to the Jerusalem Bible (p. xli) because the format of The Gnostic Scriptures is
rather similarfortunately for the readers of both volumes.
The title of the book is rather questionable (note Layton's phrase,
"unorthodox scripture manuscripts" [p. xxvi]). It is true that "when
Christianity was born it had little or no scripture that was uniquely its own"
(p. xvii), but it did possess non-unique scriptures quite unlike the Gnostic
documents assembled here, and it gradually accumulated scriptures of "its
own." Can one really call "gnostic scripture" "a kind of Christian scripture"
(p. xxi) without depriving the terms of their historical meaning? Did
Valentinus and his school compose "edifying scriptural works" or, instead,
exegesis of "the proto-orthodox canon" (p. xxiii)? It could be said that
Valentinians were special because of their close proximity to more orthodox
Christians. One then must ask if one should refrain from capitalizing the
names lord, savior, and god (pp. 182-183) when the Valentinians take them
from New Testament books. On the other hand, is it advantageous to refer to
nearly every Christian personage as "Saint?" (Note that in the late sixteenth
century Clement was removed from the Roman martyrology.) Or is this
Layton's way of finally differentiating Christians from Gnostics?
While such criticisms raise a few questions about the format and the
historical discussion, they certainly are not important enough to make any
prospective reader hesitate before obtaining this very important work.
University of Chicago ROBERT M. GRANT
Chicago, Illinois

The Prooffrom Prophecy: A Study in Justin Martyr's Proof-Text Tradition:

Text- Type, Provenance, Theological Profile. By OSKAR SKARSAUNE. Sup-
plements to Novum Testamentum 56. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1987. xv +
505 pp. $83.75 (series subscriber $77.25).
Skarsaune begins with the quotation, "though this be madness, yet there is
method in it," which he tentatively applies to patristic exegesis. At first glance
one also might apply it to 505 pages on Justin, but continued reading shows
that this is one of the most thorough and intelligent studies of Justin ever
produced. He begins with the texts of the Greek Old Testament in the
Apology and the Dialogue and explains exactly how and why they are
different, showing that we have reliable copies of both works.
The remarkable completeness of Skarsaune's study favors acceptance of his
judicious and balanced conclusions. When Justin quotes Old Testament texts
in extenso he uses two different kinds of materials: texts quoted from