Andrews University Seminary Studies

Volume 13 | Issue 1 Article 20

1975

The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis:

Heracleon's Commentary on John [review] /
Pagels, Elaine H.
Gordon D. Fee

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Recommended Citation
Fee, Gordon D. (1975) "The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's Commentary on John [review] / Pagels, Elaine H.,"
Andrews University Seminary Studies: Vol. 13: Iss. 1.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/auss/vol13/iss1/20

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 BOOK REVIEWS

Pagels, Elaine H. T h e J o h a n n i m Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis: Heracleon's

Cornmental.y on. John. SBL Monograph Series 17. Nashville: Abingdon,
1973. I28 pp. $3.50.

This monograph is the product of a doctoraI dissertation (Haward, 1970),

written under Helmut Koester. T h e burden of the study is that Valentinian
exegesis, which was denounced by the heresiologists-Irenaeus, Hippolytus,
CIement, Origen-as "arbitrary," "contrived," or "irrational," was misunder-
stood by such "mainstream" anti-Gnostics, and furthermore has generally
been misunderstood to this day. Hence Pagels tries to correct this long-term
fault b y offering an analysis of the Valentinian exegesis of John (especially
that by Heracleon) in which she argues that the Valentinians were serious
exegetes, that within their theological framework they were remarkably con-
sistent, and that their theology arose from such exegesis as often as it was
brought to it.
Chap. 1, on Jn 1:l-4 in Gnostic exegesis, is the key to much of the rest.
Here Pagels argues convincingly, on the basis of several interpretations of
Jn 1:3, that what was previously seen as arbitrary or contradictory in reality
coheres under a threefold exegetical scheme which in turn corresponds to the
three stages of the Valen tinian myth of redemption: plerorna, kenomn, cosmos.
T h e various exegetes, she argues, and sometimes the same exegete, interpret
Scripture in each of the stages. Furthermore, interpretation in terms of the
pleromn was intended for initiates, while interpretation in terms of the
cosmos was intended for non-initiates. She concludes that Heracleon's com-
men tary was intended for non-initiates-hence its differences from Ptolemy 's.
On this base, the rest of the book offers an analysis of Heracleon's under-
standing of key passages in John to show that the various Valentinian theo-
logical positions derive from, or are consonant with, a consistent exegesis
of the Gospel.
There is much that one may learn from this study. For those for whom
Gnostic texts are still something of a mystery, a side-by-side reading of
Heracleon and Pagels should prove an enlightening venture. But since a
guide like hers is most surely needed in order to make sense out of Heracleon,
one wonders whether her argument will hold that the commentary was in-
tended for non-initiates.
For the beginner in Gnostic studies, the book is a major contribution to an
understanding of Valentinianism. Not all will be as convinced of Heracleon's
consistency as she (there seems to be a major shift in his view of the dwellers
in Capernaum, who apparently are non-redeemable "hylics" in 2:12, but are
"psychics" only Iinked with matter in 4:4Gff.); nor will all be persuaded by
her analysis of Valentinian anthropology in terms of a biblical theology of
election. T h e Valentinian notion of election, which must deal with three
"natures," still seems to this reviewer more deterministic with regard to the
"pneumatics" and "hylics" than Pagels aHows. Nonetheless this is a major
study, one with which all further work on Valentinianism must reckon.

Gordon-Conwell Theologicat Seminary

South Hamilton, Mass.