Review
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Title: The Nag Hammadi Story: Volume 1—The Discovery and Monopoly & Volume 2—The Publication
Author: James M. Robinson
Publisher: Brill
Genre: Nag Hammadi Studies
Year Published: 2014
Number of Pages: 1216 (continuously paginated)
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN10: 9004262512
ISBN13: 978-9004262515
Price: $499.00
Reviewed by Bryan Buchanan for the Association for Mormon Letters
Stop me if you’ve heard this one–a simple villager unwittingly stumbles on a cache of documents in the Middle East in the late 1940s. After a complicated and vague process they come into the hands of scholars and, after a stranglehold process, are finally published in toto. You’ve undoubtedly heard about them–the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). Wrong (in this case). I’m actually referring to a collection of documents now known as the Nag Hammadi library. Though the circumstances and timeframe of their discovery are similar, the Dead Sea Scrolls are far better known today. While the DSS are likely more important in the larger scope of things, the Nag Hammadi texts are very important in their own right. This collection of 12 codices, copied in the first centuries of the Common Era, are integral to the study of Gnosticism [1] and its relationship to early Christianity. James Robinson, long a central player in the field, has recently published a lengthy (two volumes totaling 1200 pages) study of the discovery and publication of these key texts as part of the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies series published by Brill.
A project like this was envisioned as far back as 1970 at the first meeting of the International Committee of the Nag Hammadi Codices (under the auspices of UNESCO)—the minutes record that:
“It was agreed that a history of the Nag Hammadi discovery and of subsequent research should be written in the future.”
Robinson, the Permanent Secretary of the committee, notes that this set “thus becomes the last implementation on my part of the agreements.” However, this is a particular type of history—it is a “socio-historical narration of just what went on during the thirty-two years from their discovery late in 1945, via their initial trafficking, and then the attempts to monopolize them, until finally, through the intervention of UNESCO, the whole collection of thirteen Codices was published in facsimiles and in English translation, both completed late in 1977.” (xiii).
For the casual reader who, up to this point of the review, is thinking that this would be a good place to begin learning about the Nag Hammadi texts, I caution that this is an extremely detailed treatment of the issues that Robinson noted above. Since the intent here is not to discuss the texts, their context or content, those looking for a general introduction to the texts would want to consult something like “The Nag Hammadi Library” (also written by Robinson) which has an excellent introduction to these matters. In terms more familiar to a Mormon audience, this is a Joseph Smith Papers-level of detail rather than something like “The Story of the Latter-day Saints.”
The first volume covers the discovery of, and monopoly over, the texts during the first decade after their discovery in late 1945. Robinson has done an amazing amount of legwork tracking down the participants involved in discovering and dealing with the codices. He utilizes the apparently vast archives of the aforementioned committee, citing numerous letters between the key players and supplements this with interviews he personally conducted. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, some particular elements of the account of discovery will forever remain nebulous but this is not due to lack of effort on Robinson’s part. I was very pleased to see that the letters are presented in English (in translation, where necessary) and originals, if in other languages (usually French or German) are given in the footnotes. Since many letters are included, this obviously contributed much to the length of the book but it results in a far more usable end product. The writing throughout is very clear and less technical than one might imagine in such a treatment—I was surprised, however, at fairly common typos such as subject-verb agreement, for example. This was really the only negative aspect of the book I encountered.
The chapter covering the discovery and trafficking of the codices will likely prove to be the most engaging to the average reader, I would venture. Robinson does an excellent job of using first-person accounts to place the events within the context of life among common laborers in rural Egypt (including blood feuds) and the often shady antiquities market of 1940s Cairo. Along the way, he corrects misinformation that has accreted over the years, mainly due to reliance on the reports of Jean Doresse (a French scholar) who—while he was there shortly after the find—was not privy to all the details. As is the case in both volumes, the chapters are very long (the first volume—614 pages—is composed of only four chapters) but are subdivided to allow for navigation.
Volume 2 covers the tortuous process by which the codices were finally published. After years of jockeying and confusion over the process, the Gospel of Thomas was the first of the texts to be published. Its first appearance in print came in 1958 (in a German translation) followed by a host of other versions including—appropriately, given the volumes under review—simultaneous “quasi-official” versions issued by Brill (in conjunction with Harper—English version only) in German, English, Dutch and French. The interest by the scholarly (and even lay) community can be seen in the sales figures—in the first two years alone, the English version sold a healthy 31,000 copies! In subsequent years, German and French scholars were at the front of an increasing awareness of the value of the Nag Hammadi texts to scholars. Finally, in 1977, an English translation of all the texts—complete with an excellent overview in the introduction—was published under the editorship of James Robinson. A final section for the second volume (which seems a bit oddly placed) gives an overview of excavations at the site that Robinson observed and with which he was involved.
At long last, the story of discovering and publishing the Nag Hammadi texts has received an exhaustive and methodical analysis. From his position as a longtime participant in the field, James Robinson has been able to mine previously unused sources to produce a critical look at the various accounts of the discovery. As a result, previous “settled upon” conclusions have been revised to better align with contemporary accounts given by the participants. Robinson’s documentation of the long and contested process through which the texts were finally translated and published is similarly detailed and meticulous.
While the average reader will be better suited by a popular publication (such as the “Nag Hammadi Library” or “The Nag Hammadi Scriptures”), those with an academic interest in the texts will be very pleased with the methodical way in which Robinson has proceeded. His inclusion of both original correspondence (in whatever language it was composed) as well as English translations further magnifies the value of this set. An excellent capstone to Robinson’s long career within the field of Nag Hammadi studies.
[1] Gnosticism refers to a philosophy that, in general, involves a belief that the physical world was created by a figure known as the “demiurge” and represents a fallen, lesser state of being. Through acquisition of “gnosis,” a specialized knowledge, adherents can reach a state of salvation. Christian Gnostics arose in the first several centuries CE and these texts are the best-known examples of texts they would have used.