Library

Collections

Eleven collections of primary sources from the Second Temple period through late antiquity. Every text is presented with its historical context, source notes, and links to related material.

• 02 Jewish Pseudepigrapha Second-Temple Jewish texts outside the Hebrew canon Intertestamental Jewish works attributed to biblical figures — testaments, psalms, prayers, and wisdom literature that circulated widely in the Second Temple period.
• 03 Enochic Literature The Enoch tradition, from Qumran to Ethiopia The books of Enoch in their several recensions, plus the related writings — Book of Giants, Astronomical Book, Similitudes, and fragments from Qumran.
• 04 Dead Sea Scrolls & Qumran The library of the Qumran community The non-biblical scrolls from the eleven caves at Qumran, including the Community Rule, War Scroll, Temple Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns, and the Damascus Document.
• 05 New Testament Apocrypha Acts, gospels, and apocalypses outside the canon Early Christian texts attributed to apostles but not received into the New Testament — acts of the apostles, infancy gospels, apocalypses, and epistles.
• 06 Early Christian Writings The Apostolic Fathers and second-century authors The generation immediately after the apostles — Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Shepherd of Hermas.
• 07 Gnostic Literature Coptic and Greek texts from the Gnostic schools The wider corpus of Gnostic writings — the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, Apocryphon of John, and the many tractates that survive from Nag Hammadi and elsewhere.
• 08 Nag Hammadi Library The thirteen codices found in Upper Egypt, 1945 A codex-by-codex presentation of the Nag Hammadi collection, with the contents of each of the thirteen codices and links to the individual tractates.
• 09 Hermetic Literature The Corpus Hermeticum and related texts The Greek and Latin Hermetica — the Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the Emerald Tablet, and the Stobaean excerpts — the foundational texts of the Hermetic tradition.
• 10 Mandaean and Manichaean Texts Two religions of late antique Mesopotamia The surviving scriptures of the Mandaeans (Ginza, Drasha d-Yahya, Qolasta) and the Manichaean corpus in Coptic, Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, and Uighur.
• 11 Jewish Mysticism — Hekhalot Merkavah mysticism and the ascent texts The Hekhalot literature and related Jewish mystical texts, including 3 Enoch, Hekhalot Rabbati, Hekhalot Zutarti, and the Shiur Qomah.
• 12 Other Ancient Religious Texts Zoroastrian, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Islamic sources Additional primary sources from the wider ancient world: Zoroastrian scripture, Syriac apocalypses, Ethiopic literature, the Qur'an, and early Islamic historical texts.