title: The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity
author:  David Brakke 
description: Not since Elaine Pagels's ground-breaking and best-selling <i>The Gnostic Gospels</i> (1979) has there been a work that communicates so clearly the content and significance of the "Gnostics" for our understanding of early Christian history. The public and the academy need <i>The Gnostics</i>. (Denise Buell, Williams College)<br /><br />A model for how to engage in careful social historical reconstruction. (Stephen Davis, Yale University)<br /><br />Brakke has a growing reputation for his studies on the history and literature of ancient Christianity, and he moves easily among the sources, making good sense of the sometimes scanty evidence...<i>The Gnostics</i> is a book to be warmly commended to those who have an interest in the development of Christianity. (Nicholas King, SJ <i>Times Literary Supplement</i> 2011-01-21)<br /><br />Perhaps the finest aspect of this book is the way that Brakke successfully nuances the conflict models of early Christian history that remain current in most introductory texts. Rather than merely keying students to the varieties of early Christianity, Brakke introduces beginners to a more open narrative that has emerged recently. This model focuses on the agonistic production of orthodox and heterodox identities through processes of textual production, interpretation, ritual, and so forth. Brakke accomplishes this through a style that is lucid without falling into oversimplification. (J. Schott <i>Choice</i> 2011-07-01)
zlib_text: Gnosticism:  
  From Nag Hammadi 
  to the Gospel of Judas
  Course Guidebook
  Professor David Brakke
  The Ohio State University
  Religion  
  & Theology
  Topic
  Christianity
  Subtopic
  
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  i
  David Brakke, Ph.D.
  Joe R. Engle Chair in the History of 
  Christianity and Professor of History
  The Ohio State University
  P
  rofessor David Brakke is the Joe R. Engle 
  Chair in th