The Gnostic Gospels Audiobook By Elaine Pagels cover art

The Gnostic Gospels

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Gnostic Gospels

By: Elaine Pagels
Narrated by: Lorna Raver
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.50

Buy for $17.50

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

The Gnostic Gospels provides engaging listening for those seeking a broader perspective on the early development of Christianity. Author and noted scholar Elaine Pagels suggests that Christianity could have developed quite differently if Gnostic texts had become part of the Christian canon.

Without a doubt: Gnosticism celebrates God as both Mother and Father, shows a very human Jesus's relationship to Mary Magdalene, suggests the Resurrection is better understood symbolically, and speaks to self-knowledge as the route to union with God. Pagels argues that Christian orthodoxy grew out of the political considerations of the day, serving to legitimize and consolidate early church leadership. Her contrast of that developing orthodoxy with Gnostic teachings presents an intriguing trajectory on a world faith as it "might have become."

©1979 Elaine Pagels (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc. Christian Literature & Art Christianity History Ministry & Evangelism Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts Religious Studies Spirituality Inspiring Resurrection

Critic reviews

"The first major and eminently readable book on gnosticism benefiting from the discovery in 1945 of a collection of Gnostic Christian texts at Nag Hammadi in Egypt." --The New York Times Book Review
Scholarly Analysis • Enlightening Perspective • Clear Voice • Thorough Research • Thought-provoking Content
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Beautifully narrated, and a good introduction to the subject matter. Now I have more questions, of course, so I know this was just the beginning for me. Grateful to both author and narrator for giving me back some things I couldn't learn effectively at the hands of lofty theology professors once upon a time.

Just the beginning

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I am new to early Christianity and I like to hear the many accounts of the early churches or belief. Gnostic gospels are something important to know about and how they’ve changed the course of history.

Informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As someone with only cursory knowledge of Gnosticism this book was an excellent starting point.
It’s examination of early Christianity was humanizing.

I could listen to Lorna Raver read a Car Owner’s Manual and I would be in heaven. She’s incredible, warm, and authoritative all at the same time.

Great Information, Incredible Reading!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Provide great information in both religions and gnostic history. Recommend it for any student if faith.

Review

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is a well written, academic analysis on the birth of Christianity. If you only know what the church tells you, or the poorly translated and hand selected passages of the orthodox new testament, then you're just a sheep. The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku is a great, and more fun, read for before or after this book.

Feed your mind

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
... I've finally read/heard this book! I consider myself pretty adept at studying/analyzing, but fully grasping the history and reasoning behind the Church and how it seems EVERYTHING was heresy at some point, and my own logical questions concerning the philosophical tenets AND holes in orthodox Christianity... but in this single book, it all makes me sense!

So glad...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you are wanting to hear the gnostic gospels read you won’t find that here, however you will find a writer who has done her homework on the history of Christianity, I found this very informative as I have read the Bible many times and just took it on faith to be “the” truth, not understanding that history is extremely important to correctly understanding. It’s very interesting how bias belief and politics have shape how the Bible came to be and what was and wasn’t included in the canonical scriptures.

Biblical history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this listening experience. I learned a lot of interesting things. The book is very objectively written.

Very informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book absolutely changed the way that I view the Bible and Jesus. I was formally taught on Catholic and protestant viewpoints, and to now know the basis of Gnosticism, I am at awe of their teachings

Timeless education on Gnosticism and Power

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
thinking it included the gospels I bought it by accident but wow... no regrets! I recomend reading or listening to all the apocryphal writtings you can find before listening to this one cause she covers all of them as well as the history behind the writings, the contemporaries of the time, the government, political agenda... she REALLY did her homework. it is an amazing overview of what happened right after Jesus dies, to when the catholic church was officially formed. wow

does not include gospels but glad I bought it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews