The Gnostic Paul is a book by Elaine Pagels, a scholar of gnosticism and professor of religion at Princeton University. In the work, Pagels considers each of the non-pastoral Pauline Epistles, and questions about their authorship. The core of the book examines how the Pauline epistles were read by 2nd century Valentinian gnostics and demonstrates that Paul could be considered a proto-gnostic as well as a proto-Catholic.
Her treatment involves reading the Pauline corpus as being dual layered between a Pneumatic, esoteric Christianity and a Psychic, exoteric Christianity.
| Pneumatic, esoteric Christianity | Psychic, exoteric Christianity |
|---|---|
| "Greeks" | "Jews" |
| The religion of Heresy | The Orthodox religion |
| Early Paul | Peter, The Church Fathers and their forged later Paul |
| The Truth, wisdom, enlightenment | The Lie, error, darkness, foolishness |
| The initiated, adults | The uninitiated, children |
| A secret mystery is revealed to some apostles, but not to other apostles | No secret mystery; all apostles have authority through simple ordinary seeing of miraculous resurrection |
| The sacrament of apolytrosis (apo- can mean after-, post-, and separate redemption) in addition to common eucharist | The common eucharist, only |
| Redemption | Salvation, baptism |
| Spiritual freedom from moral codes—but metaphysical determinism/fatedness, predestined election | Spiritual enslavement to morality—with delusion of free will and choosing faith oneself |
| Reject idea of responsible moral agency and idea of our culpability of sin/guilt | Belief in responsible moral agency and our culpability for sin/guilt |
| The apple was a gift of gnosis | The apple was bad |
| All blame is placed on the Ground, not us | All blame is placed on us |
| No death on the Cross (it was mythic and could be seen as a pseudo-death) | Jesus died on the Cross |
| Sacrifice is mythic, mental, conceptual, a mental experience | Sacrifice is bodily, bloody, magically effective, physical |
| No bodily resurrection | Bodily resurrection |
| Mythic Christ | Supernaturalist Jesus |
| Belief in higher and lower Christians (with a principled respect for the lower) | Disbelief in higher level of Christianity—to obtain unity and harmony of the Church |
| No point in moral-reward heaven or moral-punishment hell | Moral-reward heaven and moral-punishment hell exist, for the responsible agent/soul |
| We are spirits, controlled by God | We are souls, controlled by ourselves |