THE SYSTEM OF THE PISTIS SOPHIA AND ITS RELATED TEXTS
Description of the _Pistis Sophia_ MS.—Story of two first
parts—Pre-terrestrial acts of Jesus—Incarnation and Second Ascension
with address of the Powers—Arrangement of Heavenly Worlds and their
occupants: the Powers above and below the Veil: those of the Right,
Middle, and Left—The starry world—Adventures of Jesus’ passage to the
upper worlds—He changes the course of the stars—Meeting of Jesus with
_Pistis Sophia_ and her history—Is the _Pistis Sophia_ the
_Interrogations of Mary_?—Ophite features in _Pistis Sophia_—Valentinian
ones more marked—Joys of elect in next world and places according to
mysteries—Mysteries are sacraments—Eucharistic grace revealed in
book—-Complete union of worshippers with deity confined to few—Egyptian
features in book—Existing MS., Coptic version of Greek text—Original
work probably by Valentinus—_The Texts of the Saviour_: a thaumaturgic
work—Its continuation—_Texts of the Saviour_ later than _Pistis Sophia_
and quotations from them—Are the _Texts_ by Marcus the Magician?—The
Bodleian Papyrus Bruce and its divisions—One fragment must be later than
_Pistis Sophia_—Another connected with the _Texts of the Saviour_—Dr
Karl Schmidt’s views as to date, etc. discussed—Increase of post-mortem
terrors in later books, a peculiarly Egyptian feature—Degeneration of
Gnosticism in Egypt and its magical tendencies—Ill effects of this upon
Egyptian Christianity—Services rendered to Church by Gnosticism
generally 134-202