User:Ghosts of Europa/sandbox/On The Origin of the World

On the Origin of the World is a Gnostic work dealing with creation and the end time. It was found among the texts in the Nag Hammadi library, in Codex II and Codex XIII, immediately following the Reality of the Rulers. There are many parallels between the two texts. The work is untitled; modern scholars call it “On the Origin of the World” based on its contents. It may have been written in Alexandria near the end of the third century, based on its combination of Jewish, Manichaean, Christian, Greek, and Egyptian ideas. The unknown author's audience appears to be outsiders who are unfamiliar with the Gnostic view of how the world came into being. The contents provide an alternate interpretation of Genesis, in which the dark ruler Yaldabaoth created heaven and earth, and a wise instructor opened the minds of Adam and Eve to the truth when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

Composition
On the Origin of the World contains many textual similarities to Hypostasis of the Archons, which is generally considered to be a combination of two sources: an exegesis on Genesis and a revelation dialogue known as the Apocalypse of Norea. Hans-Martin Schenke proposes that the Apocalypse was also incorporated into Origin. Roel van den Broek suggests both sources were used for both Origin and Hypostasis, but that Origin was later redacted by a Valentinian gnostic editor, leaving it "full of abrupt transitions and internal contradictions".

Notes and references
Category:Gnostic apocrypha Category:Creation myths Category:Nag Hammadi library