Living Library
Historical inquiry is one of our three pillars of practice.
This list is intended as a "starting point" for your own historical inquiry. It is by no means exhaustive and will be frequently updated.
The inclusion of a title / author here does not constitute full endorsement.
Christian Mysticism
● Bourgeault, Cynthia. Chanting the Psalms: A Practical Guide.
● Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity.
● DeConick, April D. Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism.
● LeLoup, Jean Yves. Being Still: Reflections on an Ancient Mystical Tradition.
Early Christianity
● Charlesworth, James H, ed. and trans. The Odes of Solomon.
● Esler, Philip F. The Earliest Christians in Their Social Worlds: Social-scientific Approaches to New Testament Interpretation.
● Esler, Philip F, ed. The Early Christian World, Volumes 1 and II.
● Litwa, M. David. Carpocrates, Epiphanes and Marcellina: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome.
● Litwa, M. David. Early Christianity in Alexandria: From Its Beginnings to the Late Second Century.
● Litwa, M. David. Found Christianities: Remaking the World of the Second Century CE.
● Litwa, M. David. Found Christianities: Remaking the World of the Second Century CE.
● Litwa, M. David. Iesus Deus: The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God.
● Mattison, Mark M. The Coptic Odes of Solomon: Coptic-English Interlinear Version.
● Meyer, Marvin and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power.
● Schenk, Christina. Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity.
● Shoemaker, Stephen J. The First Christian Hymnal: The Songs of the Ancient Jerusalem Church.
● VanderKam, James C. and Adler, William, eds. The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity.
● Wainright, Elaine M. Women Healing / Healing Women: the Genderization of Healing in Early Christianity.
● Watson, Francis and Sarah Parkhouse. Tell the Christian Story Differently: Counter-Narratives from Nag Hammadi and Beyond.
Early Israel
● Esler, Philip F. Sex, Wives, and Warriors: Reading Old Testament Narrative with its Ancient Audience.
● Hammer, Jill. The Hebrew Priestess: A New Vision of Jewish Women's Spiritual Leadership.
Enochic Cosmology
● Argall, Randal A. 1 Enoch and Ben Sirach: A Comparative Literary and Conceptual Analysis of the Themes of Revelation, Creation and Jugdment.
● Barker, Margaret. The Book of Enoch and Its Influence on Christianity.
● Hurtak, J.J. The Book of Knowledge: the Keys of Enoch.
● Odeberg, Hugo. 3 Enoch, or the Hebrew Book of Enoch.
● Prophet, Elizabeth Clare. Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil: Why the Church Fathers the Book of Enoch and Its Startling Revelations.
● Stuckenbruck, Loren T. and Gabriele Boccaccini. Enoch and the Synoptic Gospels: Reminiscences, Allusions, Intertextuality.
First Temple in Jerusalem
● Barker, Margaret. Creation: A Biblical Vision for the Environment.
●. Barker, Margaret. Mother of the Lord Volume 1: The Lady of the Temple.
● Barker, Margaret. Temple Mysticism: An Introduction.
● Barker, Margaret. The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem.
● Barker, Margaret. The Great High Priest: The Temple Roots of Christian Liturgy.
Gnostic Christianities
● Barnstone, William and Marvin Meyer, eds. The Gnostic Bible.
● Barnstone, William and Marvin Meyer, eds. The Essential Gnostic Scriptures: Texts of Luminous Wisdom from the Ancient and Medieval Worlds—Including the Gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Mary Magdalene.
● Brill, eds. The Coptic Gnostic Library: A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Volumes 1 to V.
● Burns, Dylan M. Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism.
● Burns, Dylan M. and Matthew Goff. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices: Selected Papers from the Conference "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices" in Berlin, 20-22 July 2018.
● DeConick, April D. Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today.
● Evans, Erin M. The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia: System, Practice, and Development of a Religious Group.
● Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Dictionary of Gnosticism and Western Esotericism. Volumes I and II.
● LeLoup, Jean-Yves. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
● LeLoup, Jean-Yves. The Gospel of Philip: Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Gnosis of Sacred Union.
● LeLoup, Jean-Yves. The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus.
● Litwa, M. David. Carpocrates, Epiphanes and Marcellina: Three Early Christian Teachers of Alexandria and Rome.
● Litwa, M. David. Early Christianity in Alexandria: From Its Beginnings to the Late Second Century.
● Litwa, M. David. Found Christianities: Remaking the World of the Second Century CE.
● Litwa, M. David. Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes: The Initiatory Teachings of the Last Supper.
● Litwa, M. David. The Naassenes: Exploring an Early Christian Identity.
● Marjanen, Antti. The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents.
● Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels.
● Parkhouse, Sarah. The Canon of the Pistis Sophia. (Journal of Theological Studies, 2022).
● Schmidt, Carl (ed.) and Violet MacDermot (trans.). Pistis Sophia.
● Schmidt, Carl (ed.) and Violet MacDermot (trans.). The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex.
● Singer, June. A Gnostic Book of Hours: Keys to Inner Wisdom.
● Smoley, Richard. Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism.
● Tutty, Paula. The Monks of the Nag Hammadi Codices: Contextualising a Fourth-Century Monastic Community.
● van Oort, Johannes and Einar Thomasson. Nag Hammadi and Manichean Studies.
Gospel of Mary
● Marjanen, Antti. The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents.
● King, Karen. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle.
● Mattison, Mark M. The Gospel of Mary: Coptic-English Interlinear.
● Parkhouse, Sarah. Eschatology and the Saviour: The Gospel of Mary Among Christian Dialogue Gospels.
● Parkhouse, Sarah. “Therefore I Say, Mary:” P.Oxy. 5577 and the Gospel of Mary.
Hekhalot and Merkabah Literature
● Arbel, Vita Daphna. Beholders of Divine Secrets: Mysticism and Myth in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature.
● Bodleian Libraries. Collection of Kabbalah and Hekhalot Texts.
● Davila, James R. Descenders to the Chariot: The People Behind the Hekhalot Literature.
● Davila, James R. Hekhalot Literature in Translation: Major Texts of Merkavah Mysticiam.
● DeConick, April D. Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism.
● Morray-Jones, C.R.A. A Transparent Illusion: The Dangerous Vision of Water in Hekhalot Mysticism.
● Morray-Jones, C.R.A. Paradise Revisited (2 Cor 12:1-12): The Jewish Mystical Background of Paul's Apostolate. Part 1: The Jewish Sources.
● Morray-Jones, C.R.A. Paradise Revisited (2 Cor 12:1-12): The Jewish Mystical Background of Paul's Apostolate. Part 2: Paul's Heavenly Ascent and Its Significance.
● Schäfer, Peter., Ra'anan Boustan, and Martha Himmelfarb. Hekhalot Literature in Context: Between Byzantium and Babylonia.
● Schäfer, Peter. Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur in Zusammenarbeit mit Margarete Schlüter und Hans Georg von Mutius.
● Schäfer, Peter. The Origins of Jewish Mysticism.
● Swartz, Michael D. Scholastic Magic: Ritual and Revelation in Early Jewish Mysticism.
● Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English.
● Wolfson, Eliot R. Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism.
Matriarchs and Patriarchs
● Teubal, Savina J. Hagar the Egyptian: The Lost Tradition of the Matriarchs.
● Teubal, Savina J. Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis.