"[This] book acquaints the beginner with the topic of gnosticism and early Christianity and presents to the specialist some of the new frontiers their colleagues are exploring. For the beginner there is a concise introduction to gnosticism. It covers the issues of origin, literature, leading ideas, and possible links with early Christianity. Each contributor has prepared a preface to his or her paper that points to its salient features and explains how the essay fits into the overall subject of the book."
—from the Preface

Editor - Charles W. Hedrick
Editor - Robert Hodgson Jr.

"This important collection of essays comprises the papers of the only major conference on gnosticism to focus exclusively on the relationship between gnosticism and the early church. This book has critical importance as a significant contribution to the pressing task of reconstructing an integrated, holistic, dynamic, socio-theological history of the early church free of anachronism and forced dichotomies. The fine introductory essay of Charles Hedrick makes the volume accessible to the non-specialist. . . . The book can be used both as a general introduction to the issues of gnosticism for the non-specialist and as a study volume for more advanced students and scholars."
—David M. Scholer
editor of 'Gnosticism in the Early Church'

The Apocalypse of Adam by Charles W. Hedrick
Parables as Poetic Fictions by Charles W. Hedrick