Monographs by Lance Jenott
![Research paper thumbnail of The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices (STAC 97; Mohr Siebeck) [2015]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39346511/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott offer a sustained argument for the monastic provenance of the Nag ... more Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott offer a sustained argument for the monastic provenance of the Nag Hammadi Codices. They examine the arguments for and against a monastic Sitz im Leben and defend the view that the Codices were produced and read by Christian monks, most likely Pachomians, in the fourth- and fifth-century monasteries of Upper Egypt. Eschewing the modern classification of the Nag Hammadi texts as "Gnostic,” the authors approach the codices and their ancient owners from the perspective of the diverse monastic culture of late antique Egypt and situate them in the context of the ongoing controversies over extra-canonical literature and the theological legacy of Origen. Through a combination of sources, including idealized hagiographies, travelogues, monastic rules and exhortations, and the more quotidian details revealed in documentary papyri, manuscript collections, and archaeology, monasticism in the Thebaid is brought to life, and the Nag Hammadi codices situated within it. The cartonnage papyri from the leather covers of the codices, which bear witness to the monastic culture of the region, are closely examined, while scribal and codicological features of the codices are analyzed and compared with contemporary manuscripts from Egypt. Special attention is given to the codices’ scribal notes and colophons which offer direct evidence of their producers and users. The study ultimately reveals the Nag Hammadi Codices as a collection of books completely at home in the monastic manuscript culture of late antique Egypt. The book was written at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Theology, under the aegis of project NEWCONT (New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in 4th- and 5th-Cent. Egypt), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) / ERC Grant agreement no 283741.
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals by Lance Jenott
Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 57 (2020): 235-276, 2020
This contribution presents a new edition, translation, and literary-historical analysis of the fo... more This contribution presents a new edition, translation, and literary-historical analysis of the fourth tractate in Codex Tchacos, provisionally entitled the Book of Allogenes after its protagonist, Allogenes, “the Foreigner.” Part 1 introduces the modern publication history of the tractate’s various fragments, the codicology of Codex Tchacos, and an outline of the tractate’s contents. Part 2 presents an annotated Coptic edition and English translation, which for the first time includes all fragments of the manuscript discovered so far. Part 3 follows with an analysis of the tractate’s contents, its relationship with other early Christian gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels, the Gospel of Mary, and apocryphal books known to Epiphanius of Salamis. In the final analysis, I suggest that the book was composed in the fourth century by Christian sectarians described by Epiphanius as the Archontics, among whom were semi-eremitic monastics.
Journal of Early Christian Studies 18.4 (2010): 557–589, 2010
Scholars have explored Athanasius’s conflict with other Christian teachers in Egypt who practiced... more Scholars have explored Athanasius’s conflict with other Christian teachers in Egypt who practiced “open-canon” readings and exegetical discussions on “the deeper parts of Scripture,” and who encouraged their students to seek knowledge and heavenly visions apart from the parish clergy. Recent research has shown that many of these groups were not only urban study circles in Alexandria but also various monastic organizations throughout Egypt that admired the Alexandrian theological legacy associated with Origen and the teaching of such revered spiritual guides as St. Antony. By analyzing the tractates of Nag Hammadi Codex I as a fourth-century collection of Christian writings, and comparing its content with themes found in the letters of Antony, we find that the fourth-century reader of this codex, far from encountering teachings typically regarded as “gnostic” (dualism, docetism, a “world-hating spirit”) would have found a number of themes strikingly compatible with Antony’s letters. Finally, we discuss what appeal both collections would have had to monastic readers during the period of religious controversy that characterizes fourth-century Christianity in Egypt.
Book Chapters by Lance Jenott
Pages 306–25 in Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical Paideia. Ed... more Pages 306–25 in Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical Paideia. Edited by Lillian I. Larsen and Samuel Rubenson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
The research and writing of this article were conducted within the context of the NEWCONT-project (New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt) at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Theology. The project was financed by a ‘Starting Grant’ from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) / ERC Grant agreement no 283741.
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Beyond the Gnostic Gospels: Studies Building on the Work of Elaine Pagels, 2013
Jewish and Christian Cosmogony in Late Antiquity, 2013
Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World, 2013
Proceedings of the International Congress on the Tchacos Codex Held at Rice University, Houston Texas, March 13-16, 2008, 2010
Coptica, Gnostica, Manichaica: mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk, 2006
Translations by Lance Jenott
New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 2 (ed. Tony Burke), 2019
English translation of a medieval Coptic apocryphon, The Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel, wi... more English translation of a medieval Coptic apocryphon, The Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel, with introduction and annotation.
New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 2 (ed. Tony Burke), 2019
English translation of the late sixth-century sermon against heretical books by Coptic Bishop Joh... more English translation of the late sixth-century sermon against heretical books by Coptic Bishop John of Parallos, in which he mentions in particular the Investiture of the Archangel Michael. Translation, introduction, and annotation by Christian Bull and Lance Jenott.
A new annotated English translation of the Coptic text with parallel Greek fragments.
Book Reviews by Lance Jenott
Bentley Layton and David Brakke, eds. The Gnostic Scriptures. Second edition.
Gnosis: Journal of Gnostic Studies 7:2, 2022
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 74.3 (2012): 589–591, 2012
Edited volumes by Lance Jenott
![Research paper thumbnail of The Nag Hammadi Codices and Late Antique Egypt (STAC 110; Mohr Siebeck) [2018]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/55340763/thumbnails/1.jpg)
This volume showcases the recent trend in scholarship to treat the Nag Hammadi Codices as sources... more This volume showcases the recent trend in scholarship to treat the Nag Hammadi Codices as sources for Christianity and monasticism in late antique Egypt rather than for Gnosticism. The essays situate the Nag Hammadi Codices and their texts in the context of late antique Egypt, treating such topics as Coptic readers and readings, the difficulty of dating early Greek and Coptic manuscripts, scribal practices, the importance of heavenly ascent, asceticism, and instruction in Egyptian monastic culture, the relationship of the texts to the Origenist controversy and Manichaeism, the continuity of mythical traditions in later Coptic literature, and issues relating to the codices' production and burial. Most of the essays were originally presented at the conference “The Nag Hammadi Codices in the Context of Fourth- and Fifth-Century Christianity in Egypt,” organized by the ERC-financed project New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt (NEWCONT; ERC Grant Agreement No. 283741), at the University of Oslo in December 2013.
This collection of essays explores different ways that ancient Jews and Christians understood the... more This collection of essays explores different ways that ancient Jews and Christians understood the world’s creation and how this understanding shaped their world. The volume places discussions of cosmogony not only within the contexts of biblical hermeneutics and the politics of interpretation, but more broadly within the diverse realms of ancient life. The authors demonstrate how beliefs about Creation played an important role in constructing rituals, pedagogy, ethics, geography, and anthropology. A biblically-based tradition shared by Jews and Christians, the Creation story serves as a fruitful point of departure for this collection of studies about these communities, their interactions, and their overlapping and competing conceptions of the world.
Beyond the Gnostic Gospels gathers contributions from both junior and senior scholars whose studi... more Beyond the Gnostic Gospels gathers contributions from both junior and senior scholars whose studies have developed in dialogue with Elaine Pagels’ work on Nag Hammadi literature and ancient heresiology. Published initially in 1979, Pagels’ The Gnostic Gospels represents a landmark of scholarship in religious studies. It not only made the Nag Hammadi writings and Gnosticism popular topics in modern culture, it also invited scholars to rethink early Christianity from new perspectives. The studies included in this volume engage each stage of Pagels’ vast trajectory, and provide critical evaluations of the field of “Gnosticism studies” as it has developed over the past four decades, in the subfields of the “Sethian” and “Valentinian” schools, and beyond. The studies offer new interpretations of the Nag Hammadi texts and fresh analyses of ancient heresiological literature.
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Monographs by Lance Jenott
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals by Lance Jenott
Book Chapters by Lance Jenott
The research and writing of this article were conducted within the context of the NEWCONT-project (New Contexts for Old Texts: Unorthodox Texts and Monastic Manuscript Culture in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Egypt) at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Theology. The project was financed by a ‘Starting Grant’ from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) / ERC Grant agreement no 283741.
Translations by Lance Jenott
Book Reviews by Lance Jenott
Edited volumes by Lance Jenott