Mid Sweden University

In this article, I present a new reading of the Gospel of Truth, Nag Hammadi Codex I.3. Although Gnostics often have been described as taking part in the Godhead, the consequences are understudied. According to my analysis, the knowers are not subordinated to, but on equal footing with the Savior. Here, I draw the attention to some gradual processes. The Savior understands more and develops in the encounter with the need of others, saved as well as not yet saved. Through mission and deepening insight, the knowers more and more actualize themselves as Saviors, thereby embodying divinity. The consequence of this is a gradual actualization of the godhead itself. As the knowers gradually are enlightened and their divine nature disclosed, the insight of the godhead accordingly evolves. Thus, mutuality is a key concept. The Saviors cannot actualize their own nature without first having been saved and then they need to save others. The godhead, Saviors and saved are interdependent. The godhead evolves into actualized divinity through the evolving enlightenment of all its parts. Thus, the daily-life encountering with others is of fundamental importance on all levels, from the individual to the cosmic.

Too often, ancient persons have been seen as uncritically religious. From such perspective, leaving religion in Antiquity is deemed to be a theme of no importance. In this chapter, the notion that more or less everyone in Antiquity were religious is challenged. We first try to understand how such a perspective has evolved. After a reflection of recent trends in the sociology of religions, the need of rethinking the above-mentioned perspective is argued for. As a case study, Euripides’s drama Heracles is discussed. We suggest that the study of this drama and of other important texts and artifacts might prosper from a new look in which leaving religion is a reasonable perspective among others hitherto established ones.