Abstract

The Interpretation of Knowledge comes from the XI Nag Hammadi codex, discovered in 1945 and it is a description performed by Gnostics themselves. Due to those discoveries we have the possibility of getting to know the rules governing those communities from the angle of relationships between their members. This article attempts to answer the question how strong relationships of Nag Hammadi community were with Christianity and gnosis. The written work is recognized as a group of Gnostic texts having a philosophical and religious nature. In the The Interpretation of Knowledge appear key words bearing essential meaning for the Valentinian sect, such as: pleroma, aeon. The Interpretation of Knowledge presents as if Christianity being influenced by Gnosticism. However, we are not able to explicitly determine whether it is a homily with predominant reference to Christianity or Gnosticism, since both those elements mutually interweave, creating a general quite positive picture. Due to the fact that the whole text did not survive to see our times, one cannot be sure as to the nature of theology contained within. Nonetheless, we have attempted to specify the preserved fragments more accurately. Therefore, what is the specificity of the picture which clarifies itself after the analysis of the The Interpretation of Knowledge? Gnosis is something natural to the author himself, as well as to the community, to which he turns. At the same time, there is no contempt for Christianity. Quite the contrary – it is the existence of two doctrines next to each other, their mutual alternation, without negative feelings – just on the basis of presented relationships. Hence result difficulties in specification of the nature of this work. However, everything points to the fact that Nag Hammadi is a Christian community, where Gnosticism appeared and thrived, settled so firmly that it became a natural, integral part of Christianity practiced in Egypt. There also appears a question: to what extent does the Christian community influenced by Gnosticism is Christian, can we call it such? Researchers, both German, British and Polish jointly assume (although not unanimously) that the The Interpretation of Knowledge is written from the Gnostic perspective.