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What happens when Wisdom longs to know a Father beyond all naming?
A Valentinian Exposition opens a window into how one early Christian school imagines God and the soul. This short, damaged text from the school of Valentinus describes the unknowable Father and the divine fullness called the Pleroma. Its teachings invite you into a symbolic account of creation, spiritual exile, and restoration.
At its heart stands Sophia, or Wisdom, whose longing to know the Father brings the drama of fall and healing into focus. The text also explores the work of Jesus as Savior. Alongside these teachings, its surviving copy preserves short prayers for anointing, baptism, and the shared meal: glimpses of worship beside cosmic myth.
What you’ll discover
- The Father beyond naming Explore how Valentinian teaching approaches a divine source it describes as beyond human grasp.
- The fullness of the Pleroma Follow the text into a divine realm whose structure shapes its account of creation.
- Sophia’s longing and healing Meet Wisdom through a symbolic drama of desire, sorrow, and the search for restoration.
- Prayers beside the teaching Read On the Anointing, On Baptism, and On the Eucharist alongside the exposition.
- A fragmentary Christian witness Encounter an unnamed writer’s teachings preserved in Coptic among the Nag Hammadi manuscripts.
Is it for you?
This is for readers of early Christian history, students of the Nag Hammadi books, and anyone curious how second-century Christians told the story of God and the soul. It may suit you less if you want a complete, smooth narrative.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A fragmentary book from the Egyptian sands
- The Father and the fullness of the aeons
- Sophia, her passion, and the healing of the whole
- Prayers for anointing, baptism and the shared meal
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A Valentinian Exposition
by Attributed to a follower of Valentinus· 175
An ancient Christian text explains creation, divine wisdom, and salvation.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A fragmentary book from the Egyptian sands
The text sits in Nag Hammadi Codex Eleven, a papyrus book bound in leather and buried in a jar with other books. The Nag Hammadi library holds about fifty texts in Coptic, many of them translated from Greek. The Valentinian Exposition is the second item in that codex, and it has gaps where the papyrus has crumbled. Scholars must guess at some of the missing words.
It belongs to the Valentinian tradition. Valentinus was a Christian teacher who, according to early Christian writers, taught in Rome in the second century. His students formed several schools, and they read the Gospels and the letters of Paul in their own way. Their opponents among the church writers described them harshly, so much of what we knew of them came from critics until the Nag Hammadi books came to light.
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What is A Valentinian Exposition about?
It is a short teaching text from the Valentinian school of early Christianity. It describes the Father, the divine fullness called the Pleroma, the fall and healing of Wisdom, and the work of Jesus as Savior, with added prayers.
Where was A Valentinian Exposition found?
It was found in 1945 near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, as part of Codex Eleven in a collection of Coptic papyrus books. It is thought to be a Coptic translation of an earlier Greek text.
What does Pleroma mean in Valentinian teaching?
Pleroma is a Greek word for fullness. In Valentinian thought it names the divine world around the Father, made up of the aeons, the divine beings who share his life and his knowledge.
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