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While scanning books I don't intend to buy at Barnes & Noble, I read parts of a book with the title œThe Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yes Leoup. The book refers to a second century gnostic text claiming to be written by Mary Magdalene. It contained a curious passage that caught my eye. It is translated from the Coptic as fellows:
[Christ] answered:
œAll that is born, all that is created
all the elements of nature
are interwoven and united with each other.
All that is composed shall be decomposed;
everything returns to its roots;
matter returns to the origin of matter.
The passages' mixture of gnosticism, eastern mysticism, Taoism, pantheism and process metaphysics seems kind of modern and unlike what Christians were thinking about in the second century. Also, it seems rather profound and foreign for early Christian or Gnostic writings. Moreover, it seems inappropriate for a saying of Christ in a gospel claimed to be written by Mary Magdalene!
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