Elaine Pagels

“Only the Jews, of all the nations under Roman rule, had won the right to separate their political obligations from religious ones,…

— Elaine Pagels

“Even Tacitus admitted that “whatever their origin, [the Jews’] observances are sanctioned by their antiquity,”64 and the Romans respected tradition. Christians, however,…

— Elaine Pagels

There's practically no religion that I know of that sees other people in a way that affirms the others' choices. But in…

— Elaine Pagels

He's an intimate betrayer. That's what's so troubling. Judas turned in his own teacher.

— Elaine Pagels

The Antichrist is often identified with the second beast in the Book of Revelation that arises from the land, the beast that…

— Elaine Pagels

“Jesus—for example, his categorical rejection of divorce, or his statement that “if anyone does not hate his own father and mother and…

— Elaine Pagels

The Gospel of Thomas claims to be the secret sayings of Jesus. There are 114 of them, so it says many things,…

— Elaine Pagels

I just have a sense that, you know, I'm curious about what is religion about, you know? Why do some of us…

— Elaine Pagels

“Augustine reflects that “what made me a slave to it was the habit [consuetudo] of satisfying an insatiable lust.”31”

— Elaine Pagels

Contemporary Christianity, diverse and complex as we find it, actually may show more unanimity than the Christian churches of the first and…

— Elaine Pagels

“I beseech you, my lord, why have I been endowed with the power of understanding? For I did not want to ask…

— Elaine Pagels

“thus the story of Eden was made to reinforce the patriarchal structure”

— Elaine Pagels

The author of the Gospel of Judas wasn't against martyrdom, and he didn't ever insult the martyrs. He said it's one thing…

— Elaine Pagels

“gnostics celebrated as proof of spiritual maturity, the orthodox denounced as “deviation”

— Elaine Pagels

Startling as the Gospel of Judas sounds, it amplifies hints we have long read in the Gospels of Mark and John that…

— Elaine Pagels

The Book of Revelation is all about the conflict, the contest between the forces of Good and Evil.

— Elaine Pagels

The Book of Revelation is such a dream landscape that you can plug any major conflict in it.

— Elaine Pagels

“This debate over Genesis revealed a major disagreement among second-century Christians, a disagreement whose outcome would shape church doctrine ever after.”

— Elaine Pagels

The Romans weren't trying to kill all the Jews, but they did destroy Jewish resistance to Roman rule. Jerusalem was turned into…

— Elaine Pagels

What is clear is that the Gospel of Judas has joined the other spectacular discoveries that are exploding the myth of a…

— Elaine Pagels

“American revolutionaries would invoke the same creation story against the British king’s claim to divine right, declaring: We hold these truths to…

— Elaine Pagels

So often, religion is identified in terms coined by Christianity as sets of belief. But I had the sense that it not…

— Elaine Pagels

I realize that I cannot live without a spiritual dimension in my life.

— Elaine Pagels

I study religion because I find it fascinating and problematic. But I struggle with the idea of what religion is, what being…

— Elaine Pagels

It is the winners who write history - their way.

— Elaine Pagels