12+ Elaine Pagels Quotes On Religion, Faith And God

Elaine Pagels is an American religious scholar and historian of early Christianity. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University and has written extensively on the Gnostic Gospels and the Book of Revelation. Her best-known work, The Gnostic Gospels, won the National Book Award in 1979. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Elaine Pagels on religion, faith, god.

Although the gospels of the New Testament-- like those discovered at Nag Hammadi-- are attributed to Jesus' followers, no one knows who actually wrote any of them. — Elaine Pagels

There is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness. — Elaine Pagels

Possession of books denounced as heretical was made a criminal offense. Copies of such books were burned and destroyed. But in Upper Egypt, someone, possibly a monk from a nearby monastery of St Pachomius, took the banned books and hid them from destruction - in the jar where they remained buried for almost 1,600 years. — Elaine Pagels

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

What is clear is that the Gospel of Judas has joined the other spectacular discoveries that are exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity and showing how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was. — Elaine Pagels

The story of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas gave a moral and religious rationale to anti-Jewish sentiment, and that's what made it persistent and vicious. — Elaine Pagels

Jesus Christ rose from the grave.' With this proclamation, the Christian church began. This may be the fundamental element of Christian faith; certainly it is the most radical. — Elaine Pagels

The Book of Revelation is the strangest book in the Bible, and the most controversial. Instead of stories and moral teaching, it offers only visions - dreams and nightmares, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, earthquakes, plagues and war. — Elaine Pagels

Rediscovering the controversies that occupied early Christianity sharpens our awareness of the major issue in the whole debate, then and now: What is the source of religious authority? For the Christian the question takes more specific form: What is the relation between the authority of ones own experience and that claimed for the scriptures, the ritual and the clergy? — 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 our century we're forced to think about a pluralistic world. — Elaine Pagels

It is the winners who write history - their way. — Elaine Pagels

The efforts of the majority to destroy every trace of heretical 'blasphemy' proved so successful that, until the discoveries at Nag Hammadi, nearly all our information concerning alternative forms of early Christianity came from the massive orthodox attacks upon them. — Elaine Pagels

Life Lessons by Elaine Pagels

1. Elaine Pagels' work has shown that religious texts can be interpreted in multiple ways, and that it is important to consider the historical context of a text in order to understand its meaning.
2. Her work has also highlighted the importance of recognizing the power dynamics that shape religious texts and how they are interpreted.
3. Finally, Pagels' work has demonstrated the value of questioning traditional interpretations of religious texts and engaging in critical thinking.