Bentley Layton's translation of gnostic scriptures provides a great supplement to Robinson's Nag Hammadi Library. He presents one of the best and most concise general introductions to the extremely complicated gnostic mythology of anything I have yet to read. His collection of scriptures includes tractates that are not in Nag Hammadi such as the Hermetic text "Poimandres." Furthermore, each text is introduced with a summary of it's contents, the literary background, a breakdown of it's mythic characters, and a narrative outline of the myth itself. The actually text includes footnotes that provide helpful elucidation of obscure content and there are marginal references that direct the reader's attention to other passages that can contribute to an understanding of the text. This is definitely an indispensable source for those who wish to understand gnosticism and the development of early Christianity. ( )

This book is unique in that it is the first book that you need that you won't understand. I was directed to purchase this book by a professor who was a student of Layton. I wanted to better understand the gnostic traditions and this book works to explain the gnostic mind in mind-numbing detail. The western, Enlightenment conditioned mind will not easily understand these scriptures because they don't exist in the rubric of rationalism. They are mythology. The gnostic scriptures are more like reading Hesiod's Theogony or Ovid's Metamorphoses than the New Testament. If your goal is to truly understand gnosticism Layton is indespensible. However, if all you want is a general understanding of gnostics, avoid this book. It will only muddy the water. You have been warned. ( )