Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Elaine Pagels on Book of Revelation





Guest(s):

Elaine Pagels


 
08.07.2011


Renowned religious historian Elaine Pagels says the Book of Revelation is the Bible's most controversial book and she explains its enduring appeal. Pagels is the award-winning author of "The Gnostic Gospels." She digs into the history of the Book Revelation and speculates on why this book became part of the Biblical canon.






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More on Elaine Pagels
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Early life and education


Pagels was born in California, the daughter of a research biologist.[2] Pagels began attending an evangelical church as a teenager, attracted by the certainty and emotional power of the group, but ceased attending church after the death of a Jewish friend in a car crash when other church members said that her friend had not been saved and would go to hell. Pagels said, "Distressed and disagreeing with their interpretation — and finding no room for discussion — I realized that I was no longer at home in their world and left that church."[3] Pagels remained fascinated by the power of Christianity, both for fostering love and for the divisiveness that can shadow the belief that one has received a divinely revealed truth.[4][5]

She graduated from Stanford University, earning a B.A. in 1964 and M.A. in 1965. After briefly studying dance at Martha Graham's studio, she began studying for a Ph.D. in religion at Harvard University as a student of Helmut Koester and part of a team studying the Nag Hammadi library manuscripts.

She married theoretical physicist Heinz Pagels in 1969.[6] They have two children, Sarah Pagels DiMatteo and David V. Pagels. Their son Mark died when he was six and a half years old.[7] Upon completing her Ph.D. in 1970, she joined the faculty at Barnard College. She headed its department of religion from 1974 until she moved to Princeton in 1982.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Pagels
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