The Passion of the Book: The Gospel of Truth as Valentinian Scriptural Practice

This paper explores the multiple references to books and writing in the second-century Gospel of Truth as a form of Valentinian scriptural practice. The text most dramatically represents this scriptural practice through the image of a crucified Jesus, wrapped in a book, reading aloud from his heart as he dies. Believers are invited to receive this revealed book, distribute it, and publish their own texts. Through its depictions of the written word, the Gospel of Truth presents authoritative revelation as a document that transcends oral and written formats. The Gospel of Truth promotes a scriptual practice that presumes a “living document” definition of gospel, and, as a text, conforms to this definition. In sum, this article argues that the Gospel of Truth functioned as gospel for its own community.