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Author and scholar Elaine Pagels will discuss “The Discovery of the Gnostic Gospels” in a free public talk and book-signing Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. in Gerrard Hall at UNC.

Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University, will deliver the College of Arts and Sciences’ John W. Pope Lecture in Renewing the Western Tradition.

Her 1979 best-selling book, “The Gnostic Gospels” won the National Book Critic’s Circle Award and the National Book Award and was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best books of the 20th century.

Pagels gained international acclaim while still a young scholar at Barnard College. In “The Gnostic Gospels” she analyzed 52 ancient manuscripts unearthed in Egypt in 1945. Known collectively as the Nag Hammadi Library, the manuscripts include many gospels and other writings previously unknown, including gospels by Phillip and Mary Magdalene. They indicate a pluralistic nature in the early church and describe the role of women in the developing Christian movement. Pagels also wrote “Adam, Eve and the Serpent” (1988), “The Origin of Satan” (1995), “Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas” (2003) and her latest, “Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity” (2007).

“Reading Judas,” co-authored with Karen King, is the first book to illustrate how the newly discovered Gospel of Judas describes the way that Jesus’ followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus and why God allowed it.

Pagels’ talk is made possible by a gift to the College of Arts and Sciences from the John W. Pope Foundation. Limited parking is available in the Swain, Morehead and Ramshead campus pay lots; town pay lots are off Rosemary Street.

Web site: http://college.unc.edu

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College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339, deereid@unc.edu

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