Introducing the Gospel of Philip from the Nag Hammadi Collection

The Bible and Beyond

An interview with Dr. Kimberley Fowler

Dr. Kimberley Fowler explains the Gospel of Philip, one of the lesser known texts from the Nag Hammadi collection. She loves it and finds it “charmingly and remarkably weird,” even though is it does not stray too far from orthodox Christian theology. Although it includes a brief reference to Jesus kissing Mary, that kiss seems to be only one of the many ritual Christian practices explained in the rather randomly organized gospel.

Kimberley Fowler is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research incorporates a range of topics in early Christianity, most especially the Coptic texts of the Nag Hammadi Codices, where she has focused on the production and reception context of the manuscripts and what this reveals about diverse early Christian reading practices. She has also worked on the manuscripts of the New Testament and is co-leading a project on an important copy of Paul's letters and its annotation system. Kimberley is currently writing a monograph on the Gospel of Philip for Cambridge University Press, as well as a short volume on the Nag Hammadi Codices for Cambridge's Elements in Early Christianity series.

Complete transcript available here: https://earlychristiantexts.com/gospel-of-philip/