Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by George Robert Stowe Mead

Description

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten is a book by George Robert Stowe Mead, first published in 1900. In this compact but wide-ranging study Mead surveys the beliefs and practices of early Gnostic groups and other heterodox strands that circulated around the first two centuries of the Christian era, drawing on recently recovered papyri and codices of his day. The work stitches together summaries, fragmentary texts, and historical sketches — from the Mysteries of Mithras and the Essenic milieu to selections from the Askew and Bruce codices and the Pistis Sophia — to argue that what we now call “orthodox” Christianity emerged over time by sidelining a far richer set of spiritual practices and mythic imaginings. Measured and investigative rather than doctrinaire, Mead’s book is aimed at readers who prefer primary fragments and cautious synthesis over speculative reconstruction. It remains a useful gateway for anyone researching Gnosticism, Christian origins, or the reception of esoteric texts in Western thought.

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