Fragments of a Faith Forgotten

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 circulating around the first two centuries of the Christian era, drawing on papyri and codices known in his own day.

The work brings 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 later came to be called orthodox Christianity emerged by sidelining a far richer field of spiritual practice and mythic imagination.

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, early Christian history, or the reception of esoteric texts in Western thought.