John Turner - HomePage

JOHN D. TURNER

Cotner Professor of Religious Studies
Charles J. Mach University Professor of Classics and History

Department of Classics and Religious Studies
238 Andrews Hall
Lincoln, Nebraska
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 68588-0337

Voice: (402) 472-7008
FAX: (402) 472-9771
E-Mail: jturner2@unl.edu

Education

1960 A.B., Dartmouth College, (Philosophy, Mathematics)
1962-6 B.D., Th.M., Union Theological Seminary in Virginia
1970 Ph.D. with Highest Distinction, Duke University (Religion)

Professional History

1968-9 Research Associate, Institute for Antiquity and Christianity
1970-1 Assistant Dean, Claremont Graduate School
1971 Visiting Assistant Professor, Claremont Graduate School
1971-5 Assistant Professor, University of Montana
1976- Cotner College Professor of Religion, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1978- Chair, Program in Religious Studies
1984 Professor of Classics and History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1991 Visiting Research Professor, Faculté de Théologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
1994 Visiting Research Professor, Faculté de Théologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
1997 Visiting Research Professor, Faculté de Théologie, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
2003- Charles J. Mach University Professor of Classics and History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2004- Graduate Chair, Department of Classics and Religious Studies

Some Memberships and Offices held

Society of Biblical Literature
Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas
International Society for Neoplatonic Studies

International Association for Coptic Studies
Correspondent of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity
Editorial Board, Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, 2001-
Member, Institut d’études anciennes de l’Université Laval, 2001-

Steering Committee, Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, Society of Biblical Literature, 1987-
Organizer, Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, November 1995
Chair, Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section, Society of Biblical Literature, 1991-1997
Founder, Seminar on Gnosticism and Later Platonism, Society of Biblical Literature, 1993
Steering Committee, SBL Seminar on Gnosticism and Later Platonism, 1993-1998
Founder and co-Chair, SBL Seminar on Plato's Parmenides and its Later Reception, 2002-

Interests

My principal areas of interest are biblical studies, especially New Testament; Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman religion and philosophy; Gnosticism; later Platonism and Neoplatonism; and Coptic language and literature.

Teaching

At Nebraska, I regularly teach courses in Religious Studies:
    Ways of Western Religion [CLAS/RELG 206G],
    Early Christianity [CLAS/HIST/RELG 307/807],
    Comparative Religion [CLAS/HIST/RELG 308],
    Religions and Philosophies of Late Antiquity [CLAS/HIST/RELG 409/809],
    Gnosticism[CLAS/RELG 410/810];
and in Classical Greek:
    Plato[GREK 372],
    Seminar in Greek Philosophical Prose [GREK 961/2];
and in Biblical languages:
    New Testament Greek [GREK 373],
    Introduction to Coptic [CLAS 300E].

Publications:

A few of my more important publications are:

A. My dissertation:

The Book of Thomas the Contender from Codex II of the Cairo Gnostic Library from Nag Hammadi (CG II,7): The Coptic Text with Translation, Introduction and Commentary

B. English Translations and Introductions of various treatises from the Nag Hammadi Codices discovered in Egypt, December 1945:

"The Book of Thomas the Contender," "The Interpretation of Knowledge," "A Valentinian Exposition," "Allogenes," "Hypsiphrone," and "The Trimorphic Protennoia," in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1977; paperback edition 1984; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977, paperback edition 1981); third, completely revised edition, R. Smith and J. M. Robinson, eds. (San Francisco: Harper & Row and E. J. Brill, 1988; paperback edition San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990; unaltered fourth revised edition, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996).

From Codex II:

The Book of Thomas the Contender (new translation)

From Codex VII:

The Three Steles of Seth (new translation)

From Codex VIII:

Zostrianos (new translation)

From Codex X:

Marsanes (new translation)

From Codex XI:

The Interpretation of Knowledge

A Valentinian Exposition

On the Annointing

On Baptism A

On Baptism B

On the Eucharist A

On the Eucharist B

Allogenes (new translation)

Hypsiphrone

From Codex XIII:

The Trimorphic Protennoia

Critical text editions:

"The Book of Thomas the Contender: Introduction, Edited Coptic Text, Fresh English Translation, Critical Apparatus to All Other Editions." Pp. 171-205 in Nag Hammadi Codex II.2 -7, together with XIII,2*, Brit. Lib. Or. 4926(1) and P. Oxy. 1, 654, 655. Vol. 2: On the Origin of the World, Exegesis on the Soul, Book of Thomas, Indexes. Edited by. B. Layton. Nag Hammadi Studies 21. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1989. Reprinted in Vol. 2 of The Coptic Gnostic Library: A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices.

Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII and XIII (ed. C.W. Hedrick; The Coptic Gnostic Library Edited with English Translation, Introduction and Notes; Nag Hammadi Studies 28; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990). Reprinted in Vol. 5 of The Coptic Gnostic Library: A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices.

Introduction to Nag Hammadi Codex XI, pp. 1-22.
Nag Hammadi Codex XI, 1: The Interpretation of Knowledge: 1,1-21,35: Coptic Text and English Translation, pp. 33-75.

NHC XI, 1:

Nag Hammadi Codex XI, 2: A Valentinian Exposition: 22,1-44,38: Coptic Text and English Translation, pp. 106-151.

NHC XI, 2:

Nag Hammadi Codex XI, 3: Allogenes: 45,1-69,22: Coptic Text and English Translation, pp. 192-240.

NHC XI, 3:

Nag Hammadi Codex XI, 4: Hypsiphrone, 69,23-72,35: Introduction, pp. 269-270.

Nag Hammadi Codex XI, 4:

NHC XI, 4:

Codex XI: Fragments, pp. 283-287.
Introduction to Codex XIII, pp. 363-373.
Nag Hammadi Codex XIII, 1*: Trimorphic Protennoia, 35*, 1-50,24: Introduction, pp. 374-405.

Nag Hammadi Codex XIII, 1 *:

NHC XIII, 1*:

Nag Hammadi Codex XIII, 2*: On the Origin of the World: 50,23-38: Introduction, p. 459.

Nag Hammadi Codex XIII, 2*:

NHC XIII, 2*:

"Introduction" and "Commentaire," in C. Barry, W.-P. Funk, P.-H. Poirier, J. D. Turner, Zostrianos (NH VIII, 1). (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, section « Textes; » 24; Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Leuven-Paris: Éditions Peeters, 2000).

"Introduction" in W.-P. Funk, P.-H. Poirier, J. D. Turner, Marsanès (NH X,1). (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, section « Textes » 25; Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Leuven-Paris: Éditions Peeters, 2000).

"Introduction" in W.-P. Funk, P.-H. Poirier, M. Scopello, J. D. Turner, Allogène (NH X1,3). (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, section « Textes » 32; Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Leuven-Paris: Éditions Peeters, 2003).

C. Books and articles dealing mostly with the relation between Gnosticism and Platonism, and with the nature of a religious movement of the first three centuries CE, known as "Gnostic Sethianism":

"The Gnostic Threefold Path to Enlightenment: The Ascent of Mind and the Descent of Wisdom," Novum Testamentum 22 (1980), 324-51.
"Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History," in Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity (ed. C.W. Hedrick and R. Hodgson; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1986), 55-86.
"The Figure of Hecate and Dynamic Emanationism in The Chaldaean Oracles, Sethian Gnosticism and Neoplatonism,"The Second Century Journal 7:4, (1991), 221-232.
"Gnosticism and Platonism: The Platonizing Texts from Nag Hammadi in their Relation to Later Platonic Literature," in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism (ed. R. T. Wallis; Studies in Neoplatonism 6; Albany: S.U.N.Y. Press, 1992), 425-459.
"Typologies of the Sethian Gnostic Literature from Nag Hammadi," in Colloque internationale sur les textes de Nag Hammadi, Université Laval, 15-22 Septembre, 1993 (Louvain and Quebec: Peeters and Université Laval, 1994), 169-217.
"Ritual in Gnosticism," in Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers, 1994 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994), 136-181.
"To See The Light: A Gnostic Appropriation Of Jewish Priestly Practice and Sapiential and Apocalyptic Visionary Lore," in Mediators of the Divine: Horizons of Prophecy and Divination on Mediterranean Antiquity (ed. R. M. Berchman; Florida Studies in the History of Judaism 163; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1998), 63-113.
Editor, with Anne McGuire,The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 44. Leiden, New York, and Köln: Brill), 1997.
"The Gnostic Seth," in Biblical Figures Outside the Bible, ed. M. Stone and T. Bergren (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998), 33-58.
Editor, with R. Majercik, Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts. SBL Symposium Series 12. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001, 1990-1998 (SBL Symposium Series 12; Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001). (includes my two essays, "Ritual in Gnosticism" [1994 = revision of SBLSP 136-181, ], pp. 83-139, and "The Setting of The Platonizing Sethian Texts in Middle Platonism" [1995], pp. 179-224).
Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition (Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, section « Études » 6; Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval; Leuven-Paris: Éditions Peeters), 2001. (Reviewed by Philip Tite in Review of Biblical Literature 7 (July 2003).
"Coffee, Cigarettes and Gnosis" recorded interview #33 on Sethian Gnosticism.
Editor, with Kevin Corrigan, Platonisms: Ancient, Modern, and Postmodern (Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval Texts and Contexts; Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition 4. Leiden, New York, and Köln: Brill), 2007.
Fresh translations of "The First Thought in Three Forms" ("Trimorphic Protennoia"), "The Three Steles of Seth," "Zostrianos," "Marsanes," and "Allogenes" and Introductions to "The Secret Book of John," "The Book of Thomas," "The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit" ("The Egyptian Gospel"), "The Three Steles of Seth," "Zostrianos," "The Thought of Norea," "Marsanes," "Allogenes," "Hypsiphrone," and "The First Thought in Three Forms" ("Trimorphic Protennoia") in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition, Edited by Marvin Meyer (HarperSanFrancisco, 2007).

D. Projects Underway:

"Introduction aux traités séthiens," "Introduction et annotations au traité « Zostrien »," "Introduction au traité « Marsanès »," "Introduction et annotations au traité « Hypsiphroné », in Les Écrits gnostiques (2 vols., ed. P.-H. Poirier and J.-P. Mahé; Bibliothèque de la Pléiade; Paris: Gallimard, forthcoming 2006).
“Introduction” and “Commentaire,” in W.-P. Funk and J. D. Turner, Hypsiphrone (NH XI,4). Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, section “Textes” 41; Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Louvain /Paris: Éditions Peeters, planned for 2005.
La gnose séthienne et les orignes du néoplatonisme. Séries de l’Âne d’Or. Paris: Les Belle Lettres, jointly with Yale University Press (Sethian Gnosticism and the Origins of Neoplatonism), planned for 2005

Paul-Hubert Poirier, John Turner, and Pierre Hadot during the colloquium "La Bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi et la philosophie grecque" held in Paris at the Séminaire des missions étrangères September 26-27, 2002 on the occasion of the 340th anniversary of the founding of the Séminaire de Québec and the 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's granting of Université Laval's royal charter, at which time Université Laval awarded Pierre Hadot, Professeur honoraire au Collège de France, its honorary doctorate.

Dennis Smith, President of the University of Nebraska, John Turner, and Harvey Perlman, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on the occasion of John Turner's receipt of the University of Nebraska's system-wide Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award, April 21, 2003.

John Turner and James M. Robinson at the Colloquium on "L'Evangile selon Thomas et les textes de Nag Hammadi: Traditions et Convergences," Université Laval, May 29-31, 2003.

Just prior to his June 24, 2004 lecture at the Collège de France on "The Sethian Platonizing Apocalypses," John Turner confers with his host, Michel Tardieu, Professeur au Collège de France.