View source for Books of Jeu

{{Short description|Two 3rd-century Christian texts}}
[[File:Page from Books of Jeu.jpg|thumb|right|A page from the 1st book of Jeu]]
The '''Books of Jeu''' are two [[Gnostic]] texts. Though independent works, both the '''First Book of Jeu''' and the '''Second Book of Jeu''' appear, in [[Sahidic Coptic]], in the [[Bruce Codex]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=DeConick|first1=April|last2=Shaw|first2=Gregory|last3=Turner|first3=John D.|title=Practicing Gnosis: Ritual, Magic, Theurgy and Liturgy in Nag Hammadi, Manichaean and Other Ancient Literature. Essays in Honor of Birger A. Pearson|date=2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004248526|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaOwAAAAQBAJ |page=137}} <!-- {{sfn|DeConick|Shaw|Turner|2013|page=137}} --></ref>  They are a combination of a [[gospel]] and an [[esoteric]] revelation; the work professes to record conversations Jesus had with both the male [[apostle]]s and his [[Jesus' interactions with women|female disciples]], and the secret knowledge ([[gnosis]]) revealed in these conversations.

==Authorship and date==
The date of the Bruce Codex, which contains the sole surviving copy of the work, is unknown and disputed, with estimates ranging from the 3rd to the 10th century.  It is believed that the Sahidic Coptic of the Codex version is a translation, however, and the original was written in [[Koine Greek]] in the early [[3rd century]].  This estimate is because the [[Pistis Sophia]] mentions the two books of Jeu twice (158.18 and 228.35), suggesting that the Books of Jeu were written before it, and the Pistis Sophia is dated to the late 3rd or early 4th century.<ref name="puech">{{cite book |last=Puech |first=Henri-Charles |author-link=Henri-Charles Puech |editor-last1=Schneemelcher |editor-first1=Wilhelm |editor-link1=Wilhelm Schneemelcher |translator-last1=Wilson |translator-first1=Robert McLachlan |translator-link1=R. McL. Wilson |date=1963 |orig-date=1959 |title=New Testament Apocrypha: Volume One: Gospels and Related Writings |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Westminster Press |chapter=VII. Gnostic Gospels and Related Documents: The Two Books of Jeu |page=259&ndash;263 }}</ref>

The author is unknown, but was presumably a Gnostic Christian in [[Roman Egypt]].<ref name="puech" />

==Content==
The work frequently refers to Jesus as "the living [one]" or "the life-giving", in reference to the resurrection.  There are standard references to Gnostic theology: the disciples ask Jesus to "teach us the hidden knowledge".  According to Jesus, the Father projected "Jeu" (Ίεου) from his bosom, and then 28 [[Aeon (Gnosticism)|
emanations formed over the Aeons]], with each form, mystic name, and number spelled out with great precision.  Jesus gives the "three [[baptism]]s" to those present of water, fire, and the Holy Spirit, and explains the Gnostic mystery that will save them from the [[Archon (Gnosticism)|Archon]]s.  Jesus says that after the disciples' souls were purified and saved, they will eventually transmit themselves through the Aeons to a transcendent realm in the place of the great invisible God, the great virginal Spirit, and 24 emanations of God.  The work then discusses the secret names of the aeons, their numbers, their seals, their passwords, formula which allow free passage through the [[celestial spheres]], and other esoteric details.  Jesus closes with a warning to only share such information with those worthy to receive the true knowledge.   Much of the work is illustrated with detailed diagrams, rather than being solely text.<ref name="puech" />

One of the unusual features of the Books of Jeu are that they predominantly consist of mystic incantations and similarly esoteric diagrams, often including concentric circles and squares.  The text was perhaps used as a sort of prayer book or spell book for Gnostic rituals.  The text also includes Gnostic hymns of praise.

==Analysis==
The work is somewhat similar to the Gnostic [[Apocryphon of John]].<ref name="puech" />

[[M. R. James]] was unimpressed with the work; he wrote that its "mystic diagrams, and numbers, and meaningless collections of letters (...) require a vast deal of historical imagination and sympathy to put oneself in the place of anybody who could tolerate, let alone reverence, the dreary stuff."<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=The Apocryphal New Testament |wslink=The Apocryphal New Testament (1924)/Preface |last=James |first=Montague Rhodes |authorlink=M. R. James |date=1924 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |page=xxiii |scan=Page:The_Apocryphal_New_Testament_(1924).djvu/29}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Grimoire]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Schmidt (Coptologist) |date=1892 |title=Gnostische Schriften in koptischer Sprache aus dem Codex Brucianus
 |trans-title=  |location=Leipzig |publisher=Hinrichs |page= |isbn=}}, for the original Coptic text and a German translation
* {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Erin |title=The Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia as handbooks to eternity: exploring the gnostic mysteries of the ineffable |publisher=Brill |publication-place=Leiden |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-30119-1 |oclc=910964849}}
* {{cite book |last=Crégheur |first=Éric |title=Les « deux Livres de Iéou » (MS Bruce 96, 1-3) |url=https://www.pulaval.com/livres/les-deux-livres-de-ieou-ms-bruce-96-les-livres-du-grand-discours-mysterique-le-livre-des-connaissances-du-dieu-invisible-fragment-sur-le-passage-de-l-ame-bcnh-textes-no-38 |publisher=[[Presses de l'Université Laval]] |publication-place=Québec |date=2019 |isbn=978-90-429-3279-1 |language=fr}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Crégheur |first=Éric |date=2013 |title=Édition critique, traduction et introduction des « deux Livres de Iéou » (MS Bruce 96), avec des notes philologiques et textuelles |url=http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/24860 |degree=Ph.D. |location=Québec |publisher=Université Laval |hdl=20.500.11794/24860 |language=fr}}
{{Refend}}

{{Authority control}}{{Gnosticism topics}}
[[Category:Gnostic texts]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]
[[Category:New Testament apocrypha]]
[[Category:3rd-century Christian texts]]