She headed its Department of Religion from 1974 until she moved to Princeton in 1982. Pagels completed her PhD in 1970, and joined the faculty at Barnard College. After briefly studying dance at Martha Graham's studio, she began studying for a PhD in religion at Harvard University as a student of Helmut Koester and part of a team studying the Nag Hammadi library manuscripts. She graduated from Stanford University, earning a BA in 1964 and MA in 1965. She started to learn Greek when she entered college, and read the Gospels in their original language. Pagels remained fascinated by the power of the New Testament. After joining an Evangelical church at the age of 13, she quit when the church announced that a Jewish friend of hers who had been killed in a car crash would go to hell because he had not been ' born again'.

She found it to be 'the most spiritual of the four gospels'. Īccording to Pagels, she has been fascinated with the Gospel of John since her youth. She is the daughter of Stanford University botanist William Hiesey. Pagels (pronounced Paygulls) was born February 13, 1943, in California. Modern Library named it as one of the 100 best books of the twentieth century. Her best-selling book The Gnostic Gospels (1979) examines the divisions in the early Christian church, and the way that women have been viewed throughout Jewish history and Christian history. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University.

Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities (2012)Įlaine Pagels, née Hiesey (born February 13, 1943), is an American historian of religion. National Book Critics Circle Award (1979)

Reading Judas by Elaine Pagels