I’ve always thought Augustine was as jerk. This book did not change my mind.

Pagels saves the best for last with her discussion of the Pelagian Controversy and Augustine vs. Julian of Eclanum. The young Julian raises some good points.

Watching Bill Moyer's program "Genesis" is what turned me onto this author. One can learn a lot from her books. This one is no exception.

The Biblical Jewish attitude toward sexuality was aimed at procreation, hence divorce, particularly in the case of barrenness, was permitted. But prostitution, homosexuality, abortion, and infanticide was not. The impurity laws prohibited intercourse except during the times the woman was most fertile.
Paul did not write all the letters attributed to him.
Biblical verses which promote the submission of women
1 Timothy 2:11-15 and 3:2-5
1 Ephesians 5:23-24, 5:28-33
"Orthodox Christians who disagree with one another over the interpretation of Genesis disagree primarily on the question of what moral to draw from it." 63
"Certain Gnostic Christians suggested that such absurdities show that the story was never meant to be taken literall, but should be understood as spiritual allegory...... Not so much history with a moral as myth with meaning. These Gnostics took each line of the Scriptures as an enigma, a riddle pointing to a deeper meaning.
"Consequently, gnostic Christians neither sought nor found any consensus concerning what the the story meant but regarded Genesis 1-3 rather like a fugal melody upon which they continually improvised new variations, all of which. Bishop Irenaeus said, were 'full of blasphemy." The Gnostics did not see the distinction between the Infinite and his finite creatures as did the Orthodox Christians and Jews. When Dominican monk Master Elkhart talked about crossing this divide the archbishop of Cologne succeeded in obtaining a papal bull condemning Eckhart's writing as heretical. Marin Buber talked about "I and thou" which is unacceptable to Orthodox Jews.
Gnostic interpreters share with Hindus and Eckhart's the conviction that the divine is hidden "deep within human nature, as well as outside it." 65
Plato believed only the rarest such as Socrates could obtain self-control, but Christians claimed this virtue was I the reach of every convert. Augustine argued that self mastery was jot achievable as man was fallen. This appeals to humans who need to find a reason for their suffering. That suffering could be random can be frightening.
The earliest Christians did not have all the answers ...they were not a pure version of Christianity as they had very diverse views.

Augustine was 65 years old still beefing with Julian

One face on the Mount Rushmore of modern day biblical and early Christian scholars is Elaine Pagels. A Harvard graduate who’s the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton, she’s kind of a big deal, brilliant and respected. You might know her from various documentaries such as the History Channel’s Bible Secrets Revealed. Pagels isn’t only a celebrated scholar, but an author. In 1988 her third book, Adam, Eve and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity came into print. While interesting, this reads as a tale of two books, two halves which cancel each other out and leave the overall impression of a decent, but average read...

To read the rest of this review go to https://drewmartinwrites.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/adam-eve-and-the-serpent-1988-review/

Elain Pagels continues to both entertain and educate with this book.