About Elaine Pagels
Elaine Pagels, née Hiesey, is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion Emeritus at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism. It was a best seller and won both the National Book Award in one-year category Religion/Inspiration and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She follows the well-known thesis that Walter Bauer first put forth in 1934 and argues that the Christian church was founded in a society espousing contradictory viewpoints.
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