Elaine H. Pagels (F / United States, 1943), scholar

Elaine H. Pagels (b.1943) is an American scholar. B.A. (1964), M.A. (1965) at Stanford University. Ph.D. (1970) at Harvard University, 1970. A student of Helmut Koester at Harvard, Pagels was part of the team studying the Nag Hammadi manuscripts. Her work on Nag Hammadi resulted in the book The Gnostic Gospels (1979). Formerly head of the Department of Religion at Barnard College (1974-1982), Pagels has been at Princeton since 1982. She is currently the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton. Pagels wrote Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003) and frequently lectures on Thomas and early Christianity.