Elaine Pagels Biography

Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion and the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Renowned for her work on early Christianity and Gnosticism, she earned a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Her groundbreaking book “The Gnostic Gospels” (1979), which explores the Nag Hammadi texts, won the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, establishing her as a leading scholar. 

Pagels has authored eight books, including “Beyond Belief” (2003) and ‘Why Religion?” (2018). Her research challenges traditional views of Christian origins, emphasizing suppressed texts, such as the Gospel of Thomas. As a MacArthur Fellow, she has received numerous honors, including the National Medal for the Arts (2016). 

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