Book excerpt: A scholarly approach to a very intriguing subject, the search for a higher knowledge; as recorded by thinkers during the early Christian era. It reveals the "teaching" behind the Coptic (Egyptian Christian) Gnostic literature in Upper Egypt. Here the "Living Word" as understood by the Coptic thinkers is brought to light, in their explanation of the deeper implications of Light, Church, Female and Male, the Fall and Redemption and the work of Christ.