"...We find an alchemical manuscript entitled A genuine Discourse by Sophe [that is, Cheops] the Egyptian, and by the god of the Hebrews, The Land of Powers Sabaoth; 'for there are two sciences and two wisdoms: that of the Egyptians and that of the Hebrews'. One can clearly discern, in all this magical, alchemical and astrological literature, a competition between two rival currents of thought, one Judaizing and the other Egyptianizing."
"From the new texts, Gnosticism becomes a good deal better definable, as the product of a powerful incursion of the great Iranian myths into Jewish mysticism, which was itself nourished by both Greek and Chaldaean philosophical and mystical influences. Thus it was that, from prophets whose identity was carefully concealed, a body of sacred literature grew up under the two imputed authorities of Zoroaster and Seth....It was Christianity which acted upon them [the Gnostic sects] and, very soon, found itself there incorporated, but also deformed and, as it were, astray in a land of strange gods."
- Jean Doresse, The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics
