Androgyne or Undrogyne?: Queering the Gnostic Myth

Abstract

The androgyne, whether as a symbol, a concept, or a bodily reality, appears to be employed in different and sometimes apparently contradictory ways within gnostic discourse. On the one hand, the heavenly father himse\f is an androgyne (Holy Book o f the Great Invisible Spirit 51-52); the divine Barbelo, /terself, is a "mother-father" and a "thrice-named androgyne" (Apocryphon o f John 12.