Drawing on a wide array of sources, this anthology sets out to analyze the concepts of mystery and secrecy that occur in the ritual and rhetoric of antique Mediterranean religion, with an emphasis on Gnosticism, Christianity, and Paganism.

Liv Ingeborg Lied, Dr.Art. (2007) in the History of Religions, University of Bergen (Norway), is Associate Professor in Religious Studies at MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo. She has published on the Pseudepigrapha and their reception history.
Christian H. Bull, is Ph.D-student in the History of Religions, University of Bergen (Norway). He has published on Hermetism.
John D. Turner, Ph.D. (Duke, 1970) in Religion, is Cotner Professor of Religious Studies and C. J. Mach University Professor of Classics and History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializing in Biblical Studies, Gnosticism, and the History of Hellenistic/Graeco-Roman Religions.