Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She has previously taught at Barnard College, Columbia University. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she is best known for her studies and writing on the Gnostic Gospels. Her books include The Gnostic Gospels (1979), Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (1988), The Origin of Satan (1995), Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003), Reading Judas: the Gospel of Judas and the shaping of Christianity (2007) and Revelations: visions, prophecy and politics in the Book of Revelation (2012).