Elaine Pagels has made a very successful career of lying about the true nature of Christianity and Gnosticism. In her revisionist history, St. Augustine and the Christians are the oppressive villains, and the Gnostics are the marvellous, liberating heroes.
More recently, she has suggested that the four canonical gospels are unreliable, so you need to go out and buy the Gnostic and heretical Gospel of Thomas to find out what really happened.
She has been lavishly awarded with honors and advancement because the Ivy League colleges and the academic establishment don't care about historical truth; they care about subversion, and she has been extremely helpful in subverting.
"More recently, she has suggested that the four canonical gospels are unreliable, so you need to go out and buy the Gnostic and heretical Gospel of Thomas to find out what really happened."
A good intentioned friend gave me her "Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas". I did read it, with jaw dropped. I honestly hadn't realized the depths of heresy to which mainline Protestantism's "theology" had descended until I read the work of this thoroughly evil and yet lionized woman.