Jeu, Books Of The name of two noncanonical, Coptic gnostic documents that have been identified with some of the contents of the Bruce Codex. They are pseudonymously ascribed to Enoch in another gnostic document, Pistis Sophia. The Books of Jeu were never widely authoritative in the early church period.

The title “Books of Jeu” does not appear in the Bruce Codex. In the text, only the first book is named at its end: “The Book of the great Logos corresponding to Mysteries.” Carl Schmidt, who translated the contents of the Bruce Codex into German in 1893, suggested that the contents of the codex made it likely that they were the books referred to in the text Pistis Sophia. Subsequent scholarship has largely followed this conclusion (Schmidt and MacDermot, Books of Jeu, xii).

The date of the Books of Jeu is unknown. The Bruce Codex likely dates to the fifth or sixth century. If the Books of Jeu are in fact the books referred to in the Pistis Sophia, they may have been composed as early as the third century.

The first book consists of a supposed dialogue between Jesus and his disciples after his resurrection; Jesus tells them about “Jeu, the true God” using several diagrams and teaches them magical passwords and rituals to guide them to “the treasuries of the light.” The second book continues this purported teaching of Jesus to his disciples; Jesus gives them instructions for performing baptisms of water, fire, and the Holy Spirit.