[3] The work is untitled; editor Birger A. Pearson created the title from the phrase "the thought of Norea" (Sahidic Coptic: ⲦⲚⲞⲎⲤⲒⲤ Ⲛ̅ⲚⲞⲢⲈⲀ) that appears in the final sentence of the text.
The Coptic manuscript contains grammatical mistakes such as incorrectly conjugated verbs, [9] and at one point misspells Norea's name as ⲛⲟⲣⲉⲁ instead of ⲛⲱⲣⲉⲁ.
[12] The publication was part of the work of the Coptic Gnostic Library Project, which began in 1966 at Claremont Graduate University.
[14] According to the cosmic narrative outlined in the Apocryphon of John, Sophia (Wisdom) is an aeon of the Pleroma (fullness of the divine).
[16] Her malformed offspring Yaldabaoth, existing outside the Pleroma,[16] created the material world as a poor imitation of the divine.
[20] The Thought of Norea is one of at least 11 texts in the Nag Hammadi library classified by Professor Hans-Martin Schenke as Sethian,[21] which is a system that is primarily characterized by Gnostic self-identification as the spiritual seed of Seth.
Norea demonstrates belief in the heavenly trinity of the Father (Invisible Spirit), Mother (Ennoia), and Son (Autogenes), like Sethian works such as the Apocryphon of John, Trimorphic Protennoia, and Zostrianos.
[26] All Sethian works combine Jewish traditions with Platonic doctrines, but some, such as Norea, Three Steles of Seth, and Marsanes, lack clear Christian features.
[29] Unlike other Sethian texts, the Thought of Norea does not contain any distinctive Jewish or Christian elements.
[8] Researcher Sergey Minov notes that the Thought of Norea is closely related to Hypostasis of the Archons.
In the Thought of Norea, she directs her plea to the divine triad (including the Father of All) and receives help from the Four Luminaries.