Glocal Christianity

Gnosticism and Christianity

This evening I find myself mulling over the future of Gnosticism. Haven't heard many noises from that scene lately, not since the publishing of The Gospel of Judas by the National Geographic Society back in 2006, and Google Trends shows a downward slide ever since.

Could it be that Gnosticism, after a decade or so in the limelight, is drifting into obscurity once again? That the Nag Hammadi Library and its Gnostic Gospels is becoming "occult" once more in the literal sense of the word?

I suppose one test is whether we'll see yet another Gnostic-inspired Jesus Conspiracy this Easter, or whether some other source of anti-Christian skepticism will be drawn from. I'm suspecting the latter, but we'll see.

Personally I suspect the popular attraction with Gnosticism was that it repackaged Jesus as a messageless messenger, as I've outlined in Deconstructing Jesus and Angels without God. This "lost" and reconstructed Jesus was not the key to all mysteries, he was the mystery of mysteries, ready to reflect consumers desires.

However, as I've said before, the problem with eclecticism is that it has no staying power. When everyone is busy deconstructing and reinventing their own traditions, there is no ancient tradition to pass on to others. This is where the Jesus Seminar failed. The only thing they could really agree on is who Jesus was not, not on who he was. This is why I think Christian Mysticism will thrive long after Gnosticism is forgotton. It's grounded in tradition and community rather than imagination and individualism.

Non-Gnostic Mysticism

Many people who are frustrated with orthodox Christianity, at least in the form they're familiar with, turn to Gnosticism as a way of seekingout deeper spiritual experience.

And when they do this, they often speak of the shift in polarized terms, as a turning from exotericism to esotericism, from institutionalism to inner life, from religion to spirituality. Why, only lastnight I read this: "...well from what i know Orthodox Christianity doesn’t agree with Gnosticism because they often have different views on what happened to Jesus and his teachings. Gnosticism has a more mystical approach to things and orthodox doesn’t like it."

But I don't buy into that metanarrative so easily. In response to that comment, I said "It’s misleading to put the difference down to 'Gnosticism has a more mystical approach to things and orthodox doesn’t like it.' Because the fact of the matter is there are many varieties of orthodox / non-Gnostic mysticism within Christianity. So you’re statement only holds true for some streams of Christianity at best, not all."

I highlight this because I think it's important to sort between false and genuine differences at this point. There are differences between Christianity and Gnosticism, but it's not in the mysticism.

What can Christians learn from Gnostics?

I have been involved in a few conversations about Gnosticism lately and it's prompted me to ask, what can Christians learn from Gnostics? I ask this because, while I do see Gnosticism as a counterfeit form of Christianity, I nevertheless think there are opportunities to learn from it. I think this of every religion.

With Gnosticism this can be a bit tricky though. Because often things are attributed exclusively to Gnostic scriptures which are already found within the New Testament. For example, authoritative females (Acts 18:26) and mystical experience (Acts 22:17).

But, as have been said by others, alternative spiritualities are often the unpaid bills of the church. What unpaid bills does Gnosticism reveal? What can we learn from the Gnostic revival?

Tom Wright on Gnosticism

Tom Wright speaks on Gnosticism, Christianity and the differences between them.

• Which one was more world affirming?
• Which one was more politically subversive?

Related articles on Gnosicism

Deconstructing Jesus: Gnostic Myth and the End of Revelation
Am I a Gnostic?
Gnosticism versus Christian Mysticism
Tacey on Spirituality
Is the God of the Old Testament Christian?

The Ophite Diagrams

Lately I have been exploring connections between the Ophite diagrams and Revelation 4. There seems to be a way in which the vision of Revelation 4 could be interpreted in a mandala-like fashion, of concentric circles radiating out from the throne of God, with revelations within revelations flowing from the initial revelation of the scroll, holding the whole text together. Have any of you ever explored this?

Esoteric Christianity - Some Free eBooks

Those of you interested in researching esoteric Christianity may find it helpful to learn that you can download free ebooks of these (in)famous esoteric titles:

• Esoteric Christianity or The Lesser Mysteries by Annie Besant

• The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus The Christ - from The Book of God's Remembrance (Akashic Records) by Levi H. Dowling.

• Mystic Christianity Or, The Inner Teachings of the Master by Yogi Ramacharaka

For those who've never heard of them before, well, my recommendation is not to read them unless you have a bible in the other hand.

Gnosticism: The Sophian Tradition

I was researching into Gnosticism this evening and came across some contemporary Gnostic sites I had not visited previously. Most interesting was the Sophia Fellowship.

The Sophian Fellowship has its own distinct take on Jesus: "At the heart of Gnostic Christianity, as taught in the Sophian Tradition, is the view of Yeshua (Aramaic for Jesus) as a human being who embarked upon a spiritual or mystical journey and became Self-realized or Enlightened; hence attained Supernal or Messianic Consciousness. According to the Sophian Gospel he was not born Christ, but became Christed by the reception of teachings and initiations from his Spiritual Teachers and engaging in spiritual practice and spiritual living. It is said that Yeshua was, indeed, the incarnation of a Great Soul and that he had accomplished the divine labor of Self-realization or Enlightenment in previous lives. Nevertheless, incarnate in the world as a Light-bearer, he had to sojourn the Path to Enlightenment as any other human being. In so doing he became a living example of the Path to Self-realization or Enlightenment and was empowered to teach others how to attain Supernal or Messianic Consciousness."

Of course, don't look for that in the New Testament.

Affiliated Sophian communities include: Sophian Circle: Austin Texas, Sophia Agape Circle, Circle of the Sacred Dance: Australian Sophian circle, Boulder Gnostic Circle

Other Gnostic sites include: The United Gnostic Churches of America, The Melchizedek Circle, The Universal Gnostic Church, Circle of the Free Spirit, The Arimathea Institute, ChristoSophia, The Gnostic Society, The Gnostic Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Temple Sophia, Secret Christianity, The Alliance of Gnostics in Community and Awareness, The Gnostic Way , Lectorium Rosicrucianum, Thomasine Church, Universal Gnostic Church

For more on Gnosticism see: Gnostic churches

Jesus the Psychonaut

This picture, entitled "Jesus the Psychonaut" comes from what has to be one of the most bizzare Jesus art collections I have ever come across in my years of searching for bizzare Jesus art.

It is from the Gnostic Friends Network, the "online home of occult researcher and visionary artist Rev. Illuminatus Maximus." Check it out.

Gnosticism versus Christian Mysticism

I often come across people talking about Gnosticism and Christian mysticism as if they are the same thing, or at least essentially compatable. But this is to ignore deep differences in how the two paths understand God and creation.

In responding to one Gnostic blogger I replied:

You said, "I mean much of the works attributed to the Demiurge and archons serve essentially the same purpose as the Devil and demons. In fact the two seem to be the same in the early writings." I disagree and would say any resemblance is purely superficial.

The Gnostics identified the Demiurge with YHWH, not Satan. For them there was a fundamental dualism between YHWH of the Old Testament and the Father of the New Testament. They distanced themselves from Judaism and the Old Testament in a way Christian mystics never did. At it most extreme this even led them to rewrite Genesis with the snake (the Father) as the hero instead of YHWH (the Demiurge). If that's not a fundamental conflict I don't know what is. Ultimately it led them to an emanationist understanding of creation, with multiple godforms involved, rather than creation by one and only one Creator. Christians, mystics and otherwise, have always rejected such Gnostic teaching which denies YHWH and the Father are one.

I do not know what your experience is with Gnosticism, but the deeper I explore Gnosticism the deeper the differences between Gnosticism and Christianity seem.

For more on Christianity and Gnosticism see:

Gnostic Churches
Decronstructing Jesus: Gnostic myth and the end of revelation

The DaSeussi Code

Sorry, couldn't resist. Saw "Horton Hears a Who" the other week and have Dr Seus on the brain. I suppose the sequel to this would be the JeSeus Tomb.