Guh-nosticism

[wolfshift]

I finished reading Pagels' Beyond Belief The Secret Gospel of Thomas. My reading list continues with The Gnostic Gospels, and The Gospel of Judas. After that, I have The Nag Hammadi Scriptures coming in the mail.

Following in the theme of this post, I wonder if what I'm drawn to is not Christianity, even heretical Christianity, but Gnosticism.

Comments

wyrmwwd smiles...

[wyrmwwd]

I call myself a "Gnostic Pagan". The reason I attach the word "Pagan" is this...

Gnostics believe that the material world is profane, and can never be redeemed. I believe that the Earth is sacred, and can never be profaned. Other than that, there is very little difference between me and the Gnostics.

I am, btw, the only person that I know of that calls themselves this, but this is the best description that I know of to describe what I am.

Re: wyrmwwd smiles...

[wolfshift]

I agree more with your point of view than with that of the ancient Gnostics.

I'm sure there's a cultural component in the world-hating perspective. If the ancient Gnostics emerged from Judaism or other Middle Eastern religions, they would inherit certain ideas about the distinction between God and Creation. I'm just not sure where they'd get such extreme ideas about the world's being unredeemable.

I suspect there's also a psychological aspect to it--to all religions, really. If you're a glass-half-empty type, maybe you'll notice the good more than the bad. If you're a pessimistic grouch looking for stuff to criticise and bitch about, you'll see the bad stuff and discount the good. I see the same attitude in atheist apologetics -- they emphasise how horrible life is, as proof that God(s) cannot exist.

Re: wyrmwwd smiles...

[wyrmwwd]

The ancient Gnostics got it from the world they lived in. The 1st century CE was awful. The center of Jerusalem was the Jewish Temple, which was the major economic engine for the city. However, the Jews had fractured into Pharisees, Sudducees, and Essenes, all involved in a nasty power struggle that had gone on for hundreds of years. Herod the Great had rebuilt the Temple the century before, but he rebuilt it as a Roman building. Herod was TECHNICALLY a Jew, but not really. His grandfather had been conquered by the Jews and circumsised by force as an adult (OUCH!). Herod had been put in charge by the Romans, who ended up ruling Jerusalem not by conquering it, but because one of the warring Jewish factions handed it over to them in an attempt to gain power for themselves. It is an awful, horrible story

Re: wyrmwwd smiles...

[wolfshift]

a group of Essenes had started a monastic commune at Qumran, and they were very busy practicing celibacy

Just the way you phrased this made me laugh.

the radical factions managed to start a riot in an attempt to start armageddon.

Hmm, sounds awfully familiar. ;)

the Temple was destroyed ... because thier God had abandoned them because the Jews had failed to follow the purity laws properly

Yes, the "histories" in the Jewish Bible/OT are all slanted to demonstrate this idea.

Jews, Christians, Muslims and Gnostics all have a different take on it though, as does each faction within those groups.

And since God hasn't got off His cloud to sort it out, my take is that NONE of those laws come from God; they're all human inventions, attributed to God to give them legitimacy. I suppose they could also come from a demiurge, but I'm not sold on that idea yet.