Beyond the Gnostic Gospels
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Gnostic Imagery from the Beginning of Our Era to Today Katherine Schaefers, MA
Gnostic Imagery from the Beginning of our Era to Today Katherine Schaefers, M.A. Go directly to the start of the text. Abstract Originally presented at the conference “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Influence of Western Esoteric Movements on Modern Thought,” this essay is an adaption, with additional updates and insights, from my 2004 Master’s thesis “Gnosticism: Towards an Archaeological Definition.” It endeavors to provide suggestions for the possible identification of “Gnostic” material culture, while taking on the question of why there are very few legitimately recognized artifacts from an early Christian period religious movement termed “Gnosticism” by later scholars. This study works to aid scholars in the iconographic identification of ancient Gnosticism, so that we may trace and evaluate symbolic meaning as the movement has continued up to the present day, and its effects on modern trends of thought and belief. The ancient and modern definitions of “Gnosis,” “Gnostic,” and “Gnosticism” are discussed, along with images illustrating possible Gnostic iconography. The concluding section will take a look at the symbols of two modern Gnostic movements, the Ecclesia Gnostica of Los Angeles, California headed by Dr. Stefan Heller and Novus Spiritus, established by Sylvia Browne. Imagerie gnostique du début de notre ère à aujourd’hui Katherine Schaefers, M.A. Résumé À l’origine présenté à la conférence « Dissimulé en pleine lumière: l’influence des mouvements ésotériques occidentaux sur la pensée moderne », cet essai est une adaptation de ma thèse de maîtrise de 2004 intitulée « gnosticisme : vers une définition archéologique », avec des mises à jour et des notions supplémentaires. C’est une tentative pour proposer des suggestions d’identification potentielle de culture matérielle « gnostique », tout en considérant la question du pourquoi il y a peu d’artefacts légitimement reconnus provenant de la période religieuse du début du christianisme, appelée « gnosticisme » plus tard par les érudits. -
THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY “The Nag Hammadi Library”
THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY “The Nag Hammadi Library” The “Nag Hammadi Library” is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, in 1945. Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (popularly known as The Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the town of Nag Hammâdi in 1945. That year, twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local peasant named Mohammed Ali. The writings in these codices comprised fifty-two mostly Gnostic tractates (treatises), but they also include three works belonging to the Corpus Hermeticum and a partial translation / alteration of Plato's “Republic”. In his "Introduction" to “The Nag Hammadi Library” in English, James Robinson suggests that these codices may have belonged to a nearby Pachomian monastery, and were buried after Bishop Athanasius condemned the uncritical use of non-canonical books in his Festal Letter of 367 AD. The contents of the codices were written in Coptic, though the works were probably all translations from Greek. The best-known of these works is probably the “Gospel of Thomas”, of which the “Nag Hammadi Codices” contain the only complete text. After the discovery it was recognized that fragments of these sayings of Jesus appeared in manuscripts discovered at Oxyrhynchus in 1898, and matching quotations were recognized in other early Christian sources. Subsequently, a 1st or 2nd century date of composition circa 80 AD for the lost Greek originals of the Gospel of Thomas has been proposed, though this is disputed by many if not the majority of biblical matter researchers. -
Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and New Testament Interpretation
Grace Theological Journal 8.2 (1987) 195-212 Copyright © 1987 by Grace Theological Seminary. Cited with permission. NAG HAMMADI, GNOSTICISM AND NEW TESTAMENT INTERPRETATION WILLIAM W. COMBS The Gnostic heresy alluded to in the NT and widely repudiated by Christian writers in the second century and after has been in- creasingly studied in the last forty years. The discovery in upper Egypt of an extensive collection of Gnostic writings on papyri trans- formed a poorly known movement in early Christianity into a well documented heresy of diverse beliefs and practices. The relationship of Gnosticism and the NT is an issue that has not been resolved by the new documents. Attempts to explain the theology of the NT as dependent on Gnostic teachings rest on ques- tionable hypotheses. The Gnostic redeemer-myth cannot be docu- mented before the second century: Thus, though the Gnostic writings provide helpful insight into the heresies growing out of Christianity, it cannot be assumed that the NT grew out of Gnostic teachings. * * * INTRODUCTION STUDENTS of the NT have generally been interested in the subject of Gnosticism because of its consistent appearance in discussions of the "Colossian heresy" and the interpretation of John's first epistle. It is felt that Gnosticism supplies the background against which these and other issues should be understood. However, some who use the terms "Gnostic" and "Gnosticism" lack a clear understanding of the movement itself. In fact, our knowledge of Gnosticism has suffered considerably from a lack of primary sources. Now, however, with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi (hereafter, NH) codices, this void is being filled. -
The Gospel of Thomas and Plato
The Gospel of Thomas and Plato Ivan Miroshnikov - 978-90-04-36729-6 Downloaded from Brill.com02/10/2020 03:36:56PM via University of Helsinki Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Johannes van Oort Einar Thomassen Editorial Board J.D. Beduhn – D.M. Burns – A.D. Deconick W.-P. Funk – I. Gardner – S.N.C. Lieu A. Marjanen – L. Painchaud – N.A. Pedersen T. Rasimus – S.G. Richter – M. Scopello J.D. Turner – G. Wurst volume 93 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nhms Ivan Miroshnikov - 978-90-04-36729-6 Downloaded from Brill.com02/10/2020 03:36:56PM via University of Helsinki The Gospel of Thomas and Plato A Study of the Impact of Platonism on the “Fifth Gospel” By Ivan Miroshnikov LEIDEN | BOSTON Ivan Miroshnikov - 978-90-04-36729-6 Downloaded from Brill.com02/10/2020 03:36:56PM via University of Helsinki This title is published in Open Access with the support of the University of Helsinki Library. This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. -
The Gospel of Mary: Reclaiming Feminine Narratives Within Books Excluded from the Bible
The Gospel of Mary: Reclaiming Feminine Narratives Within Books Excluded from the Bible By Therasa Topete Jayne Lewis, Ph.D. Department of English Joseph McKenna, Ph.D. Department of History A thesis submitted in partial completion of the certification requirements for the Honors Program of the School of Humanities University of California, Irvine May 26, 2017 ii Acknowledgments I would like to thank the individuals and groups that have supported me through the year-long process of producing this thesis. I would like to thank the director of the School of Humanities Honors Program Professor Jayne Lewis. I have greatly appreciated your support and enthusiasm for my project. I am so grateful that you never gave up on me and continued to draw out my passion for this labor of love, especially when I could not see a way past the wall at times. Thank you. Thank you to my faculty advisor Joseph Mckenna who stepped in without a second thought to help me through the end of this process. I appreciate that you are always willing to greet me with a smile and engage in some of the most interesting conversations I have had in my three years at UCI. You are the best. Thank you to my peers in the humanities Honors program. Your encouragement and positive attitudes have been a source of inspiration, and I have appreciated the opportunity to engage in amazing intellectual discussions twice a week for the last two years. You are all amazing. Lastly, I would like to say a big thank you to my family. -
Augustine's New Trinity: the Anxious Circle of Metaphor
Augustine’s New Trinity The Anxious Circle of Metaphor* by Eugene Webb University of Washington Augustine of Hippo (354–430) would hardly have been pleased to hear himself described as an innovator. Like any other Church leader of his time, he would certainly have preferred to be thought of as a voice of the Church’s tradition rather than an originator of any aspect of it. Recent scholarship, however, has come increasingly to see him as the source of some of the most distinctive features of the Western Christian tradition. He is now recognized not only as the originator of the doctrine of Original Sin and the peculiarly western interpretation of the doctrine of the Trinity, but also as a major force in shaping for subsequent generations of Christians the relationship between the Church’s spiritual role and its role as a power in the social and political world. With this recognition of the innovativeness of Augustine’s thought has also come the question of how his original contributions are to be evaluated. How well, for exam- ple, did he understand the tradition he was trying to interpret? How well considered were his innovations? Did they introduce not only new perspectives, but perhaps also distortions of the tradition? Elaine Pagels, for example, in her recent book, Adam, Eve, and The Serpent, has said, regarding the influence of his doctrine of Original Sin: “Augustine would eventually transform traditional Christian teaching on free- dom, on sexuality, and on sin and redemption for all future generations of Christians. Where earlier generations of Jews and Christians had once found in Genesis 1–3 the affirmation of human freedom to choose good or evil, Augustine, living after the age of Constantine, found in the same text a story of human bondage.”1 She describes this as a “cataclysmic transformation in Christian thought” (Ibid.) and suggests that it is time Augustine’s distinctive contributions in this area were reexamined and reevalu- ated. -
Early New Testament Canons
Early New Testament Canons illegallyAlexander or sledge-hammers.leasing infrequently. Wang Unsinewing impaling Magnuscloudily? Sanforize or transcendentalizing some scarps overwhelmingly, however dedicational Billie demoralizes His own gospels vary, early new testament canons of irenaeus, among scholars do another source goes to How We Got the New Testament: Text, Transmission, Translation. New testament were derived from which early new testament. Church history and caused much better greek? Alpha and Omega Ministries is a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. But there may argue even death for understanding biblical account was early new? Please check your knowledge. What were the principal criteria by which various books were recognized as being a part of the NT Scriptures? New Testament history set by the end shuffle the way century. Another factor which included romans as canonical gospels which were mentioned by no. Word of God for eternal life. How do you have no conspiracy about their canons we owe it would be used it was going out a canonization. Church in Jerusalem using? After all, Judaism achieved a closed canon without primary reliance on the codex. This demonstrates that loan were in circulation before whose time. It more specifically this? Jesus as the revealer of the inner truth about the cellular human utility than and find the Mark, down in Matthew. Well as early church tradition, testaments were also their way that john, beneficial but only thing. Gospels, four books; the Acts of the Apostles, one hang; the Epistles of Paul, thirteen; of the supplement to the Hebrews; one Epistle; of Peter, two; of John, apostle, three; of James, one; of Jude, one; the Revelation of John. -
Tertullian and the Doctrine of the Trinity I
TERTULLIAN AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY I. Tertullian – Originator of the Trinity Tertullian's Legend At the end of the second century there were three main centers of church organization – in Antioch, in Alexandria, and in Rome. The language used in the church writings was Greek. But the situation was soon to be changed; due to the writings of Tertullian, Carthage, his city, and Latin, his language, were to gain prominence and give rise to a Latin Christianity.1 Though Tertullian (ca 170-ca 230) is the most important Christian writer2 in the development of Christian doctrine, he was not mentioned during the third century. He inspired, however, other writers in Africa: Minucius Felix (fl. second half of the second century), Cyprian (200-258), Arnobius of Sicca (fl. ca 300), Lactantius (ca 240-ca 320), and the first Italian theologian who wrote in Latin, Novatian (210-280), whose De Trinitate3 is just a repetition of Tertullian's treatise. Novatian‟s treatise was written in 257 and probably in reaction to the doctrine of Sabellius (fl. ca 215) which he began to propound shortly before. Even today Tertullian‟s importance is not fully recognized. Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930), a preeminent German theologian, writes: When the Nicene formulary is praised, it is always of Athanasius that we think; when the Chalcedonian decree is cited, it is the name of Leo the Great that is magnified. But that Tertullian is in reality the father of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and of the Person of Christ, and that in the whole patristic literature there is no treatise that can be compared in importance and influence with the tract “Against Praxeas” it has necessarily been left to the investigation of our own day to exhibit.4 2 We do not know much about Tertullian, and what we know is primarily from his own writings.5 We know that Septimius Tertullianus6 lived during the reigns of Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211) and his son Caracalla (211-217) in Carthage, and was probably born ca 170. -
Reading Sex and Gender in the Secret Revelation of John
Reading Sex and Gender in the Secret Revelation of John The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation King,Karen L. Reading Sex and Gender in the Secret Revelation of John. The Journal of Early Christian Studies 19, no.4:519-538. Published Version doi:10.1353/earl.2011.0045 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8835481 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#OAP The Journal of Early Christian Studies, forthcoming. Reading Sex and Gender in the Secret Revelation of John KAREN L. KING Abstract The Secret Revelation of John is replete with imagery of the divine Mother alongside the Father God and his Son Christ. It boasts of powerful female saviors—and even identifies Christ among them. Eve is not the cause of humankind’s fall, but of its redemption. The sexual intercourse of Adam and Eve marks not original sin, but a step toward salvation. Yet readers find, too, an idealized divine world in the pattern of the ancient patriarchal household, and a portrait of another female figure, Sophia, whose bold and independent action leads to a fatherless world headed by a sexually violent and deviant bastard. The complexity of this imagery, nestled in a story that operates with oppositional strategies and parody, ensures that no single monolithic perspective on sex/gender will rule—and indeed it opens up a crack where it is possible that the wise- fool Sophia is more completely the hero of the story than one might think. -
Title Goes Here
Video 257: More on Gnostic Cosmology —the Kenoma vs. Orion by Wes Penre, May 22, 2021 The video to this transcript can be found on our Video channel: https://wespenrevideos.com ___________________________________________________________________________________ t least since the Matrix series came out in the theatres, people in the alternative fields have called our 3-D reality “the Matrix.” We see it as either a simulated A reality, and/or a narrow frequency band, within which humankind is limited. This has been the norm of thinking in the alternative field since the beginning of this millennium. In the Wes Penre Papers (WPP), I discussed the 4% Universe, which would correspond with this limited frequency band, and the 96% Universe, which is the Universe humans in our 3-D bodies cannot perceive. Science calls the invisible Universe dark matter and dark energy, and they don’t know what it is and why we cannot see it. In the WPP, I wrote that the invisible Universe is Orion, or the Orion Empire (see wespenre.com for more info). Then, I started looking into the Gnostic texts and discussed those on my blog1. As far as I am concerned, the Gnostic texts (GT) are a direct extension of the WPP, or I would say the WPP are to a degree the GT but told from another perspective. 1 https://wespenrevideos.com/ © 2021 Wes Penre Productions. Can be freely distrubuted for personal use if not in any way altered. 1 In the GT, there are four major “realms” being mentioned. They are, the Pleroma (the Spiritual Realm), the 9th and 8th Heavens (Sophia’s/the Orion Queen’s Realm in the physical Universe), the 7th to 1st Heavens, i.e., the Kenoma, which we usually call the Matrix, and finally the 5 Heavens/dimensions of the Underworld or the Abyss. -
“Lost Gospels”—
“Lost Gospels”— Lost No More The New Testament, a 27-book collection of texts Tony Burke written within a century of Jesus’ crucifi xion, is typically thought of as the one-stop source for all information about the origins of Chris- tianity and for the answers to pressing moral and ethical questions. But these texts were not automatically declared scripture after their writers had put down their pens. It took some time, centuries in fact, for Christians to determine which texts were important enough and popular enough to be added to the Jewish Tanakh as a refl ection of the “new covenant” ushered in by Jesus. By the time that decision was reached, Christianity had gone through a period of intense literary activity, leaving the church with an embarrassment of riches from which to choose their sacred texts. THE NON-BIBLICAL JESUS. The Christian apocrypha (which means “secret,” but came to be understood pejoratively as “false” or “spurious”) depict many diverse images of Jesus and early Christian theology that are diff erent from those found in the New Testament. Many of these texts were written to adapt the Jesus movement to the writer’s particular context. This fourth- century opus sectile (stone inlay) fl oor mosaic of the head of Jesus from a building near Porta Marina, Ostia, Italy, is contemporary with many of the SCALA / ART RESOURCE, NY RESOURCE, ART / SCALA apocryphal gospels and refl ects one artistic interpretation of Jesus. BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW 41 LOST GOSPELS The considerable literature that did not make the cut because, as bishop Athanasius of Alexandria wrote constitutes the Christian apocrypha. -
The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition
Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-1983 The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition John Stine Penman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Medieval History Commons Recommended Citation Penman, John Stine, "The Albigensian Heresy and the Gnostic Tradition" (1983). Master's Theses. 1621. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1621 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY AND THE GNOSTIC TRADITION by John Stine Penman A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of'M aster of Arts Medieval Studies Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 1983 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY AND THE GNOSTIC TRADITION John Stine Penman, M.A. Western Michigan University, 1983 That the Albigensian heresy represents a resurgence of early Christian Gnosticism is the thesis of this work. The study defines Gnosticism in terms of its pattern of prevalent characteristics and traces the course of Gnosticism and its emergence as the Albigensianism of the Middle Ages. Using the finding of Hans Soderberg's La Religion des Cathares: Etudes, sur le gnosticisme de la basse antiquite et du moyen Sge. as a point of departure through the analysis of documents discovered since 1949, the study shows that Gnosticism and the Albigensian heresy represent a continued tradition of religious expression as a recognizable alternative to the accepted and established institutions of Christianity in the Western world.