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| ]'s ] reflects some of Crowley's interest in Gnosticism as written about by ]<ref name=grsmead>, cites G.R.S. Mead as Crowley's primary source on Gnosticism.</ref>. Thelema requires that adherents work to arrive at their own direct knowledge (or 'gnosis') of the divine (this is referred to in the Thelemic system as the ']'). There are several Thelemic Gnostic organizations, including ] and ] which are ] bodies, while ] and ] serve as initiatory bodies. | ]'s ] reflects some of Crowley's interest in Gnosticism as written about by ]<ref name=grsmead>, cites G.R.S. Mead as Crowley's primary source on Gnosticism.</ref>. Thelema requires that adherents work to arrive at their own direct knowledge (or 'gnosis') of the divine (this is referred to in the Thelemic system as the ']'). There are several Thelemic Gnostic organizations, including ], ] and ] which are ] bodies, while ] and ] serve as initiatory bodies. | ||
| ====Hans Jonas==== | ====Hans Jonas==== | ||
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Gnosticism includes a variety of ancient religions prevalent in the Mediterranean in the third century AD. Prior to the 20th century, little was known about the various Gnostic movements, due to paucity of original material available to scholars and the public. Since the emergence of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945, and its translation into English and other modern languages in 1977, Gnosticism has undergone something of a rapid dissemination, and has as a result had observable influence on several modern figures, and upon modern Western culture in general. This article attempts to summarise those modern figures and movements that have been influenced by Gnosticism, both prior and subsequent to the Nag Hammadi discovery.
Scholars of Gnosticism and those influenced by it
William Blake
William Blake, the late-eighteenth—early-nineteenth nineteenth century Romantic poet and artist, was according to Gilchrist, his biographer, well-versed in the doctrines of the Gnostics, and his own personal mythology contains many points of cohesion with several Gnostic mythemes (for example, the Blakean figure of Urizen bears many resemblances to the Gnostic Demiurge). However, efforts to dub Blake a "Gnostic" have been complicated by the complex nature and colossal extent of Blake's own mythology, and the variety of myths and themes that are referred to as "Gnostic"; thus, the exact relationship between Blake and the Gnostics remains a point of scholarly contention, though a comparison of the two often reveals intriguing points of correspondence.
Madame Blavatsky
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, wrote extensively on Gnostic ideas.
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley's Thelema reflects some of Crowley's interest in Gnosticism as written about by G.R.S. Mead. Thelema requires that adherents work to arrive at their own direct knowledge (or 'gnosis') of the divine (this is referred to in the Thelemic system as the 'Great Work'). There are several Thelemic Gnostic organizations, including Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis and The Thelemic Gnostic Church of Alexandria which are ecclesiastic bodies, while Ordo Templi Orientis and The Order of Thelemic Knights serve as initiatory bodies.
Hans Jonas
The philosopher Hans Jonas wrote extensively on Gnosticism, interpreting it from an existentialist viewpoint. For some time, his study The Gnostic Religion was widely held to be a pivotal work, and it is as a result of his efforts that the Syrian-Egyptian/Persian division of Gnosticism came to be widely used within the field.
Carl Jung
Carl Jung worked on trying to understand and explain the Gnostic faith from a psychological standpoint. Jung's "analytical psychology" in many ways schematically mirrors ancient Gnostic mythology, particularly those of Valentinus and the 'classic' Gnostic doctrine described in most detail in the Apocryphon of John (see gnostic schools).
Jung understands the emergence of the Demiurge out of the original, unified monadic source of the spiritual universe by gradual stages to be analogous to (and a symbolic depiction of) the emergence of the ego from the unconscious.
However, it is uncertain as to whether the similarities between Jung's psychological teachings and those of the gnostics are due to their sharing a "perennial philosophy", or whether Jung was unwittingly influenced by the Gnostics in the formation of his theories. Jung's own 'gnostic hymn', the Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (Latin: "The Seven Sermons to the Dead"), would tend to imply the latter, but after circulating the manuscript, Jung declined to publish it during his lifetime. Since it is not clear whether Jung was ultimately displeased with the book or whether he merely suppressed it as too controversial, the issue remains contested.
Uncertain too are Jung's belief that the gnostics were aware of and intended psychological meaning or significance within their myths.
On the other hand, it is clear from a comparison of Jung's writings and that of ancient Gnostics, that Jung disagreed with them on the ultimate goal of the individual. Gnostics in ancient times clearly sought a return to a supreme, other-worldly Godhead. In a study of Jung, Robert Segal claimed that the eminent psychologist would have found the psychological interpretation of the goal of ancient Gnosticism (that is, re-unification with the Pleroma, or the unknown God) to be psychically 'dangerous', as being a total identification with the unconscious.
To contend that there is at least some disagreement between Jung and Gnosticism is at least supportable: the Jungian process of individuation involves the addition of unconscious psychic tropes to consciousness in order to achieve a trans-conscious centre to the personality. Jung did not intend this addition to take the form of a complete identification of the Self with the Unconscious.
Eric Voegelin
In the 1950's Eric Voegelin entered into an academic debate concerning the classification of modernity following Karl Löwith's 1949 Meaning in History: the Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History; and Jacob Taubes's 1947 Abendländishe Eschatologie. In this context, Voegelin put forward his gnosticism thesis: criticizing modernity by identifying an immanentist eschatology as the gnostic nature of modernity. Differing with Löwith he did not criticize eschatology as such but rather the immanentization which he described as a "pneumopathological" deformation. Voegelin did not respond to criticisms of his gnosticism thesis, having left this debate about historical categorization to pursue an "anamnetic" approach to history. However, he remained identified with his gnosticism thesis, which subsequently became popular in neo-conservative and cold war political thought.
Modern gnostic revivals
- In the United States there are several Gnostic churches with diverse lineages, one of which is the Ecclesia Gnostica, based primarily in Los Angeles, which is affiliated with the Gnostic Society, an organization dedicated to the study of Gnosticism. The current leader of both organizations is Stephan A. Hoeller who has also written extensively on Gnosticism and the occult. Parishes of the Ecclesia Gnostica and educational organizations affiliated with the Gnostic Society are active in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, West Virginia, Sedona, Arizona, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Oslo, Norway.
- Mar Didymos I of the Thomasine Church has reinterpreted Gnosticism and the thomasine gospels from an Illuminist viewpoint. The method employed by clergy and initiates of the Thomasine Church involves the use of the scientific method and of critical thinking rather than dogmatism. Mar Didymos stresses the use of scientific theory or the use of a synthesis of well developed and verified hypotheses derived from empirical observation and deductive/indicative reasoning about factual data and tested through experimentation and peer review. The Thomasine Church describes this as antithetical in principle and method as compared to all of the existing modern Gnostic churches.
- After a series of visions and archival finds of Cathar-related documents, Jules Doinel "re-established" the Gnostic Church in the modern era. Founded on extant Cathar documents with a heavy influence of Valentinian cosmology, the church, officially established in the autumn of 1890 in Paris, France, consisted of modified Cathar rituals as sacraments, a clergy that was both male and female, and a close relationship with several esoteric initiatory orders (see Gnostique.net for more information). The church eventually split into two opposing groups that were later reconciled under the leadership of Joanny Bricaud.
- The "traditionalist" René Guénon founded in 1909 the Gnostic review La Gnose. He believed in and throughout his works exposed the idea that modern thought, by its preference to the quantity more than to the quality, is the root of all evil aspects of modernity. The whole scientific enterprise would just be the beheaded relic of a lost Sacred Science. Modern technology and its realizations, worshipped by his contemporaries, would have been just a latter epiphany of the Kali Yuga (alias Dark Age), in a Cyclical Conception of Time.
- The Apostolic Johannite Church is a Gnostic Christian Church which claims valid Apostolic Succession from various lineages including Catholic, Old Catholic and Orthodox bishops. The church has Parishes, Narthexes or representatives in six countries (Canada, USA, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Australia.) It is a founding member of the North American College of Gnostic Bishops. It maintains an active seminary program, the St. Raphael the Archangel Theological Seminary (See the "Vocations" page in and in collaboration with the Gnostic Church of Mary Magdalene sponsors a lay monastic order called the Order of Saint Esclarmonde (see Esclaremonde of Foix - Legacy). The church has been described or referred to in several books and articles. Author Jordan Stratford is a priest in the Apostolic Johannite church.
- The Alexandrian Gnostic Church is a modern sacramental Gnostic community that emphasizes the contemplative tradition of inner Christianity.
- The Gnostic Christian Society of Shakerley is a modern Gnostic community based near Manchester that seeks unity. This society includes the gnostic gospels with in its official canon (see external link below).
Gnosticism in popular culture
Main article: Gnosticism in popular cultureGnosticism has seen something of a resurgence in popular culture in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This may be related, certainly, to the sudden availability of Gnostic texts to the reading public, following the emergence of the Nag Hammadi library.
Modern gnostic mysticism
Gnostic believers today retain much of the gnostic mysticism of early Christian centuries, in particular that
- human minds (equated with souls) are independent of the realm of matter, and are emanations of the One, the non-physical Spirit;
- the physical world is a result of the Demiurge manifesting himself, and it is ruled by Archons, or demons, which prevent the spiritual progress of the mind in every possible way and maintain its entrapment in matter. Aeons help human souls to escape from the material world and the cycle of reincarnation.
These doctrines are well explained by Dutch gnostic scholar and Rosicrucian Jan van Rijckenborgh.
See also
References
- 1. Weiss, Gilbert (2000). "Between gnosis and anamnesis--European perspectives on Eric Voegelin". The Review of Politics. 62 (4): 753–776. 65964268.
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- Article by the OTO on Bardesanes, cites G.R.S. Mead as Crowley's primary source on Gnosticism.
- ^ AJC Official website
- The North American College of Gnostic Bishops
- The Order of Saint Esclarmonde via the GCMM
- The Order of Saint Esclarmonde via the AJC
- "The Virgin and The Priest" by Mark Gibbs, Lulu.com, 2008, p.265, ISBN 1435704576
- Living Gnosticism, Jordan Stratford, Apocryphile Press, 2007, ISBN 1933993537
- Atlantis Rising Magazine, “The Templars’ Biggest Secret and the Vatican” by Mark Amaru Pinkham, 2004
External links
All external links are given in alphabetical order by page title or, where available, by author. If you wish to add to the lists, please maintain this layout.
- The Alexandrian Gnostic Church
- The Apostolic Johannite Church
- Ecclesia Gnostica
- Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
- Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum
- Ecclesia Gnostica Universalis
- The Gnostic Way
- Lectorium Rosicrucianum
- Sophia Fellowship
- Thomasine Church
- Universal Gnostic Church