The Gnostics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Gnostics write by David Brakke. This book was released on 2012-09-03. The Gnostics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Who were the Gnostics? And how did the Gnostic movement influence the development of Christianity in antiquity? Is it true that the Church rejected Gnosticism? This book offers an illuminating discussion of recent scholarly debates over the concept of ÒGnosticismÓ and the nature of early Christian diversity. Acknowledging that the category ÒGnosticismÓ is flawed and must be reformed, David Brakke argues for a more careful approach to gathering evidence for the ancient Christian movement known as the Gnostic school of thought. He shows how Gnostic myth and ritual addressed basic human concerns about alienation and meaning, offered a message of salvation in Jesus, and provided a way for people to regain knowledge of God, the ultimate source of their being. Rather than depicting the Gnostics as heretics or as the losers in the fight to define Christianity, Brakke argues that the Gnostics participated in an ongoing reinvention of Christianity, in which other Christians not only rejected their ideas but also adapted and transformed them. This book will challenge scholars to think in news ways, but it also provides an accessible introduction to the Gnostics and their fellow early Christians.
Against the Protestant Gnostics
Against the Protestant Gnostics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Against the Protestant Gnostics write by Philip J. Lee. This book was released on 1993-08-19. Against the Protestant Gnostics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In this penetrating and provocative assessment of the current state of religion and its effects on society at large, Philip J. Lee criticizes conservatives and liberals alike as he traces gnostic motifs to the very roots of American Protestantism. With references to an extraordinary spectrum of writings from sources as diverse as John Calvin, Martin Buber, Tom Wolfe, Margaret Atwood, and Emily Dickinson, he probes the effects of gnostic thinking on a wide range of issues. Calling for the restoration of a dialectical faith and practice, the book points to positive ways of restoring health to endangered Protestant churches.
The Gnostics
The Gnostics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Gnostics write by Tobias Churton. This book was released on 1997. The Gnostics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The Greek word 'gnosis' means knowledge; the Gnostics themselves used it to refer to the spiritual knowledge they believed would redeem them from what they regarded as the inherent evil of the material universe. As a mystical alternative tradition within Christianity, Gnosticism suffered the hostility of the official church and, as a result, remains largely unknown or misunderstood to this day.
What is Gnosticism?
What is Gnosticism? - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook What is Gnosticism? write by Karen L. King. This book was released on 2003. What is Gnosticism? available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A study of gnosticism examines the various ways early Christians strove to define themselves in a pluralistic Roman society, while questioning the traditional ideas of heresy and orthodoxy that have previously influenced historians.
The Essence of the Gnostics
The Essence of the Gnostics - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Essence of the Gnostics write by Bernard Simon. This book was released on 2005-03-01. The Essence of the Gnostics available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. For what is it that the All lacked, if not the knowledge of the Father?' - Gnostic text from the Gospel of Truth Long before there was a system of belief called Gnosticism there were those who reached for a special intimate knowledge of God and His mysterious ways. The possession of such knowledge, they believed, would bring salvation from suffering. All religious traditions acknowledged that the world is imperfect. Where they differ is in the explanations they offer for this imperfection - and in what they suggest might be done about it. While many religionists hold that humans are to be blamed for these imperfections, the Gnostics believed that the world is flawed because it was created in a flawed manner, thereby implicating the creator. Such a perspective was regarded as blasphemous by fellow-Christians at the dawn of the new religion, and led to the sect's persecution. Equally concerning were the Gnostics' liberal views regarding sex, the role of women, and toleration of other faiths. In The Essence of the Gnostics Bernard Simon offers a fascinating insight into this ancient and yet in many ways surprisingly contemporary faith, and explores the reasons for its current renaissance.
