Download Free Poetics Of The Gnostic Universe Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Poetics Of The Gnostic Universe and write the review.

This volume is both an essay in Gnostic poetics and a study in the history of early Christian appropriation of ancient philosophy. The object of study is the cosmological model of the Apocryphon of John, a first-hand and fully narrated version of the Gnostic myth. The author examines his target text against a complex background of religious and philosophical systems, literary theories, and rhetorical techniques of the period, and argues that the world model of the Apocryphon of John is inseparable from the epistemological, theological, and aesthetic debates within contemporary Platonism. Poetics of the Gnostic Universe also discusses the composition and narrative logic of the Apocryphon of John, explores its revisionist attitude towards various literary models (Plato’s Timaeus, Wisdom literature, Genesis), and analyzes its peculiar discursive strategy of conjoining seemingly disconnected symbolic ‘codes’ while describing the derivation of a multi-layered universe from a single transcendent source.
The monograph examines the cosmological section of the "Apocryphon of John," a fully narrated version of the classic Gnostic myth. The author argues that the "Apocryphon" s world hypothesis is inseparable from the epistemological, theological, and aesthetic debates within contemporary Platonism.
Brings together the study of literature with the psychology and history of religions.
Preliminary Material /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Mythology and the Sethian Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --From Origin of Evil to Origin of Righteousness /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Unde Malum: From Apocalyptic Literature to Gnostic Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Archons as Seducers /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Gnostic Race /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Seth and the Child /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Salvation History /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Sacred Geography /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Sons of God or Sons of Seth? /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Echoes and Repercussions /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Elements in Hermetic Traditions /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Gnostic Myths in Manichaean Garb /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --The Gnostic Sexual Myth /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa --Bibliography /Gedaliahu A.G. Stroumsa.
M. David Litwa tells the stories of the early Christians whose religious identity was either challenged or outright denied. In the second century many different groups and sects claimed to be the only Orthodox or authentic version of Christianity, and Litwa shows how those groups and figures on the side of developing Christian Orthodoxy often dismissed other versions of Christianity by refusing to call them “Christian”. However, the writings and treatises against these groups contain fascinating hints of what they believed, and why they called themselves Christian. Litwa outlines these different groups and the controversies that surrounded them, presenting readers with an overview of the vast tapestry of beliefs that made up second century Christianity. By moving beyond notions of “gnostic”, “heretical” and “orthodox” Litwa allows these “lost Christianities” to speak for themselves. He also questions the notion of some Christian identities “surviving” or “perishing”, arguing that all second century "Catholic" groups look very different to any form of modern Roman Catholicism. Litwa shows that countless discourses, ideas, and practices are continually recycled and adapted throughout time in the building of Christian identities, and indeed that the influence of so-called “lost” Christianities can still be felt today.
This volume investigates the early, second-century reception of the Fourth Gospel. This is an era when its fortunes are surrounded by silence and mystery. It was assumed, until quite recently, that Gnostic and other so-called heterodox groups were the first ones to appreciate this gospel, and hence the mainstream Christians avoided using it until Irenaeus rescued it for the church. Lately, this view has been challenged by several scholars for several reasons. The contributions in this volume, written by leading specialists in their respective fields, offer an approachable, fresh, comprehensive and up-to-date view of the second-century reception of John s Gospel, in a situation where new understandings about various forms of early Christianity and its multiformity have started to emerge.
In a day fascinated with questions of historiography and with explicating a distinctive Christian philosophy of time and history, Henri-Charles Puech’s (1950s) work on Gnosis and time found an audience. Studying four second-century texts he marked as Gnostic, he argued for the Gnostic, anti-cosmic, anti-historical pessimism about existence within the tyrannical temporal world of bondage and error. Bliss and truth were otherworldly and atemporal. This book reassesses Puech’s argument by analysis of the writings undergirding his sample and a wide array of second-century Christian and Gnostic-Christian texts that display not the Gnostic view, as if there were one, but a broader second-century theological discussion regarding time, world and knowledge manifesting a spectrum of perspectives. A review of past and present scholarly discourse that evoked discussions of Gnosticism and anti-cosmism, and informed Puech’s thesis begins the volume along with study of his own thesis. A discussion of the academy’s reception of Puech then follows. The close reading of early pertinent texts forms the heart of the work arguing for eight discernible models of history, time, and world that arose within the second-century intellectual debate.
Despite the surge of interest in Gnostic texts following the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library, the Coptic Books of Jeu and Pistis Sophia remain understudied. Often dismissed as convoluted, confused, and repetitious, Erin Evans convincingly shows that these texts represent the writings of a distinct religious group with a consistent system of theology, cosmology, and ritual practice. This book offers an in-depth examination of these texts, their relationship to other contemporary Gnostic ideas, and their use in the context of a practicing religious group. Three thematic sections demonstrate how the collection of texts functions as a whole, covering baptisms and mystical ascent procedures, guides to moral living, and introductory texts and myths.
Foreword, written by Alexander A. Di Lella appears after "Contents" and a photo of the honoree; then, Introduction, by the editors. The contributions, thirteen in all, are divided into four parts: One: Genesis Creation Traditions; Two: Later Septuagintal Books; Three: New Testament Texts; and Four: Linguistic Studies. Next there is a bibliography of Fr. Gignac; a list of the contributors, with their academic locations; Index of Ancient Sources; Index of Authors; Index of Subjects.
Mystery and secrecy were central concepts in the ritual, rhetoric, and sociological stratification of antique Mediterranean religions. That the ultimate nature and workings of the divine were secret, and either could not or should not be revealed except as a mystery for the initiated, was widely accepted among Pagans, Jews, and then Christians, both Gnostic and otherwise. The similarities and differences in the language of mystery and secrecy across religious and cultural borders are thus crucial for understanding this important period of the history of religions. The present anthology aims to present and analyze a wide selection of sources elucidating this theme, reflecting the correspondingly wide scholarly interests of Professor Einar Thomassen in honor of his 60th birthday.