How do you relate the Bible and the Valentinian writings in the Nag Hammadi Scriptures? First, what authority do the Valentinian writings have? Second, what authority does the Bible have? Third, how do the Nag Hammadi Scriptures and the Bible relate to one another? These are difficult questions and little consensus among Gnostic Christians. But…
How do you know that what you believe is true? That is the question known as epistemology or the “theory of knowledge.” I don’t think we can know very much for certain. We have to give up that search. But I do think we can discover how probable a claim to truth is. I will…
Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). When Church and State join forces you know that bad things…
I am in pursuit of wisdom, because wisdom leads to flourishing, and flourishing leads to serenity. But what is wisdom? I don’t think we really know for sure. I have tried a number of times to define it, so here goes another attempt. Wisdom is the overall perspective from which one sees the true nature…
Gnostic Christianity began as one of many kinds of Christianity. It followed the teachings of the apostles Paul, Thomas, and John. Unfortunately, the organized institutional Church joined up with the imperial Roman Empire and decided that only one form of Christianity would be tolerated. Therefore, gnostic Christianity became a persecuted group, and eventually died out…
"I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “Unless you are reborn, you can’t experience God’s kingdom.” – Jesus Christ (John 3:3 FBV) In Buddhism, people are reborn into five realms. There is the earthly realm, the animal realm, the ghost realm, the hell realm, or the heavenly realm. Each transition is a rebirth. When you…
I am a student of Gnosticism because I am a specialist in Christian mysticism. The Gnostics were among the first mystics. This is important to remember, because later mystics had to distance themselves from the Gnostics in order to survive. And even now, telling you their secret, could cast the heresy label on them. But…
I am afraid that any guidance I give you here will be misunderstood unless I first define what I mean by a philosopher. There are at least two kinds of people that are called philosophers, the academic professor of philosophy and the lover of wisdom. To be honest, it is only recently that lovers of…
It is interesting, in fact, fascinating, that those who are interested in Gnosticism tend to speculate all over the place. They bring in occult ideas such as alchemy, Kabbalah, and astrology. But their interests and mine are different. I'm in a quest to discover the historic Christianity. I want to understand the early Christian background,…
You can certainly leave Christianity but it does not leave you. Your liberation from it is delusion. Christ is the way. You can certainly run away, but then you are no longer on the way. - Carl Jung (Red Book) Christianity is the foundational myth of Western civilization. Myth is what provides context and perspective…