Rating: 
Summary: Visible Structured Dogma vs. Subjective Experience & Choice
Review: This book is very enlightening and I think highly significant for anyone professing the Christian faith. In the second century of our common era, the Catholic Church, under their interpretation of Christianity, which differed from the Gnostics, as found in the Nag Hammadi. In this they constructed the bible cannon including the 66 books commonly used by all current day Protestants, and in addition, the apocryphal. In turn, they rejected scores of other books that were just as valid expressions of the Christian experience. In this, they omitted crucial variations into the understanding of an experience that went far beyond mere doctrines and dogma. And this is exactly what the Gnostics endorsed, a Christianity that emanated from individual subjective experiences, each having a private interior journey, as in the case of St. Paul, as opposed to prescribed doctrines and organization hierarchy. They supported an invisible brotherhood of inclusive equality as opposed the visible hierarchal organization endorsed by the Orthodox. Thus they violently opposed each other; however there were exceptions made for the Orthodox within different schools of Gnosticism. In this they did not support a physical resurrection, but rather subjective experiential visions as in Christ's (visionary) appearance to Martha and later to St. Paul on the road to Damascus and his vision of being "caught up in a third heaven," which equated to the rejection of Christ's sole appearance to the Apostles, supposedly designating their unique authority and the inherited authority of their so-called successors, the Orthodox Catholic church. While the Gnostics walked in the uncertainty of self discovery and freedom of choice, the Orthodox rested in the fundamentalism of certainty, safety and captured structure.
What I think makes this book so good is that fact that is comprehendible without the philosophical, theological abstractions and circular semantics you will find in other explanatory expressions in Gnostic scholarship.
Unlike the Orthodox, the Gnostics did not seek answers, but instead they sought furthering the process of asking questions. This is a major difference. Like the East in various forms of Buddhism and Hinduism, their progression of understanding existed in subjective experience through meditation, contemplation and the search inward as opposed to the external search of traditional monotheism found in various forms of Judaism and the Orthodox. It was an internal search to "know thyself," as Socrates had so stated, as well as the contemporary Plotinus, although he was an objective philosophical metaphysicist, who rejected both Eastern thought, Gnosticism, and all Christianity for that matter, for its simplicity and lack of definitive philosophical explanation, which be believed was the only way to enlightenment.
In this, the Valentinus school of Gnostic thought rejected the literalization of the Hebrew Scriptures, rejecting the God of Israel's claim of Oneship, perceiving him as a lesser divine being who serves as the instrument of the higher powers, and thus stated in ignorance, "I am the only God, there is no other," and "I am a jealous God." In this, they defined the Creator as Plato's demiurge, the creator was not the same as the divine essence the permeated all Beinghood. Rather, the creator existed as a form apart from the perfect absolute idea that rested beyond the form, as in the case of Sophia, the mother of the demiurge, similar to Paul Tillich's expression of the "God beyond God." Anotherwards, the dualism of Plato's God of Good, the eternal and unchanging in the world of perfect forms of Sophia-Wisdom and the God of Demiurge, the fleeting and impermanent God, Yahweh, in the world of changes. The Creator of the Hebrew Scriptures is not the eternal God, Valentinus explains, but the demiurge who reigns as king and lord, who acts as a military commander, who gives the law and judges those who violate it. Achieving gnosis recognizes the ignorance that dwells both in the demiurge's claims of being the "only God" and that of those who interpret this world of senses as reality. Gnosis involves coming to recognize the true source of divine power, the depth of all being, the Father and Mother. Before gaining gnosis, the candidate worshiped the demiurge, mistaking him for the true God, but now has been released from the demiurge's power, declaring his independence, transcending it. Valentinus' writes to his opponent, Clement:
"You claim to represent God, but, in reality, you represent only the demiurge, whom you blindly serve and obey, I, however, have passed beyond the sphere of his authority and so, for that matter, beyond yours!"
In this Valentinus rejected the idea of one creator God of this world of senses, one Bishop and one visible Church to obey, but favored subjective experience, as in visions, dreams, intuitive awareness and flashes of insight and artistic expression.
Interestingly, they followed the Newtonian cause and effect of a belief system, as in Orthodoxy with gatherings and shared expressions, and yet, they rejected hierarchy, letting the Quantum law of acausal effect take place in that they had no hierarchy, no dogmas and no strict organizational structure. Therefore they drew lots at each meeting to decide on the spot who would be the priest, leader and directors of each meeting, inclusive to all, both male and female.
Now there were various schools of thought within Gnosticism, Valentinus, Basilides, Marcion and others, not all endorsed the above and they fought amongst themselves, which makes this information much more detailed. This book contains not only information on the Gnostics but various quotes from the well known Orthodox leaders, as Clement, Tertullian (who later left the Orthodox), Irenaeus, Ignatius and others in their views against the Gnostics for a well rounded view of both the Gnostics and its opposing viewpoints, although there were many variations. Also, Pagels has other books on the Gnostics, The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, The Gnostic Paul, The Secret Gospel of Thomas and Beyond Belief, which go further into the Gnostic teachings.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling Excellent!
Review: This work compellingly investigates the relationship between Christian Gnosticism and the nescient orthodoxy in the early centuries of the Christian movement. Pagels explores the political and social implications of the coalescing orthodoxy's religious tenets, providing us something of the secular context for the elements of the Nicene creed. Such an approach could provide (and often has) a facile platform for preachy social discourse or disparagement, but Pagels is too much the scholar for this and I personally found her detachment respectable. After providing us a fascinating history of the Nag Hammadi texts (the "Gnostic Gospels" of the title), Pagels deftly contrasts their tenets against the orthodox positions, revealing the diversity of early Christian thought. The very concepts of "orthodoxy" and "heterodoxy" inevitably have serious secular implications, but these are rarely explored with the adroitness demonstrated by this fascinating work. The Gnostic gospels from the Nag Hammadi differ radically from organized Christian dogma. In the first 300 years of Christianity, Gnostic dogma and scripture were destroyed by zealots and suppressed by the church. The Nag Hammadi is the only surviving scriptures of early Christians that haven't been heavily edited by biased early Christian theologians. They are all free to be read on the internet at www.gnosis(dot)org Consider: The tip of the iceberg: Numerous authorities who had noted the errors in the K.J.V. such as William Kilburne (1650's) 20,000 errors, John Wesley (in 1755) 12,000 changes in the New Testament alone, the Revised Version of 1881 consisted of 36,000 errors and on and on. The NIV, RSV and The Living Bible are also replete with thousands of errors. Do some research! The KJV Bible is the True Word of God! Or is it? Inspired? Or not? I believe all of the one star ratings and rantings are from uneducated Protestants. For example: In 'Acts 5:30; 10:39.' the KJV, in speaking of Jesus' death, reads, "Whom ye slew 'and' hanged on a tree." The word "and" is 'not' in the Greek text, and by adding it to the text at this point in the verse it leads to some confusion on the part of the readers. The conjunction "and" indicates grammatically that one action followed another (i.e.: two separate actions independent of one another). Some unbelievers have tried to use this verse to demonstrate that Christ was killed first, 'and then' His dead body was hung on a 'tree'. By inserting the word "and," numerous complications have arisen which could have been prevented by a correct translation of the original text. The KJV translators also did not know what the "Asherah" was (a wooden idol representing a Canaanite goddess), so they translated the word repeatedly as meaning a "grove" of trees. In 'I Kings 16:33' they state, "And Ahab made 'a grove," which provoked the Lord God to anger. In point of fact, Ahab made an 'idol' here (the Asherah); his sin was 'idolatry', not planting a grove of trees!! In Deuteronomy 33:17 the KJV speaks of "the horns of unicorns." There are two mistakes in this passage: (1) The animal mentioned here in the original text is the "wild ox" and not the mythical "unicorn," and (2) in the original text the passage speaks of one animal (singular) with horns (plural). In Luke 18:12 the KJV reads, "I give tithes of all that I possess." The Law did NOT require one to tithe a tenth of all that he "possessed" (all his capital holdings), but rather a tenth of his increase (that which he acquired in addition to his possessions). This is clearly stated in the Greek word used in this passage. So if the few examples I've given you of some 10 thousand I'm aware in various scriptures, how do you know the Passion is accurate? Flawed men produce flawed works. No man with emotions and feelings was ever unbiased in his writings and translations. Research the genre of historical books written by scholars who are not blinded by the dogma of their Christian or Jewish writings. The more I study, the more Agnostic I become. No man, religion, or dogma is between me and my God. Decide for yourself; "He who believes blindly sees not the truth." If you are open minded and looking for those books begging for its pages to be turned...look no further. I just read a copy of Edgar Fouche's 'Alien Rapture,' which also blew me away. Fouche was a Top Secret Black Program 'insider', whose credibility has been verified over and over. I also really liked Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons.' Want to be shocked, check out Dr. Paul Hill's 'Unconventional Flying Objects' which NASA tried to ban.
Rating:
Summary: A Village Reader Review
Review: Well, after reading The Da Vinci Code and watching the special on TV, I naturally went out and bought more books - at least, that is natural for me, anyway. The result is not quite a review, more like thinking out loud. It has been said that history is written by the winners. One of the books recently finished, and used by Brown (and possibly also Perdue in Daughter of God) is Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels. What a thought provoking work. In this case, the 'winner' was a unified church. How to summarize what happened? The book itself is only 151 pages - but the intro prior to the main thesis of the book is over 35 pages. The intro lays out the basis for the 151 pages that follow. As the church was forming, there was an organized group that became the orthodoxy of the 'only holy apostolic and catholic church' (I think that is the wording, I'm not a Catholic). The church was organized along strict hierachical lines. But the 'losers' in the early development were a group that felt that each individual had the knowledge (gnosis) to determine what the right spiritual search/meaning/path was for them - therefore very loosely organized at best. Much of the work used for this philosophy was writtne down and saved by monks near Cairo and hidden when the church determines that history should be written by the winners, er, wait, when they decided that anything outside the agreement enforced by Constantine was heretical and must be destroyed. The dating on these texts is concurrent or prior to the texts used in the New Testament - ranging from about 60 to 120 AD. These monks hid the scrolls & parchments in large pottery, which was discovered about 60 years ago after 1000 years in hiding. One of the things Pagels does well is to point to existing books of the Bible that largely support some of the non-orthodox books. She also indicates that the one book which almost didn't make it and has a large 'gnostic' flavor to it is John - and its focus on self awareness and an individual approach to God. The missing books give a different perspective on the development of the church, and I'm sure I'll be exploring more in this area. Also interesting, though largely unstated in the book, that Luther et al, prodded (in part) by the technology or the printing press, actually pointed back to the time of the gnostics - where rather than the Bible being 'dispensed' by the local parish priest, should be read by all for a more personal meaning. There was a relatively minor reference in this regard, due, I'm sure, to space considerations. Very, very interesting stuff, folks.
Rating: 
Summary: Missing the Most Important Thing of All!
Review: Whatever the merits (or lack thereof) to be found in the historical and political messages this book presents, there remains a primary and singular omission from this book, which, it can be assumed, is not the author's fault. Gnosis, which is the ancient secret knowledge that leads to the direct personal knowledge of the mysteries of life and death, is something so profound, so ground-shaking, so deeply penetrating, and yet its truths and its mysteries are one hundred percent PRACTICAL, meaning that they are accessed not through the intellect or through ideas or even through belief: they are discovered only and exculsively through ACTION. This book presents the ideological and intellectual opinion of a modern day scholar, who clearly knows nothing at all about the real, living, scientific methods of Gnosis. This science did not die some centuries ago, it merely went underground. It has survived. And now, for the first time, that ancient knowledge is being revealed in the English language with the first translations made of such works as The Pistis Sophia Unveiled (coming soon), The Perfect Matrimony, The Three Mountains, The Great Rebellion, and more, all by the Gnostic Master Samael Aun Weor, a man who wrote almost seventy books indicating in detail all the practical steps one must live in order to know for oneself, which is the definition of the word Gnosis. Why waste your time reading more opinions and intellectual arguments or dogmatic, belief-driven arguments, when you can instead discover the method to arrive at direct knowledge? Truly, if only Ms. Pagels and her scholarly fellows were to realize the essential nature of the Gnostic Wisdom, how different her books would be!
|
