The Gnostic Apocalypses (original) (raw)
Related papers
Philosophy & Social Criticism, 2023
Beginning with Jacob Taubes and Günther Anders on eschatology, apocalypse and political theology, including Saint Paul and Frankfurt School critical theory along with bombs and power plants (energy/climate), this essay parallels a re-reading of Tracy B. Strong’s political reading of Nietzsche on Jesus (and love) with Taubes, Anders and Carl Schmitt on politics (and technology). Highlighted throughout is the politically charged (and inherently esoteric) context of Gnosticism for philosophy and theory for Taubes but also for Anders. Full text here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01914537231203551 If you need access to the full version of this article and your institution does not offer access, please let me know and I can send you a research pdf.
Beware of the Gnostics (a change paper)
Rather than an organized church, Gnosticism or Docetism in antiquity were broad dualistic ways of thinking held as expressions of reality within Greco-Roman society. A codified body of literature did not exist. The Pistis Sophia was a major work and is available here, and the Nag Hammadi manuscripts also constitute literature with gnostic ideas. Carpocrates and Valentinus were gnostic leaders in the second century A.D. Marcion founded celibate churches in Syria where monasticism also developed, and Tatian, also a gnostic, developed the first canon or list of inspired books. Origen in 248 A.D. shows signs of gnostic thinking in his writing, e.g. . “Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin…..” – Homily on Leviticus. Origen was prolific, and one may think he wrote too much. Irenaeus was a second century Christian writer and counsellor who advised Pope Victor.. Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics still hold the view that every human conception is separated from God because of sin inherited from Adam and Eve. The teaching is that Jesus died to save even infants from original sin. By tying the sacrifice of Jesus to original sin, the latter seems validated by the former. Definition: Evangelical Gnosticism is a dualistic world-view that believes salvation from sin is attained only by an unseen spiritual approach, i.e. internal mental assent alone; excluding physicality. In this way, the idea of “spiritual” has been hijacked or claimed by the evangelical gnostics. The insidious nature of gnostic thinking is that one may not realize that their ideas are gnostic.