What do I need?
What do I need in order to have a firm grasp on Gnosticism and how to refute it?
mm.
Comments
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Off the top of my head...Gnosticism is not easily pinned down because there are variations of it but I know from Scripture it was around in the time of the apostles. Many would say 1 John is in a part a refutation of a Christian Gnosticism and some scholars even say it is seen in the book of John too. To a Gnostic they believe in higher knowledge that will free the spirit entrapped in the body. That the spirit is good and the body is evil. There is a lot more but again I’m just going off the top of my head.
Keith Pang, PhD Check out my blog @ https://keithkpang.wixsite.com/magnifyingjesus
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Gnosis: An Introduction. This is a good academic introduction and compared to Amazon and other retailers, the Logos edition is nicely priced!
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I'm not sure if you have this - https://www.logos.com/product/49767/christian-history-magazine
but I have appreciated this resource - Christian History Magazine-Issue 96: The Gnostic Hunger for Secret Knowledge.
Here is a summary of the contents:
Gnostics: Did You Know?
It Only Takes a Spark (to Keep a Heresy Going)
Defining the Faith
In the Know
The Secret is Out
The Gnostic Christ
One God, One Christ, One Salvation
Gnosticism Unmasked
The Earliest Mere Christianity
No Other Gospel
Taught by the Apostles
The Heresy that Wouldn’t Die
The Unfolding Faith
Recommended Resources
Roots MatterUsing adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Scott E. Mahle said:
Gnosis: An Introduction. This is a good academic introduction
The New Testament and Gnosis: Essays in Honour of Robert McL. Wilson
Would supplement that nicely too I believe (although to be honest I have only read parts of both).
-Dan
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Hey Bruce thanks and I do. I'll put that on my reading list.
Bruce Dunning said:I'm not sure if you have this - https://www.logos.com/product/49767/christian-history-magazine
but I have appreciated this resource - Christian History Magazine-Issue 96: The Gnostic Hunger for Secret Knowledge.
Here is a summary of the contents:
Gnostics: Did You Know?
It Only Takes a Spark (to Keep a Heresy Going)
Defining the Faith
In the Know
The Secret is Out
The Gnostic Christ
One God, One Christ, One Salvation
Gnosticism Unmasked
The Earliest Mere Christianity
No Other Gospel
Taught by the Apostles
The Heresy that Wouldn’t Die
The Unfolding Faith
Recommended Resources
Roots Matter0 -
Also, let me add: I'm reading some of Ken Wilber's stuff. How would you apologize his work? It's very interesting and he's read by anyone who is anyone. I don't agree with him. He's read in many of the sub structures of the UN and it seems some of the Dems are pushing his views. Brian McLaren and the Emergent Church are fully behind Wilber, along with Bill Hybels of Willow Creek etccccccccccccccccccc.
It's smacks of Communist Manifesto ideology which of course is Marxism dressed in a pair of winged tips and a pair of chinos. This is nothing new to us, but it's ungirding policies in the school, political, science, religious arenas right before our eyes. It's taking place on both sides of the NA border.
I hope that fine tunes what I'm searching for.
mm.
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Milkman said:
I'm reading some of Ken Wilber's stuff. How would you apologize his work? It's very interesting and he's read by anyone who is anyone.
I didn't know I wasn't anyone; I haven't even heard of him. [:(]
However, with regard to gnosticism, it is a very broad subject with many contradictory pieces of information to somehow fit together. This is the introductory bibliography from LaSalle University:[quote]
Filoramo, Giovanni. A History of Gnosticism. Trans. A. Alcock. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.
Foerster, Werner. Gnosis. Vol. 1, Patristic Evidence. Trans. R. McL. Wilson; Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
Hedrick, Charles W., and Robert Hodgson, Jr., eds. Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986.
Layton, Bentley. Gnostic Scriptures. Garden City: Doubleday, 1987.
——, ed. The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. Vol. 2, Sethian Gnosticism. Leiden: Brill, 1981.
Logan, A. H. B., and A. J. M. Wedderburn, eds. The New Testament and Gnosis: Essays in Honour of Robert McL. Wilson. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1983.
Longenecker, Richard N., and Merrill C. Tenney, eds. New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974. [various essays on NT and Gnosticism]
Pearson, Birger. Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.
Perkins, Pheme. “Apocalypse of Adam: Genre and Function of a Gnostic Apocalpse.” CBQ 39 (1977) 382-95.
——. “Gnostic Christologies and the New Testament.” CBQ 43 (1981) 590-606.
——. The Gnostic Dialogue. New York: Paulist, 1980.
——. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. [excellent, nigh-exhaustive bibliography]
——. “Irenaeus and the Gnostics.” VC 30 (1976) 193-200.
——. “Johannine Traditions in Ap. Jas. (CG I, 2).” JBL 101 (1982) 403-14.
——. “Logos Christologies in the Nag Hammadi Codices.” VC 35 (1981) 379-96.
——. “New Testament Christologies in Gnostic Transformation.” In The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester. Ed. Birger Pearson, 433-41. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1984.
——. “On the Origin of the World (CG II, 5): A Gnostic Physics.” VC 34 (1980) 36-46.
——. “Pauline Anthropology in the Light of Nag Hammadi.” CBQ 48 (1986) 512-22.
Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. 3d ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
Rudolf, Kurt. Gnosis. Trans. P. W. Coxon and K. H. Kuhn. Ed. R. McL. Wilson; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983.
Scholer, D. M. “Bibliographia Gnostica: Supplementum XXII.” NovT 36.1 (1994) 58-96.
Siker, Jeffrey S. “Gnostic Views on Jews and Christians in the Gospel of Philip.” NovT 31 (1989) 275-88.
Wilson, Robert McL. Gnosis and the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Wink, W. Cracking the Gnostic Code. The Powers in Gnosticism. SBL Monograph Series 46. Atlanta: Scholars, 1993.
Yates, Roy. “Colossian and Gnosis.” JSNT 27 (1986) 49-68.
The Gnostic Society also maintains a decent reading list without the Christian orientation shown above.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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O come on! You have a star beside your name. Read him or check him out. Just like George of Washington's his wife was the someone behind the someone. Your name is at the beginning
MJ. Smith said:Milkman said:I'm reading some of Ken Wilber's stuff. How would you apologize his work? It's very interesting and he's read by anyone who is anyone.
I didn't know I wasn't anyone; I haven't even heard of him.
However, with regard to gnosticism, it is a very broad subject with many contradictory pieces of information to somehow fit together. This is the introductory bibliography from LaSalle University:[quote]
Filoramo, Giovanni. A History of Gnosticism. Trans. A. Alcock. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990.
Foerster, Werner. Gnosis. Vol. 1, Patristic Evidence. Trans. R. McL. Wilson; Oxford: Clarendon, 1972.
Hedrick, Charles W., and Robert Hodgson, Jr., eds. Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986.
Layton, Bentley. Gnostic Scriptures. Garden City: Doubleday, 1987.
——, ed. The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. Vol. 2, Sethian Gnosticism. Leiden: Brill, 1981.
Logan, A. H. B., and A. J. M. Wedderburn, eds. The New Testament and Gnosis: Essays in Honour of Robert McL. Wilson. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1983.
Longenecker, Richard N., and Merrill C. Tenney, eds. New Dimensions in New Testament Study. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974. [various essays on NT and Gnosticism]
Pearson, Birger. Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990.
Perkins, Pheme. “Apocalypse of Adam: Genre and Function of a Gnostic Apocalpse.” CBQ 39 (1977) 382-95.
——. “Gnostic Christologies and the New Testament.” CBQ 43 (1981) 590-606.
——. The Gnostic Dialogue. New York: Paulist, 1980.
——. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. [excellent, nigh-exhaustive bibliography]
——. “Irenaeus and the Gnostics.” VC 30 (1976) 193-200.
——. “Johannine Traditions in Ap. Jas. (CG I, 2).” JBL 101 (1982) 403-14.
——. “Logos Christologies in the Nag Hammadi Codices.” VC 35 (1981) 379-96.
——. “New Testament Christologies in Gnostic Transformation.” In The Future of Early Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester. Ed. Birger Pearson, 433-41. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1984.
——. “On the Origin of the World (CG II, 5): A Gnostic Physics.” VC 34 (1980) 36-46.
——. “Pauline Anthropology in the Light of Nag Hammadi.” CBQ 48 (1986) 512-22.
Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English. 3d ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
Rudolf, Kurt. Gnosis. Trans. P. W. Coxon and K. H. Kuhn. Ed. R. McL. Wilson; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1983.
Scholer, D. M. “Bibliographia Gnostica: Supplementum XXII.” NovT 36.1 (1994) 58-96.
Siker, Jeffrey S. “Gnostic Views on Jews and Christians in the Gospel of Philip.” NovT 31 (1989) 275-88.
Wilson, Robert McL. Gnosis and the New Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Wink, W. Cracking the Gnostic Code. The Powers in Gnosticism. SBL Monograph Series 46. Atlanta: Scholars, 1993.
Yates, Roy. “Colossian and Gnosis.” JSNT 27 (1986) 49-68.
The Gnostic Society also maintains a decent reading list without the Christian orientation shown above.
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MJ. Smith said:Milkman said:
I'm reading some of Ken Wilber's stuff. How would you apologize his work? It's very interesting and he's read by anyone who is anyone.
I didn't know I wasn't anyone; I haven't even heard of him.
I wouldn't worry MJ - I haven't heard of him either! This encourages me to read up about him and explore what he teaches. From what MM has suggested about his teaching and influence, he may be a cause for concern in North America. I'm now wondering if his ideas have spread beyond those shores to ministers, churches and seminaries elsewhere. Keep well Paul
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