Description
Book SynopsisIn Gnostic Afterlives, fourteen scholars explore the intersection of Gnostic spirituality in American religion and culture. Papers theorize Gnosis/Gnostic in modernity, examine neo-Gnostic movements in America, and investigate the Gnostic in popular American films, literature, art, and other aspects of culture.
Table of Contents1 Introduction: Gnostic Afterlives in American Religion and Culture April D. DeConick Part 1: Theorizing the Gnostic in Modernity 2 The Sociology of Gnostic Spirituality April D. DeConick 3 Can We Recover Gnosis Today? Gregory Shaw 4 What Is Gnosis: An Exploration Arthur Versluis Part 2: (Neo-)Gnostic Movements in America 5 The Knowing of Knowing Neo-Gnosticism, from the O.T.O. to Scientology Hugh B. Urban 6 Know Place: Heaven’s Gate and American Gnosticism Cathy Gutierrez 7 American Gnosis: Jesus Mysticism in A Course in Miracles Simon J. Joseph 8 The New Age and Gnosticism: Terms of Commonality Mitch Horowitz Part 3: The Gnostic in Popular American Culture 9 The Gnostic in Us All: Thinking from the Macrobiotics of Michio Kushi Catherine L. Albanese 10 The Space Jockey and the Future of Enjoyment: Alienated Sentience in the World of H. R. Giger Eric Wargo 11 A Metaphysical Rebel? Camus’s Analysis of Gnosticism and Its Influence on Literature and Cinema Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta 12 Eric Voegelin and Gnostic Hollywood Fryderyk Kwiatkowski 13 The Afterlives of the Archons: Gnostic Literalism and Embodied Paranoia in 21st CE Conspiracy Theory Matthew Dillon 14 The Electric Chrism Acid Test: The Problem of Psychedelic Gnosis Erik Davis 15 Reflections of an American Gnostic Jeffrey J. Kripal Index
