Description
Book SynopsisThe Gnostic World is an outstanding guide to Gnosticism, written by a distinguished international team of experts to explore Gnostic movements from the distant past until today. These themes are examined across sixty-seven chapters in a variety of contexts, from the ancient pre-Christian to the contemporary. The volume considers the intersection of Gnosticism with Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Indic practices and beliefs, and also with new religious movements, such as Theosophy, Scientology, Western Sufism, and the Nation of Islam.
This comprehensive handbook will be an invaluable resource for religious studies students, scholars, and researchers of Gnostic doctrine and history.
Trade Review"As a new wave of critical scholarship into Gnosticism, ancient and modern, begins, The Gnostic World is the ideal place to get caught up. Impressively combining concise entries on Gnosticisms familiar and unfamiliar, from the early Christianity to medieval Islam, fin de siècle occultists and 21st century cinema, with digestible summaries of the definitional and theoretical controversies, this will be the standard reference work for many years to come." David G. Robertson, The Open University, UK
"The Gnostic World is a comprehensive, ground-breaking presentation of the diverse beliefs, practices, and social formations related to the movements previously known as "Gnostic." In over forty chapters ranging from the ancient world to contemporary culture, international experts address recent controversy regarding the historical reconstruction of such groups while also breaking new ground in following diverse but interconnected literary and intellectual traditions. The result is a major achievement in the comparative study of religions." Paul Dilley, The University of Iowa, USA
"This broad and comprehensive volume not only includes chapters on Gnostic movements in late antiquity, but also covers more recent religions that are structurally similar to ancient Gnosticism, as well as such topics as anti-cult groups and Gnosticism in fiction and music. It will be an invaluable resource for scholars and other interested readers." Olav Hammer, University of Southern, Denmark.
"The Gnostic World is an impressive collection of interdisciplinary studies of Gnosticism, a phenomenon that has intrigued (and often confused) many people from antiquity through today. Written by leading international experts, the volume explores all dimensions of the topic, often with new insights and fascinating cross-references to other cultural phenomena and theoretical discussions. The Gnostic World is an indispensable tool for students of Gnosticism and a milestone of critical research." Kocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Garry W. Trompf
Theoretical
1. Gnosticism, Gnostics, and Gnosis
Dylan M. Burns
2. "The Gnostic World": A History of Scholarship (until 2000)
Garry W. Trompf
3. Gnostics and Temporality: From Myth to Macrohistory
Garry W. Trompf
Ancient
4. Ancient Pre-Christian "Gnosticisms": The State of the Questions
Carl B. Smith II
5. The Jewish Background to "Gnosticism": A Guide for the Perplexed
Garry W. Trompf
6. Gnostic Motifs in the New Testament
Pheme Perkins
7. On Ancient "Gnosticism" as a Problematic Category
Michael A. Williams
8. Gender Issues and the Study of Ancient "Gnosticism"
Majella Franzmann
9. The Gnostics in Early Christian Heresiology
Mark Edwards
10. Genres of Gnostic Literature and the "Classical Gnostic" School of Thought
John D. Turner
11. Sethian Gnostic Speculation
John D. Turner
12. Basilides and the Basilidians
Jean-Daniel Dubois
13. Valentinus and the Valentinians
Einar Thomassen
14. Is the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
David W. Kim
15. The Gospel of Judas and the Tchacos Codex
Garry W. Trompf and David W. Kim
16. The Mandaeans: Writings, Rituals, and Art
Brikha Nasoraia
17. Hermetism and Gnosticism
Jean-Pierre Mahé
18. Plotinus and the Gnostics
Francis Lacroix and Jean-Marc Narbonne
19. Gnostic Elements in Ancient Magical Papyri
Malcolm Choat
20. Mani’s Life
Iain Gardner
21. The Manichaean Path to Salvation
Jason D. BeDuhn
22. Insight and Means in Chinese Manichaean Texts
Gunner B. Mikkelsen
23. From "Zurvanism" to Mazdak
Garry W. Trompf and Milad Milani
24. Christian Gnosis: From Clement the Alexandrian to John Damascene
Doru Costache
25. Gnostic Vicissitudes in Late Antiquity
Garry W. Trompf
26. Jñāna: Gnostic Tendencies in Early Hinduism and Buddhism
Gregory Bailey
27. The Discourse of Truth in Tiantai Buddhism: "Gnosis Beyond Gnosis"
Haiyan Shen, with Brikha H.S. Nasoraia
Medieval
28. Questions of Gnostic Influence on Early Islam
John C. Reeves
29. An Agenda for the Study of Early Shiʿi Cosmologies
Mushegh Asatryan
30. Classic Sufism and Gnosis
Milad Milani
31. Ismailism and Gnosis
Farhad Daftary
32. Druze Gnosis and the Mystery of Time
Adnan Kasamanie
33. Gnostic Elements in Yezidism
Victoria Arakelova and Garnik Asatryan
34. Kabbalah and Gnosticism
Michael Schneider
35. Bogomils and Cathars
Zdenko Zlatar
36. Alchemy and Gnosis from Antiquity to Early Modern Times: "As Above so Below"
Peter Marshall
Modern: West, East, and Current Issues
Europe and the West
37. "Gnosis" as Term and Concept in the Esoteric Movements of the Modern West: An Attempt at Periodization
Antoine Faivre
38. Byzantine and Modern Orthodox Gnosis: From the Eleventh to the Twenty-first Century
Doru Costache
39. Pansophia, Christian Kabbalism, and the Quest for Universal Knowledge in the Early Modern West
Garry W. Trompf
40. Freemasonry: Gnostic Images
Garry W. Trompf
41. British Romanticism: Gnostic Longings
William Christie
42. William Blake, the Ancient Gnostics, and the Birth of Modern Gnosticism
Peter Otto
43. Gnosis in the "French Occult Revival" and its Offshoots
Tobias Churton
44. The "Lost Word" Key and Esoteric Eschatology: Blavatsky’s Gnosis the Core of Krishnamurti’s Teaching
Al Boag
45. The Philosophy of Guido von List (1848-1919): Connecting Gnosticism to Nazism
Jeffrey D. Lavoie
46. Rudolf Steiner: Multiple Bodies
Wayne Hudson
47. Gnostic Sensibility in Gurdjieff’s "Work"
Constance A. Jones
48. Western Sufism and Gnosis
Mark Sedgwick
49. Gnosis: A Perennialist Perspective
Harry Oldmeadow
50. Carl Jung on Gnosticism
Robert A. Segal
51. Elevating the Family in the Nation of Islam: Discerning the "Gnostic Factor"
Dennis Walker
East (and Beyond)
52. Inner Tradition: Recovering Christianity of the East
Lynn C. Bauman
53. Gnosis in Bābism and Gnostic Signs in Bābī Talismans
Denis MacEoin
54. Ayatollah Khomeini’s Gnoseology and its Impact on his Political Worldview
Emad Bazzi
55. Syncretistic Sufi Gnosticism in South and Southeast Asia
Clinton Bennett
56. Aurobindo and Supermind
Peter Heehs
57. Of Gnosis in Tribal and "Primal" Cultures
Garry W. Trompf
Current
58. Between the Libertines and the Renunciants: The neo-Gnostic synthesis of Samael Aun Weor
Bernard Doherty
59. Scientology and Gnosticism: L. Ron Hubbard’s "The Factors" (1953)
Donald A. Westbrook and James R. Lewis
60. Gnostic and Esoteric Filaments in Popular Culture
Adam Possamai
61. Feminist Gnosis and Modern Gender Issues
Jay Johnston
62. Modern Psychedelic Gnosis
Christopher Partridge
63. Exposing Gnosticism
Douglas E. Cowan
64. Gnostic Fiction
Carole Cusack
65. Cinema: evil demiurges in Hollywood fi lms at the threshold of the twenty-first century
Fryderyk Kwiatkowski
66. Music and Gnosis
Joscelyn Godwin
67. Aesthetics and Visual Art
Jay Johnston
Index
