The Gnostics

By Tobias Churton

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760704783
• ISBN13: 9780760704783
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Inc
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A Mystery tour of the Higher Reason

For a book that was written to accompany a television series (The Gnostics on Thames TV in Britain) this introduction to Gnostic thought is really quite well done. I've read it through twice now and my opinion of it has not changed. While the account starts with the finds at Nag Hamadi, Egypt and traditional Gnosticism this book goes for beyond. The author states that he sees the golden thread that connects all great intuitive esoteric conditions. Indeed, he goes on to trace the thread to the Hermetic tradition, the Cathars, the Renaissance Magi, William Blake, the Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Theosophists, The Golden Dawn, and Jung. Some scholars seem to be overwhelmed by this vast chain of interconnection, but personally, I believe that a good case is made. The same perennial philosophy connects all. Indeed, it far predates the period of the traditional Gnostics that the church fought so hard to exterminate. Oh yes, what is "gnosticism?" It is intuitive spiritual knowledge emanating from a higher source. It is the knowledge of higher underlying reality coming from higher worlds. It is direct intuitive knowledge, or recollection, of the Divine. Coming directly from Above, by way of Within, it does not readily lend itself to control and censorship by church bureaucracy and its worldly masters. This edition has eight pages of relevant illustrations in the center section. It also has two excellent appendices showing 1) a historical timeline from 427 B.C. to 1987, and 2) thumbnail descriptions of the contents of all codex's found at Nag Hamadi. There is also an informative bibliography for further study, as well as a full index in back.