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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
While not a page turner by any means, Jonas' investigation of the ancient religious phenomenon that is Gnosticism (specifically the Egyptian-Syrian or Valentinian type in which inadvertent divine 'oversight' sets in motion the whole drama of creation and redemption) culminates in an insightful historical thesis on the identity of Existentialism and Gnosticism. That is, Gnosticism is how the ancients responded to the dissolution of the Hellenic whole-parts relation between Man and World (cosmos). Students of Heidegger and existentialism will benefit from reading the epilogue. There are also brief remarks on 'Gnostic Libertinism' that would seem to corroborate Klossowski's thesis that the integral atheists of Sade's literary universe are actually closet Gnostics.
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Jonas provides the clearest and shortest understanding of gnosticism that I've ever read. It is so well done that you could read only the first two chapters and still have an immensely better appreciation for the contents of and rationale for gnoticism, in its pagan and Christian contexts. The first three chapters provide the historical context and survey of the contents for gnostic writings. The rest of the book provides a more in-depth look at the various systems of gnostic thought, as well as specific writers, and specific questions. Jonas concludes by noting that the beginning and end gnosticism's paradox n is the unknown God himself who is unknowable on principle because the other is totally unknown and is other to everything that is know, and yet is somehow the object of a knowledge and asks to be know. The knowledge of him itself is the knowledge of his unknowability; the predication upon him is thus known by negation and is a negative theology. He is truly an alien god.
Living in Hell
Written in 1933 but still the best introduction to this ancient system of belief, The Gnostic Religion is a book of our time. Nominally about religion, Jonas documents the political and cultural conditions which provoked the rapid spread of philosophic dualism throughout the Romano/Hellenic world. Although resisted vigorously by the establishments of Christianity and Judaism, Gnostic influence on European civilisation remained persistent over two millennia. And today during a period of analogous cultural shifts, Gnosticism has emerged from its own ashes as a dominant philosophy and religious culture.
The philosophy of Gnosticism is hard to pin down since it promotes individualism in thought and a vague anti-intellectualism, a sort of neo-liberal free for all of ideas. But Gnosticism’s anthropology and cosmology as recorded in its mythology capture its intellectual position reasonably clearly. There the essential dualisms of God/Creation, Mind/Matter, and Good/Evil are stated rather poetically. We are prisoners in this material world of filth and suffering, held captive by the Archons who prevent our psyches, those lost sparks of light, from returning to their real home beyond the vault of of the sky. The Archons and their commander, the Demiurge, created the world for just this purpose. We are an alien life form suffering from “worldsickness”. That is, we are essentially living in hell:*
The central religious concept of Gnosticism, namely gnosis or knowledge, is one of hope rather than nihilism however. This is the knowledge necessary for the psyche to outsmart the Archons. By being aware of the situation, our psyches will be able to escape through a sort of spiritual muscle memory after our death. Gnosis should not be confused with Pistis, that is Christian faith, or unswerving belief, as invented by St. Paul to distinguish Christianity from Judaism. Gnostic knowledge is not promulgated widely as, for example, in the gospels (although Jesus’s admonition to remain silent about him in Mark 1: 24-25 could well be a Gnostic hint**). Gnosis is secret in the sense that it is only passed on to initiates from one identified as the saviour. Those ‘in the know’ are special and club together for mutual instruction and support.
Despite being attacked as a heresy, Gnosticism shares much with Christianity. Orthodox Christians also consider the world we inhabit to be ‘fallen,’ a ‘vale of tears,’ and functionally evil. They recognise that it is a world rife with temptations that distract us from a reunion with God, that is to say, salvation. Christians put their faith in the word of God, which is at least analogous if not identical to the Gnostic trust in their secret knowledge which is also considered as divine revelation. And Gnostics too also have their Saviour whose efforts on their behalf are necessary for achieving their spiritual goal.
Consequently it has been impossible for church authorities to prevent Gnostic influence. Even the gospels, especially that of John, and the epistles of Paul show significant Gnostic influence. The Church Father, Origen, was anathematised for incorporating Gnostic teachings on unity with God into his preaching. The ex-Gnostic, St. Augustine, retains many Gnostic views in his Confessions. Even the great 20th century Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, echoes ancient Gnostic mistrust of words in his assertion that the gospels are not the Word of God but only the word of man.
Moreover this Gnostic mistrust of words shows up frequently in Christian mysticism as an undermining of official doctrine. The claims by mystics to have direct union with the divine have often been highly suspect as implying such union independently of the church and sometimes even of Christ. Finally the dualistic nature of Christian philosophy - more or less identical to the Gnostic - makes it easy for Gnostic ideas to infect popular spirituality under the radar of church officials. Hence Jonas’s referral to “the hidden Gnosticism in the modern mind.” An early Gnostic hymn, for example would not be out of place in an evangelical congregation today:
It was Harold Bloom who suggested that Gnosticism is the American religion (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1674879248 ). He identified Mormonism as its paradigm but included all religion in the country, Christian or not, in that category. Whether this is due to the country’s invention by Gnostic Deists, the frightening void of the frontier, or the inevitable syncretistic tendencies of an immigrant society is unclear. The several historical American ‘awakenings’ use this explicitly Gnostic term to refer to mass revivals, as do today’s televangelists. In any case this brand of Gnosticism has spread globally with the extension of the American Empire’s military, media, commercial, intellectual, and general cultural presence (the irony that the United States should be promoting a religion of ancient Iran and Iraq can’t be missed).
That Gnosticism literally demonises nature, rejects established norms of behaviour as merely instruments of repression, cultivates the theory of a cosmic conspiracy, promotes an attitude of smug superiority among its adherents, and encourages the emergence of fanatical leaders who promise salvation from current evils is obviously not of merely historical interest. Jonas perceived the rise of National Socialism in German as a Gnostic event. But he also saw it in a broader cultural context. “Something in Gnosticism knocks at the door of our Being and of our twentieth-century Being in particular,” he writes. I think it is likely Jonas would have judged our current circumstances as a second act in the long-running production of the Gnostic comeback.
*This is all based on empirical science of the time not primitive fantasy. The duality of human nature is something most of us still take for granted as a Cartesian legacy. But Gnosticism goes much further in thinking beyond Homo Sapiens. The world of light above the vault is evident because we can get glimpses of it through the pinpricks in the vault which we call stars but only for convenience. And the Archons (we call them planets) can be observed patrolling continuously in search of sparks attempting to escape. Sparks which are able to avoid the Archons are collected are periodically transferred to their home in the world of light, a phenomenon we erroneously refer to as the waxing and waning of the moon.
**Such hints in the New Testament are numerous. For example in the epistle to the Ephesians 5: 14, an undoubtedly Gnostic insertion reads: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
Written in 1933 but still the best introduction to this ancient system of belief, The Gnostic Religion is a book of our time. Nominally about religion, Jonas documents the political and cultural conditions which provoked the rapid spread of philosophic dualism throughout the Romano/Hellenic world. Although resisted vigorously by the establishments of Christianity and Judaism, Gnostic influence on European civilisation remained persistent over two millennia. And today during a period of analogous cultural shifts, Gnosticism has emerged from its own ashes as a dominant philosophy and religious culture.
The philosophy of Gnosticism is hard to pin down since it promotes individualism in thought and a vague anti-intellectualism, a sort of neo-liberal free for all of ideas. But Gnosticism’s anthropology and cosmology as recorded in its mythology capture its intellectual position reasonably clearly. There the essential dualisms of God/Creation, Mind/Matter, and Good/Evil are stated rather poetically. We are prisoners in this material world of filth and suffering, held captive by the Archons who prevent our psyches, those lost sparks of light, from returning to their real home beyond the vault of of the sky. The Archons and their commander, the Demiurge, created the world for just this purpose. We are an alien life form suffering from “worldsickness”. That is, we are essentially living in hell:*
“The cardinal feature of gnostic thought is the radical dualism that governs the relation of God and world, and correspondingly that of man and world. The deity is absolutely transmundane, its nature alien to that of the universe, which it neither created nor governs and to which it is the complete antithesis: to the divine realm of light, self-contained and remote, the cosmos is opposed as the realm of darkness. The world is the work of lowly powers which though they may mediately be descended from Him do not know the true God and obstruct the knowledge of Him in the cosmos over which they rule. The genesis of these lower powers, the Archons (rulers), and in general that of all the orders of being outside God… ”
The central religious concept of Gnosticism, namely gnosis or knowledge, is one of hope rather than nihilism however. This is the knowledge necessary for the psyche to outsmart the Archons. By being aware of the situation, our psyches will be able to escape through a sort of spiritual muscle memory after our death. Gnosis should not be confused with Pistis, that is Christian faith, or unswerving belief, as invented by St. Paul to distinguish Christianity from Judaism. Gnostic knowledge is not promulgated widely as, for example, in the gospels (although Jesus’s admonition to remain silent about him in Mark 1: 24-25 could well be a Gnostic hint**). Gnosis is secret in the sense that it is only passed on to initiates from one identified as the saviour. Those ‘in the know’ are special and club together for mutual instruction and support.
Despite being attacked as a heresy, Gnosticism shares much with Christianity. Orthodox Christians also consider the world we inhabit to be ‘fallen,’ a ‘vale of tears,’ and functionally evil. They recognise that it is a world rife with temptations that distract us from a reunion with God, that is to say, salvation. Christians put their faith in the word of God, which is at least analogous if not identical to the Gnostic trust in their secret knowledge which is also considered as divine revelation. And Gnostics too also have their Saviour whose efforts on their behalf are necessary for achieving their spiritual goal.
Consequently it has been impossible for church authorities to prevent Gnostic influence. Even the gospels, especially that of John, and the epistles of Paul show significant Gnostic influence. The Church Father, Origen, was anathematised for incorporating Gnostic teachings on unity with God into his preaching. The ex-Gnostic, St. Augustine, retains many Gnostic views in his Confessions. Even the great 20th century Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, echoes ancient Gnostic mistrust of words in his assertion that the gospels are not the Word of God but only the word of man.
Moreover this Gnostic mistrust of words shows up frequently in Christian mysticism as an undermining of official doctrine. The claims by mystics to have direct union with the divine have often been highly suspect as implying such union independently of the church and sometimes even of Christ. Finally the dualistic nature of Christian philosophy - more or less identical to the Gnostic - makes it easy for Gnostic ideas to infect popular spirituality under the radar of church officials. Hence Jonas’s referral to “the hidden Gnosticism in the modern mind.” An early Gnostic hymn, for example would not be out of place in an evangelical congregation today:
“Having once strayed into the labyrinth of evils,
The wretched [Soul] finds no way out . . .
She seeks to escape from the bitter chaos,
And knows not how she shall get through.
It was Harold Bloom who suggested that Gnosticism is the American religion (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1674879248 ). He identified Mormonism as its paradigm but included all religion in the country, Christian or not, in that category. Whether this is due to the country’s invention by Gnostic Deists, the frightening void of the frontier, or the inevitable syncretistic tendencies of an immigrant society is unclear. The several historical American ‘awakenings’ use this explicitly Gnostic term to refer to mass revivals, as do today’s televangelists. In any case this brand of Gnosticism has spread globally with the extension of the American Empire’s military, media, commercial, intellectual, and general cultural presence (the irony that the United States should be promoting a religion of ancient Iran and Iraq can’t be missed).
That Gnosticism literally demonises nature, rejects established norms of behaviour as merely instruments of repression, cultivates the theory of a cosmic conspiracy, promotes an attitude of smug superiority among its adherents, and encourages the emergence of fanatical leaders who promise salvation from current evils is obviously not of merely historical interest. Jonas perceived the rise of National Socialism in German as a Gnostic event. But he also saw it in a broader cultural context. “Something in Gnosticism knocks at the door of our Being and of our twentieth-century Being in particular,” he writes. I think it is likely Jonas would have judged our current circumstances as a second act in the long-running production of the Gnostic comeback.
*This is all based on empirical science of the time not primitive fantasy. The duality of human nature is something most of us still take for granted as a Cartesian legacy. But Gnosticism goes much further in thinking beyond Homo Sapiens. The world of light above the vault is evident because we can get glimpses of it through the pinpricks in the vault which we call stars but only for convenience. And the Archons (we call them planets) can be observed patrolling continuously in search of sparks attempting to escape. Sparks which are able to avoid the Archons are collected are periodically transferred to their home in the world of light, a phenomenon we erroneously refer to as the waxing and waning of the moon.
**Such hints in the New Testament are numerous. For example in the epistle to the Ephesians 5: 14, an undoubtedly Gnostic insertion reads: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
Jonas’ book is one of the classics in Gnostic scholarship. Predating the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, Jonas interprets the Gnostic religion in Twentieth Century philosophic terms. Trained under Martin Heidegger, Jonas draws parallels between Gnosticism and existentialism. Though slightly outdated, Jonas’ book is a must-read for anyone even remotely interested in Gnosticism.
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
This is the definitive work about Gnosticism. Readable, eminently understandable, which is the real miracle, considering the baroque nature of some of the source material.
This was thrilling. Gnosticism is fascinating anyway but this deep dive into its origins, its types, its meaning, and its resonance with modern existentialism, brings out all the vivid spectacle and philosophical richness of these ancient visionary ideas.
Jonas is eloquent and deeply researched. He clearly respects the thinkers and is personally intrigued by the cultural upheavals they were dealing with. This works great as a cultural history lesson in itself, but the real glory is the mythological detail. Any fan of Joseph Campbell will appreciate the lore and its analysis.
But what really brings this to another level is Jonas' existentialist background. His ultimate critique of the world-denial within gnosticism is the same as his critique of existentialist nihilism. As a student of Heidegger he's in a good position to show what is missing in his former mentor's system, and its resonace with gnostic beliefs is what compelled him to this study in the first place. That's what gives him the perspective to draw out all the meaning in these mythologies.
While reading this I ordered two of his other books. This is his analysis of other thinkers' ideas, but it's enough to compel me to read his other books which elaborate more on his own ideas. Very much looking forward to reading his essays on life and technology.
Jonas is eloquent and deeply researched. He clearly respects the thinkers and is personally intrigued by the cultural upheavals they were dealing with. This works great as a cultural history lesson in itself, but the real glory is the mythological detail. Any fan of Joseph Campbell will appreciate the lore and its analysis.
But what really brings this to another level is Jonas' existentialist background. His ultimate critique of the world-denial within gnosticism is the same as his critique of existentialist nihilism. As a student of Heidegger he's in a good position to show what is missing in his former mentor's system, and its resonace with gnostic beliefs is what compelled him to this study in the first place. That's what gives him the perspective to draw out all the meaning in these mythologies.
While reading this I ordered two of his other books. This is his analysis of other thinkers' ideas, but it's enough to compel me to read his other books which elaborate more on his own ideas. Very much looking forward to reading his essays on life and technology.