Loading...In my previous post I reproduced the new discussion of Gnosticism in my soon to be published After the New Testament, 2nd edition (due to be out in the fall). In this post and the two to follow I will reproduce my new discussions of the various “types” of Gnostic texts that I include in the anthology. Many scholars would consider this first type the most important historically: it is a group of texts produced by and for Gnostics known by scholars as the “Sethians.” Here is what I say about them in the book.
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Sethian Gnostics
The group of Gnostics that scholars have labeled the “Sethians” are known from the writings of proto-orthodox heresiologists beginning with Irenaeus (around 180 CE) and from some of the significant writings of the Nag Hammadi library. They were a thriving sect already by the middle of the second century.
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I have rejected completely the mystical justification for an ascetic life, re: food, sex, anything. Moderation is healthy for physical reasons, not mystical ones. Yet these various myths humanity has embraced to belittle the physical fascinate me. Was it about feigning control over uncontrollable things? Did it work in any other way?
My mind turns to empirical science for answers, but it also turns to something that simply tells me the truth. The unknown God? Sophia? I’ll call on any name, but the answer I get is, “I don’t know, David. I’m just a human invention. Real wisdom requires data.” I haven’t found a god who disagrees with that.
I don’t always study Gnosticism, but when I do, it always reminds me of the Gospel of John.
Nice post. Reminds me of some of the Scientology “secret” teachings that have been leaked in recent years – stories of souls from other worlds being implanted here on Earth millions of years ago after some sort of galactic war involving a Lord Xenu. Sometimes I wonder how many of these gnostic belief systems were legitimately founded by someone genuinely thinking they’d had a ‘revelation’, and how many were simply cleverly designed scams cashing in the growing ‘Jesus movement’ fad of the 2nd century.
Also: Totally off-topic, but I’ve noticed that when you enter the site, and click on the ‘Bart’s Thoughts’ tab, it used to come up straight away with a list of ‘Bart’s Recent Posts’ on the right-hand side. I notice now that you have to click in on the latest post (in the centre / left-hand side) before the ‘Recent Posts’ list comes up. Not a big deal, but makes it harder to find older posts. Might be something on my end?
I’m not sure — I’ll have Steve look into it.
I’ve had the same problem, and what I click on first is always “Public Forum.” I have to pick a post and click on “Continue,” then click *again* to get to the “Members Only” version of the post.
Sounds complicated and it surprises me that ancient people had such complicated beliefs, but I guess ordinary Christianity also would seem complicated if one were hearing it for the first time. It does add to the idea that ancient people thought that there were levels of divinity in contrast to our view that something is either divine or human..
I admire the way that you have moved on from your recent book to a new project. I imagine I would have gotten mired down in responding to the feedback concerning the book. Your “moving on” is better.
Was it generally their belief that Jesus was the source of this information? how were people supposed to have found out about the truth?
Yes, in Christian Gnostic circles, Christ was the one who revealed the secrets necessary for salvation.
I’ve never been clear on one aspect of these trapped “divine sparks”. Only some people have them, and if they fail to meet the requirements of ascension, they fail to ascend. So, are the sparks thought to be “reincarnated” into another fleshly vessel if they fail to ascend? This train of thought comes from the portrayal of these ‘sparks” having been trapped in materiality a some point in the mythic past and their apparent finite number (I.e. they are not fruitful nor multiplying).
Yes, apparently some gnostics held to a notion or reincarnation.
Did the Sethians believe – as I think you imply here – that any and all humans *could* ascend to that higher level, if they received and accepted the teachings, and underwent the baptism? That would at least be better than what I’d thought their position was: that only some “special” humans had a divine spark in them, and their being attracted to Gnostic teachings was proof that they had it. Unpleasantly elitist!
Most, I think, understood that you needed to have a spark of the divine within.
No more unpleasant an idea than predestination and the elect!
I can’t help but mention that Sethians make a curious appearance in the Aubrey/Maturin series, set in the early 1800s, by Patrick O’Brian. (Note: The series was liberally adapted into the Master and Commander movie.) If I recall correctly, the Sethians were a largely orthodox group (apparently, they were not aware of their faith’s origins), but very superstitious. At one point, they paint “Seth” between the ship’s gun ports, which does not accord with Navy tradition or law. The captain must then navigate through the murky waters of sailor superstition and Navy rules. He does so admirably and to everyone’s satisfaction, I recall.
What’s interesting is how these ancient heresies can persist, even in wildly different forms, sometimes very detached from their origins. It makes studying church history fascinating.
A dumb question, related not to Gnosticism but to “Seth”: Do fundamentalists believe that all surviving humans are descended from Seth? None from Cain, Abel, or any other supposed sons of Adam and Eve?
My Catholic Bible has a pious note to the effect that because of the special situation, sons of Adam and Eve were allowed to mate with their sisters. Hey, if that was “allowed,” why weren’t the sons also mating with Eve, the daughters with Adam?
Yes, I believe so! Because all humans had to descend from Noah, and he descended from Seth.
Hmmm… this is similar to what Helena Petrovna Blavatsky wrote in her Secret Doctrine, and what Theosophists came to believe.
What are the 5 mystical seals (briefly if possible, or reference to something to read about them)?
Well, ok – here’s something: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=imwjournal
Similarities Between Sethian Baptism and the Bridal Chamber of Thomas Gnosticism and Valentinianism, by Darren Iammarino, Claremont Graduate University (2009).
Quote: As we saw in Trimorphic Protennoia, that glorification is a crucial component
of Gnostic baptism and it precedes being snatched away in ecstatic union with
the One. After glorifying the Father, we learn that Barbelo requests four gifts:
foreknowledge, incorruptibility, life eternal and truth. When we add the union
with Barbelo and taking on her name, we have the five seals bestowed upon
the Gnostic who achieves ascent and union. After receiving their own personal
revelation from the first human (his or her archetypal form), the Gnostic who
makes it this far in ecstatic ascent will literally attain a degree of foreknowledge.
(Nag Hammadi Texts – Codex IV30 IMW Journal of Religious Studies Vol. 1:1)
This foreknowledge comes because he knows his destiny after death, which is to
return to the One. Also, he will be incorruptible, know the truth and have life
eternal, in which he will abide in the Good and contemplate the Good.
The only hint at the process that leads to reunification in the Apocryphon
of John appears when John asks Jesus, “How can the soul become younger and
return into its mother’s womb, or into the human?”(NHC IV, 1, 27:12-15). The
response is, “This soul will be made to follow another in whom the spirit of life
dwells, and she is saved through that one” (NHC IV, 1, 27:16-20). This “other” is
likely the male heavenly counterpart or “twin” which we will see throughout the
Thomas and Valentinian literature. Jesus concludes by saying that the Gnostic
will be raised up and sealed in luminous water with five seals, “that death might
not prevail over the person from that moment on.” (NHC II, 1, 31:25)
Clear as mud!
I’m still at it.
Seems this is a combination of several bodies of gnosis – Hindu, Kabbalah, (perhaps) early Christian, and maybe more. My sense is that in order to decode all this one would need knowledge from the ‘unseen realm’ – a ‘higher dimension’, and that once we ‘get it’ we’re baptised in ‘the light’ or by kundalini or something; a sort-of road to Damascus experience. This doesn’t seem to be a field whereby we mere mortals traverse with today’s capacity of our brains. Perhaps it’s all secret doctrine because words cannot be put on it because there’s nothing to compare it to in our earthly experiences.
So, is this going back to Mithra?
Reflecting on “Christmas”, we have Jesus’s face on Mithra, the sun god. Constantin appeared to pound out a win-win compromise with the bishops at Nicea: end the bloodbath and allow him to feel comfortable being baptised and worshiping Jesus all the while knowing he’s still worshiping the ‘sun god’ Mithra. Some day the real Jesus will stand up so we can undo the most thorough and successful mind washing campaign in the history of humankind. Maybe then we’ll all be baptised and ‘get it’. Until then….