Category: Religion
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Gnosticism is a very old and complicated spiritual tradition, and I don't claim to be well-versed in it. But as I understand it, the essence of the Gnostic position is that our universe was not created by the one true God, but by a lower-level deity, the demiurge, who messed things up. This explains the…
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There is a peculiar episode in the story of Moses, as recounted in Exodus 4:24–26. Moses has just been ordered to have an audience with Pharaoh and demand that Pharoah let his people go. Now he is heading back to Egypt to carry out his mission. On the journey, when he had halted for that…
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Julian Jaynes's magnum opus The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind is one of those books that are probably wrong in their central thesis, yet so full of provocative and fascinating ideas that reading them becomes its own reward. Recently I was thumbing through my well-worn copy when I came across…
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Since we're coming up on Easter Sunday, I thought I would point out that the story of Jesus' resurrection is one of the loveliest stories in all of literature. It appears in different versions in all four canonical Gospels, but I think I like the version in the Gospel of John the best. Here it…
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Roger Knights sent me this quote from G.K. Chesterton's 1908 book Orthodoxy (full text here and here). There's a lot to like in it, though I have one or two caveats. Here it is: But the materialist is not allowed to admit into his spotless machine the slightest speck of spiritualism or miracle. Somehow or other…
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Interesting news: the skeletal remains of the Apostle Paul may have been found in a tomb beneath the Basilica of St. Paul. Oral tradition had named this church as the site of Paul's tomb; now carbon dating has confirmed that the bones are from the appropriate time period. A.N. Wilson's article (linked above) is a bit melodramatic…
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I've been reading more about the Gnostics, still trying to fathom why they are held in such high regard by many people today. And I'll admit that parts of the Gnostic philosophy are appealing. For instance, there's the idea that each of us (or at least those of us who have the potential for enlightenment)…
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Many spiritual seekers today seem to have a soft spot in their hearts for Gnosticism, an ancient religious movement that, until recently, had mostly died out. In part, I think, their affection for the Gnostics is based on the fact that traditional Christianity strongly opposed the Gnostic movement, branding it a heresy. Anything opposed by…
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My post on "Traditional Christianity's Insuperable Problem" has generated a lot of discussion. While all the comments were interesting and provocative, I especially wanted to highlight a few that put a different spin on the interpretation of the verse in question. Art wrote: I always think of it as meaning "My teachings are the way,…
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Since my last post dealt with the teachings of Jesus, I thought I'd follow up by discussing what is, for me, the biggest problem with the standard interpretation of Christianity. (At least, this interpretation has historically been standard, though as readers have noted in the comments thread, there have been doctrinal changes in some churches…