<p>The thesis, <i>The Return of Christian Gnosticism. An Investigation of the Theology of Ulf Ekman</i>, is divided into two main sections. In the first section I address the question of what can be seen as characteristic of modern Gnosticism. This section also performs a preparatory function for the second section which contains the primary focus of the thesis, namely an analysis of Ulf Ekman’s theology and an investigation as to whether this theology can be regarded as a modern expression of Gnostic ideas. The first section of the thesis thus creates a platform which is later used to provide answers for the questions found in the second section. In the final chapter of the thesis I shall also relate Ekman’s theology more generally to a neo-Gnostic intellectual climate.</p><p>In the second section of the thesis I investigate the extent to which Ekman’s theology, which is closely related to international, primarily American, religious movements, contains veins of Gnosticism. I discuss in the background of ideas behind the American religious movement’s theology. Kenyon is reckoned to be the American movement’s founder and he is considered Ekman’s most significant spiritual father. I also discuss briefly how Gnostic thinking has contributed in various ways to the ideas of romanticism. I return to this theme in the concluding chapter of the thesis where I reflect on Gnostic traditions and ideas, and their presence in our culture. Then I present Ekman’s main theological thoughts. The focal point of the thesis is to what extent Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of Christian neo-Gnosticism. The comparison that I draw in this section between Ekman’s theology and modern Gnosticism is based on the “Gnostic grammar” formulated in the first section. This comparison lies on a structural level, that is to say I compare the extent to which the fundamental thought structures in Ekman’s theology agree with the term modern Gnosticism as used in this thesis. This analysis is conducted under headings such as view of humanity; faith; salvation and knowledge; the cosmos and the world; dualism. I then discuss the results of the analysis and pose the question as to whether Ekman’s theology can be seen as being a modern, Christian Gnostic theology. There then follows a reflection over Ekman’s Christian Gnostic grammar. In the concluding chapter, the return of Christian Gnosticism, I widen the perspective by relating Ekman’s thinking to other, more general, cultural examples of Gnosticism such as the film The Matrix and the philosophy of James Redfield. I also discuss the issue of whether Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of secularisation, if by secularisation one means Christian convictions permeating culture to an ever decreasing extent. This chapter also makes even clearer the historical connections, and their importance for the understanding of Ekman’s theology.</p>

<p>Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated.</p><p>Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria.</p><p>The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others.</p><p>For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.</p>

The thesis, The Return of Christian Gnosticism. An Investigation of the Theology of Ulf Ekman, is divided into two main sections. In the first section I address the question of what can be seen as characteristic of modern Gnosticism. This section also performs a preparatory function for the second section which contains the primary focus of the thesis, namely an analysis of Ulf Ekman’s theology and an investigation as to whether this theology can be regarded as a modern expression of Gnostic ideas. The first section of the thesis thus creates a platform which is later used to provide answers for the questions found in the second section. In the final chapter of the thesis I shall also relate Ekman’s theology more generally to a neo-Gnostic intellectual climate. In the second section of the thesis I investigate the extent to which Ekman’s theology, which is closely related to international, primarily American, religious movements, contains veins of Gnosticism. I discuss in the background of ideas behind the American religious movement’s theology. Kenyon is reckoned to be the American movement’s founder and he is considered Ekman’s most significant spiritual father. I also discuss briefly how Gnostic thinking has contributed in various ways to the ideas of romanticism. I return to this theme in the concluding chapter of the thesis where I reflect on Gnostic traditions and ideas, and their presence in our culture. Then I present Ekman’s main theological thoughts. The focal point of the thesis is to what extent Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of Christian neo-Gnosticism. The comparison that I draw in this section between Ekman’s theology and modern Gnosticism is based on the “Gnostic grammar” formulated in the first section. This comparison lies on a structural level, that is to say I compare the extent to which the fundamental thought structures in Ekman’s theology agree with the term modern Gnosticism as used in this thesis. This analysis is conducted under headings such as view of humanity; faith; salvation and knowledge; the cosmos and the world; dualism. I then discuss the results of the analysis and pose the question as to whether Ekman’s theology can be seen as being a modern, Christian Gnostic theology. There then follows a reflection over Ekman’s Christian Gnostic grammar. In the concluding chapter, the return of Christian Gnosticism, I widen the perspective by relating Ekman’s thinking to other, more general, cultural examples of Gnosticism such as the film The Matrix and the philosophy of James Redfield. I also discuss the issue of whether Ulf Ekman’s theology can be viewed as an expression of secularisation, if by secularisation one means Christian convictions permeating culture to an ever decreasing extent. This chapter also makes even clearer the historical connections, and their importance for the understanding of Ekman’s theology.

Already in the second century, the Church Father Irenaeus warned against reading the Gospel of Truth that was used among the so-called Valentinians. For more than one and a half millennium GospTruth was lost until in the 1950s a Coptic text was discovered that could be a translation of that work both loved and hated. Since the discovery scholars have tried to determine whether the Coptic text represents the one mentioned by Irenaeus, and whether its author might even be the famous Gnostic teacher Valentinus of Alexandria. The text is very complex and the present study the first attempt to use text linguistic tools for analysing GospTruth. A new and sometimes radically different translation is presented, and an hypothesis of date of redaction and authorship is put forward. Previously Gnostic texts have usually been read in light of the reports of the Church Fathers. In this study an attempt is made to detect topics that were interesting for the Valentinians and that have so far been neglected. The analysis presents a new ethical debate among early Christians regarding the Biblical law, and a hypothesis of how the author of GospTruth wanted his or her community to act towards the neighbouring communities is elaborated. In addition my investigation draws attention to an interpretation of the crucifixion that seems to have distinguished Valentinians from others. For a long time scholars depicted the Gnostics as evil opponents to the church. During the last decades this view has been criticized, and today many scholars abandon the term Gnostic altogether, and instead only use the term Christian. In my opinion such an approach risks to conceal the unique features of Valentinianism, and the results of the present study will hopefully shed new light on a branch of Christianity which still is relatively unexplored.

This thesis is a study of the Russian religious philosopher Nikolai Berdiaev (1874-1948). The aim of the thesis is to re-examine the alleged gnostic subtext in Berdiaev’s thought by exploring a number of interrelated motifs in his world outlook, teaching on man and theory of knowledge. The method employed is a close reading of Berdiaev's philosophical and autobiographical writings. In order to establish which motifs should be examined, how they are to be understood and the manner in which they are interconnected, a scrutiny is made of Hans Jonas’s phenomenological elucidation of ancient Gnosticism. A synthetic conception labelled Jonasian Gnosticism is proposed as the interpretive framework, in order to provide a unitary and consistent heuristic tool with which to investigate the topic, and to distinguish the specific proposed representation of Gnosticism from other existing ones. A chapter is devoted to an analysis of the concept of gnosis as employed by Berdiaev. Another key notion taken from the Jonasian framework is that of demundanization, which denotes among other things a rejectionary attitude towards the world grounded in a negative experience of evil and suffering. Varieties of dualism as well as Berdiaev’s doctrine of the human spirit’s otherworldly origin and non-belonging in the world, constitute other issues that are examined. In addition, both Berdiaev’s assessment of historical Gnosticism and his view of a gnostic return in modern times are examined. The study demonstrates the complexity of Berdiaev’s attitude towards the classic Gnostics, and his attempt to denounce Gnosticism while at the same time making a case for a Christian gnosis. The results suggest both affinities and divergences in the relationship between Berdiaev’s thought and Jonasian Gnosticism. Even though the doctrinal standpoints diverge on crucial points, it is argued that a suggestive affinity nevertheless exists in the shared existential attitude towards self and world.

Though discovered in 1945, the First Apocalypse of James from Nag Hammadi Codex V, 3 has received very little attention from the scholarly community. This is primarily due to the fragmentary condition of the text. Previous scholarly engagements with the text have led to the conclusion that the purpose of such a revelatory dialogue was to impart instructions for the ascent of the soul to one about to be martyred. The recent discovery of a second copy of the text simply titled “James” as part of the Tchacos Codex has led to not only a greater amount of scholarly interest, but also to different possible interpretations. From NHC V, 3 it was possible to ascertain a pre- and post- martyrdom revelation of Jesus to James, however, the text from Al Minya clearly shows a third revelatory section wherein the martyrdom of James is used as a means of revelation to Addai, the legendary founder of Eastern Syrian Christianity. Chapters one and two answer the question of why James was chosen as the protagonist of the narrative. In chapter one I look in detail at the literary construction of the martyrdom of James and problematize the development of the traditions. Chapter two then turns to a discussion of the figure of James as an authority in the developing Christian community. Chapters three and four are concerned with the literary classification of the text. Chapter three situates the First Apocalypse of James within the overarching genre of apocalyptic literature, and the specific sub-genre of gnostic apocalypses. Chapter four discusses how the text might be understood as a commission narrative while interrogating the lineage of descent beginning with the transmission of the revelation from James to Addai. Following this in chapter five I explore the cosmology of the text with particular attention to the ascent of the soul.

This thesis aims to provide a critique of the conclusions of Gershom Scholem regarding the potential for ‘Gnostic’-Kabbalistic filiation, and to establish whether, in light of the available evidence, Scholem’s arguments (which have yet, to my mind, to be sufficiently challenged) can be reasonably supported. I strive to offer an arguably clearer definition of the relevant taxonomic terms than is often presented in scholarly analyses of this question, whilst also arguing for the applicability to this debate of certain pertinent methodological approaches drawn from the wider school of comparative mythology. As such, I also attempt to establish a clear methodology for judging the probability of the genetic descent of one ‘system’ from another, viz. that perhaps the most logical method for assessing potential similarities between different ‘systems’ is to assume in the first instance that all correspondences identified are essentially coincidental, dismissing this assumption only if one can identify a high level of exactness in these comparisons (such as would render pure coincidence relatively improbable) and/or establish a secure chain of transmission between two sources, a chain which renders the transmission of ideas not only possible but indeed probable. Applying this methodology to certain potential routes by which second century ‘Gnostic’ thought might have been transmitted to the origin point of the medieval Kabbalah, I attempt both to demonstrate the wider applicability of such a methodology beyond the narrow question of ‘Gnostic’-Kabbalistic relationships, and to illustrate the serious difficulties with advancing any of these potential routes as a reliable source for the transmission of ‘Gnostic’ ideas to the Kabbalah. Rather, I argue that it may be more logically defensible, in the absence of clear source evidence, to ascribe such correspondences as are located purely to coincidence, albeit a coincidence perhaps somewhat tempered by certain observations regarding the relative ubiquity of certain concepts and modes of thought.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:21:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Resumo.pdf: 96285 bytes, checksum: 350500d0ae4e4029b764b8bc982d6a64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-01 / The encounter between Christianity and Greek culture was one of the greatest events in human history. This event allowed the expansion of Christianity beyond its homeland since the first century AD. In little time, Christianity was able to establish itself in several locations throughout the ancient world. This shift led its division into separate sections, each trusting Jesus in their own way. The one which was projected into North Africa fostered a type of Christianity with Gnostic traces. That possibility came to light from some writings found in this region in the mid-twentieth century and that was also attributed to that Christian part. This research has as its objective to analyze this Christian bias based on these findings. This group, considered a minority, had some claims on the official Christianity that regarded them as heretics. The researched target was the way the Gnostics saw Jesus since they considered themselves Christians. / O encontro entre o cristianismo e a cultura grega foi um dos grandes eventos ocorridos na história da humanidade. Esse acontecimento possibilitou a expansão do cristianismo para além de sua terra natal já a partir do primeiro século d.C. Em curto espaço de tempo o cristianismo foi capaz de se estabelecer em diversas localidades do mundo antigo. Esse deslocamento propiciou sua divisão em várias vertentes, cada uma interpretando Jesus a sua maneira. A que se projetou para o norte do continente africano fomentou um tipo de cristianismo, ao que tudo indica, com traços gnósticos. Essa possibilidade veio à tona a partir de alguns escritos encontrados nessa região em meados do século XX e atribuídos a essa vertente cristã. Esta pesquisa tem como proposta analisar esse viés cristão com base nessas descobertas. Esse grupo, considerado minoritário, possuía algumas reivindicações frente ao cristianismo oficializado que os considerava herege. O alvo pesquisado foi à concepção de Jesus que os gnósticos sustentavam uma vez que se consideravam cristãos.

L'opera presenta una nuova edizione critica del testo greco degli "Estratti da Teodoto" di Clemente Alessandrino oltre alla prima traduzione italiana completa. Alcuni capitoli introduttivi e un esteso commento permettono di apprezzare la ricchezza di contenuti di questa fonte di inizio III sec. per lo studio dello gnosticismo, letteratura cristiana antica, patristica e storia del dogma. Gli "Estratti da Teodoto" non sono una raccolta di frammenti originali copiati da fonti gnostiche principalmente valentiniane, come si crede abitualmente. Ad un'analisi approfondita essi appaiono come una collezione di tredici frammenti tratti dalle "Ipotiposi", un'opera perduta di Clemente. La natura e il contenuto di questi frammenti mostrano che la tradizionale suddivisione degli ETh in quattro sezioni (Sagnard) non è ricevibile. Deve pure essere abbandonato il tentativo di individuare precisamente le parti 'valentiniane' e 'clementine'. Clemente riporta raramente citazioni letterali tratte dalle sue fonti, mentre molto spesso presenta le dottrine 'eterodosse' in modo indiretto, proponendo delle sintesi ('epitomes'). Nella prima parte degli ETh Clemente presenta e discute soprattutto dottrine valentiniane, probabilmente 'orientali'. Tuttavia, a partire principalmente dal frammento 11 illustra il pensiero di Teodoto. Costui sembra abbia sviluppato e modificato dottrine del valentinianesimo 'occidentale', come dimostra il confronto con la 'Grande Notizia' di Ireneo. / The work presents a new critical edition of the greek text of "Excerpta ex Theodoto" of Clement of Alexandria together with the first complete Italian translation. Some introductory chapters and an extensive commentary allow you to appreciate the richness of the contents of this early third century source for the study of Gnosticism, ancient Christian literature, patristic and history of dogma. The ETh are not a collection of original fragments copied from Gnostic sources mainly valentinian, as believed to routinely. For an in-depth analysis they appear to be a compilation of thirteen fragments from "Hypotyposeis", lost work of Clement. The nature and extent of these fragments show that the traditional division of the ETh in four sections is unacceptable. It must also be abandoned the attempt to accurately identify 'valentinian' and 'clementinian' parts. Clement shows a few quotes verbatim from his sources. Very often shows 'heterodox' doctrines indirectly proposing summaries ('epitomes'). In the first part of the collection Clement presents and discusses especially valentinian doctrines, probably 'eastern'. Instead, starting mainly from the fragment 11, he presents the Theodotus thought. He seems develope and modify doctrines of 'western' valentinianism, as demonstrated by the comparison with the 'Great Notice' of Irenaeus.

Clementine scholarship acknowledges Clement's doctrine of the Incarnation and generally maintains that for Clement the divine Logos assumed human flesh. However, because of Clement's complex logology and three passages suggesting a docetic interpretation of Christ's flesh, scholars tend to move away from addressing the Incarnation and treat either the metaphysics of the multiple logoi theory or the question of Clement's Docetism, or both. Because of this diversion in research, there remains a gap in the literature around Clement's teachings about the Incarnation. This thesis begins to fill the gap by explaining Clement's view of the Incarnation, which he connects to the emergent ‘exchange' doctrine, envisaged as a divine mission. It situates Clement as an heir of the apostolic tradition while he engages with Greek philosophy and Gnostic belief. The research delineates Clement's gnostic tradition, which he considered faithful to the Old Testament and to the teachings of the apostles. The investigation collates Clement's usage of John 1:14 and the term ginomai linked with Logos, anthropos, and sarx. It examines Clement's discussion in Stromateis VII.2, where he claims the Logos assumed flesh susceptible to suffering, emotions, and physical sensibilities. In Clement's teachings, the Logos became both anthropos and sarx so that anthropos might become theos. This thesis outlines Clement's usage of the terms parousia and epiphaneia (appearing), showing they are consequential to the Incarnation. Clement presents the Logos as Saviour, who conquers malevolent powers and death to release humankind from corruption through his sufferings from birth to the cross. Clement also presents the Logos as a Teacher, who during his parousia, interprets precisely the Old Testament, and in his appearing, discloses true gnosis, which guides anthropos to godliness. The evidence demonstrates that Clement bases his path for assimilation to God upon the Incarnation of the Logos.