Download or read book Gnosis the Mysteries and Christianity written by Andrew J. Welburn and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Christianity has been subjected to many re-interpretations which seek to remove elements of mythology and to 'de-mystify' its traditions. But there is also a parallel development in which a strong curretn of renewal finds inspiration from the spirit and essential character of the early Churches.The texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi, and more recent reserach on ancient documents, have thrown an unexpected light on the roots and emerging faith of the first Christians. Fresh insights into these texts reveal that the early Christians drew inspiration from a number of sources, such as the Judaic mystery tradition, the Essenes and other gnostic sects.Andrew Welburn presents a selection of the most important early texts, together with an authoritative and fascinating commentary. He shows how the new insights gained into the writings of the early Christian reaffirm the fundamental mysteries at the heart of Christianity.
Download or read book Gnostic Mysteries of Sex written by Tobias Churton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-08-17 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the sexual practices and doctrinal secrets of Gnosticism • Reconstructs the lost world of Gnostic spiritual-erotic experience through examination of every surviving text written by heresiologists • Investigates the sexual gnosis practices of the Barbelo Gnostics of the 2nd century and their connections to the Gnostic Aeon Sophia, the Wild Lady of Wisdom • Explains the vital significance of “the seed” as a sacrament in Gnostic practice Examining every surviving text written by heresiologists, accounts often ignored in favor of the famous Nag Hammadi Library, Tobias Churton reveals the most secret inner teaching passed down by initiated societies: the tradition of sexual gnosis--higher union with God through the sacrament of sex. Discovering actual sex practices hidden within the writings of the Church’s authorities, he reconstructs the lost world of Gnostic spiritual-erotic experience as taught by initiated masters and mistresses and practiced by Christian couples seeking spiritual freedom from the world. Churton explores the practices of the “first Gnostic,” the historical Simon Magus, and explains the vital significance of “the seed” in Gnostic practice, showing it to be the sacramental substance par excellence. He illuminates the suppressed truth of why the name “Valentine” came to be associated with ennobling erotic love and reveals profound parallels between sexual gnosis and Tantra, suggesting that gnosis lies at the root of the tantric path. Solving a millennia-old riddle regarding the identity and secret symbol of Sophia, the mysterious Gnostic “Aeon,” Churton investigates Sophia’s connections to Barbelo, also known as Pruneikos, the Wild Lady of Wisdom, and the central focus of the Barbelo Gnostics of the 2nd century, whose religious sex practices so shocked orthodox Christian contemporaries that they were condemned, their cults of spiritual gnosis and “redemption by sin” driven underground. Churton exposes the mystery of Sophia in the philosophy of the medieval Troubadours and explores William Blake’s inheritance of secret Renaissance sexual mysticism through the revolutionary English poet Andrew Marvell. Showing how Blake’s sexual and spiritual revolution connects to modern sexual magic, Churton also examines the esoteric meaning of the free-love explosion of the 1960s, revealing how sex can be raised from the realm of guilt into the highest magical sacrament of spiritual transformation.
Download or read book Jesus and the Lost Goddess written by Timothy Freke and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Were the Teachings of the Original Christians Brutally Suppressed by the Roman Church? • Because they portray Jesus and Mary Magdalene as mythic figures based on the Pagan Godman and Goddess • Because they show that the gospel story is a spiritual allegory encapsulating a profound philosophy that leads to mythical enlightenment • Because they have the power to turn the world inside out and transform life into an exploration of consciousness Drawing on modern scholarship, the authors of the international bestseller The Jesus Mysteries decode the secret teachings of the original Christians for the first time in almost two millennia and theorize about who the original Christians really were and what they actually taught. In addition, the book explores the many myths of Jesus and the Goddess and unlocks the lost secret teachings of Christian mysticism, which promise happiness and immortality to those who attain the state of Gnosis, or enlightenment. This daring and controversial book recovers the ancient wisdom of the original Christians and demonstrates its relevance to us today.
Download or read book The Gnostic Mysteries written by Jacquelyn Small and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on Christianity's Gnostic foundations and the lost secret teachings of Jesus, this book is a thought-provoking conjecture on ways to manifest the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth--an inspirational reminder of what Christianity was intended to be.
Download or read book Esoteric Christianity written by Annie Besant and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-07-30 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original: Esoteric Christianity by Annie Besant
Download or read book The Major Mysteries written by Samael Aun Weor and published by . This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Samael Aun Weor explains in practical terms how to return to Eden: through the same door we used to leave it so long ago. Includes a detailed revelation of the initatic life of Jesus of Nazareth, descriptions of the Gnostic Movement he founded, prophecies for the coming days, and many practical tools anyone can use to relieve their suffering and the suffering of others. "If the Lord had not been crucified, the destiny of the Western world would have been another. We would now have sublime enlightened rabbis everywhere, preaching Christic esotericism. The union of Christic esotericism, secret Jewish Kabbalah, and holy alchemy would have completely illuminated and transformed the entire world. Yes, the mysteries of Levi would have shone with the light of Christ. Gnosis (Da'ath) would have magnificently shone everywhere." - Samael Aun Weor
Download or read book The Jesus Mysteries written by Timothy Freke and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2001-12-18 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church and presents overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure. “Whether you conclude that this book is the most alarming heresy of the millennium or the mother of all revelations, The Jesus Mysteries deserves to be read.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery. A little more than a century ago, most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate—who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead—could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.
Download or read book The Mystery Religions written by S. Angus and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-04-30 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic study explores the Eleusinian mysteries of ancient Greece; Asiatic cults of Cybele, the Magna Mater, and Attis; Dionysian groups; Orphics; Egyptian devotees of Isis and Osiris; Mithraism; and others.
Download or read book Christianity written by Howard Clark Kee and published by Macmillan College. This book was released on 1991 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by contributing scholars who are experts in specific facets of developing Christianity, this survey provides a well-rounded introduction to the history of Christianity and is ideal for anyone interested in the impact of Christianity of world culture down through history. It shows how Christianity emerged from its original Jewish context and developed into a worldwide religion, offering perceptive studies on how its origins and development were influenced by the changing social and cultural contexts in which the founders and leaders of this tradition lived and thought. Provides detailed evidence of the influence of Greco-Roman and Jewish religious concepts and religious movements on the origins of Christianity, considers the structuring of the church conceptually and organizationally in Europe, and discusses Christianity's spread and growth in America and throughout the world. Looks at the profound impact of the culture of the later Roman and medieval world on the development of Christian doctrine and intellectual traditions and helps readers understand the reasons for the divisions between Catholic and Protestant traditions.
Download or read book The Gnostic Gospels written by Elaine Pagels and published by Random House. This book was released on 2004-06-29 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and accessible histories of early Christian spirituality published in our time. In 1945 an Egyptian peasant unearthed what proved to be the Gnostic Gospels, thirteen papyrus volumes that expounded a radically different view of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from that of the New Testament. In this spellbinding book, renowned religious scholar Elaine Pagels elucidates the mysteries and meanings of these sacred texts both in the world of the first Christians and in the context of Christianity today. With insight and passion, Pagels explores a remarkable range of recently discovered gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to show how a variety of “Christianities” emerged at a time of extraordinary spiritual upheaval. Some Christians questioned the need for clergy and church doctrine, and taught that the divine could be discovered through spiritual search. Many others, like Buddhists and Hindus, sought enlightenment—and access to God—within. Such explorations raised questions: Was the resurrection to be understood symbolically and not literally? Was God to be envisioned only in masculine form, or feminine as well? Was martyrdom a necessary—or worthy—expression of faith? These early Christians dared to ask questions that orthodox Christians later suppressed—and their explorations led to profoundly different visions of Jesus and his message. Brilliant, provocative, and stunning in its implications, The Gnostic Gospels is a radical, eloquent reconsideration of the origins of the Christian faith.
Download or read book Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ written by Malachi (Tau) and published by Flux. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stunning revelations about the mysteries of creation, the soul, and God The noble idea of the Christian Kabbalah is not so much the worship of Jesus Christ, but rather a conscious evolution toward a divine or super-humanity. In this regard, Christian Kabbalah is quite different from its Jewish roots, and Gnostic Christianity is very different from orthodox Christianity. Both are about experiencing God and evolving toward God, rather than just studying theology. This groundbreaking work is the first to present the Christian Gnosis of the Kabbalah in a practical and deeply esoteric way. It takes the reader from the basic ideas of the Kabbalah to in-depth explorations of the Tree of Life. Gnostic legends and myths of the Holy Mother, St. Lazarus, St. Mary Magdalene, and Jesus are woven into the study of the Holy Sefirot as well as commentaries on the Ten Commandments and The Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount.
Download or read book The Gnostic New Age written by April D. DeConick and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gnosticism is a countercultural spirituality that forever changed the practice of Christianity. Before it emerged in the second century, passage to the afterlife required obedience to God and king. Gnosticism proposed that human beings were manifestations of the divine, unsettling the hierarchical foundations of the ancient world. Subversive and revolutionary, Gnostics taught that prayer and mediation could bring human beings into an ecstatic spiritual union with a transcendent deity. This mystical strain affected not just Christianity but many other religions, and it characterizes our understanding of the purpose and meaning of religion today. In The Gnostic New Age, April D. DeConick recovers this vibrant underground history to prove that Gnosticism was not suppressed or defeated by the Catholic Church long ago, nor was the movement a fabrication to justify the violent repression of alternative forms of Christianity. Gnosticism alleviated human suffering, soothing feelings of existential brokenness and alienation through the promise of renewal as God. DeConick begins in ancient Egypt and follows with the rise of Gnosticism in the Middle Ages, the advent of theosophy and other occult movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and contemporary New Age spiritual philosophies. As these theories find expression in science-fiction and fantasy films, DeConick sees evidence of Gnosticism's next incarnation. Her work emphasizes the universal, countercultural appeal of a movement that embodies much more than a simple challenge to religious authority.
Download or read book The Nag Hammadi Library in English written by James McConkey Robinson and published by Brill Archive. This book was released on 1984 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Gnosticism written by Stephan A Hoeller and published by Quest Books. This book was released on 2012-12-13 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gnosticism developed alongside Judeo-Christianity over two thousand years ago, but with an important difference: It emphasizes, not faith, but direct perception of God--Gnosticism being derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning "knowledge." Given the controversial premise that one can know God directly, the history of Gnosticism is an unfolding drama of passion, political intrigue, martyrdom, and mystery. Dr. Hoeller traces this fascinating story throughout time and shows how Gnosticism has inspired such great thinkers as Voltaire, Blake, Yeats, Hesse, Melville, and Jung.
Download or read book The Gnostic Bible The Pistis Sophia Unveiled written by Samael Aun Weor and published by Glorian Publishing. This book was released on 2011-02-24 with total page 703 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “It came to pass, when Jesus had risen from the dead, that he passed eleven years discoursing with his disciples, and instructing them.” The Apostles wrote down what Jesus taught them during those eleven years, resulting in The Pistis Sophia, the most important Gnostic scripture. Includes an extensive commentary by Samael Aun Weor.
Download or read book The Flight to Lucifer written by Harold Bloom and published by Vintage Books USA. This book was released on 1980 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book What is Gnosticism written by Karen L. King and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of gnosticism examines the various ways early Christians strove to define themselves in a pluralistic Roman society, while questioning the traditional ideas of heresy and orthodoxy that have previously influenced historians.
