New Blog Series on Karen King’s What Is Gnosticism?
"Why is it so hard to define Gnosticism? The problem, I argue, is that a rhetorical term has been confused with a historical entity." —Karen L. King, What Is Gnosticism? Many provocative and...
View ArticleThe Ancient Rhetoric of Exclusion and Its Modern Bedfellows (Gnosticism series)
"Ancient philosophical discourse identified truth with origin, purity and essence. ... True knowledge was knowledge of the beginning, and above all, knowledge of the Divine. History was generally...
View ArticleReligion and Boundary Making (Gnosticism series)
“When modern historians adopt the strategies as well as the content of the [ancient] polemicists’ construction of heresy to define Gnosticism, they are not just reproducing the heresy of the...
View ArticleChristianity and Colonialism (Gnosticism series)
In my last blog post about Karen King’s What Is Gnosticism?, I used the metaphor of maps and boundary-making to point to the problem of always keeping in mind the purposes behind our “map” of early...
View ArticleWhat is the Gnostic Redeemer Myth? (Gnosticism series)
Last week we left off our reading of Karen King’s book What Is Gnosticism? with the problem of historians ignoring and distorting data for the sake of protecting the exalted status of whatever they...
View ArticleRedeeming Gnosticism? Scholars Weigh the Pros and Cons
A mixture of long-time supporters of Westar, new and inquiring members of the public, students, and faculty gathered in the ballroom of the San Diego Convention Center Friday, November 21st, 2014, at...
View Article4 Commandments for a New Christian History (Gnosticism series)
This is the final post in the blog series on Karen King's What Is Gnosticism? Next week I'll be reading Don Cupitt's Creative Faith: Religion as a Way of Worldmaking. Pick up your copy of this...
View ArticleNew Blog Series on Karen King’s What Is Gnosticism?
“Why is it so hard to define Gnosticism? The problem, I argue, is that a rhetorical term has been confused with a historical entity.” —Karen L. King, What Is Gnosticism? Many provocative and...
View ArticleThe Ancient Rhetoric of Exclusion and Its Modern Bedfellows (Gnosticism series)
“Ancient philosophical discourse identified truth with origin, purity and essence. … True knowledge was knowledge of the beginning, and above all, knowledge of the Divine. History was generally plotted...
View ArticleReligion and Boundary Making (Gnosticism series)
“When modern historians adopt the strategies as well as the content of the [ancient] polemicists’ construction of heresy to define Gnosticism, they are not just reproducing the heresy of the...
View ArticleChristianity and Colonialism (Gnosticism series)
In my last blog post about Karen King’s What Is Gnosticism?, I used the metaphor of maps and boundary-making to point to the problem of always keeping in mind the purposes behind our “map” of early...
View ArticleWhat is the Gnostic Redeemer Myth? (Gnosticism series)
Last week we left off our reading of Karen King’s book What Is Gnosticism? with the problem of historians ignoring and distorting data for the sake of protecting the exalted status of whatever they...
View ArticleRedeeming Gnosticism? Scholars Weigh the Pros and Cons
A mixture of long-time supporters of Westar, new and inquiring members of the public, students, and faculty gathered in the ballroom of the San Diego Convention Center Friday, November 21st, 2014, at...
View Article4 Commandments for a New Christian History (Gnosticism series)
This is the final post in the blog series on Karen King’s What Is Gnosticism? Up until this point I’ve followed along with King’s critique of existing methods of doing Christian history. But of course...
View Article
