A good myth is anything by Campbell. Tolkien, of Lord of the Rings, described christianity as a myth that happens to be true.
Now, a little tidbit for CGB's benefit from Paul Johnson's A History of Christianity,
pg 45:
Certainly gnostic sects were spreading at the same time as Christian ones; both were part of the general religious osmosis. Gnostics had two central preoccupations: belief in a dual world of good and evil and belief in the existence of a secret code of truth, transmitted by word of mouth or by arcane writings.
Gnosticism is a 'knowledge' religion ~that is what the word means~ which claims to have an inner explanation of life. Thus it was, and indeed still is, a spiritual parasite which used other religions as a 'carrier'. Christianity fitted into this role very well....gnostic groups seized on bits of Christianity, but tended to cut it off from its historical origins. They were Hellenizing it, as they had Hellenized other oriental cults (often amalgamating the results). Their ethics varied to taste: sometimes they were ultra-puritan, sometimes orgiastic...
Paul fought hard against gnosticism, recognizing that it might cannibalize Christianity and destroy it. At Corinth he came across well-educated Christians who had reduced Jesus to myth. Among the Collosians he found Christians who worshipped intermediate spirits and angels.
Gnosticism was hard to combat because it was hydra-headed and always changing. Of course, all the sects had their own codes and most hated each other. Some conflated the cosmogony of Plato with the story of Adam and Eve, and interpreted it in various ways: thus the Ophites worshipped serpents, arguing that the serpent had triumphed over God; so they cursed Jesus in their liturgy. Some accepted Christian redemption, but ruled put Jesus as redeemer: the Samaritans preferred Simon Magus, others Hercules.
hmmm... "a spiritual parasite"... I remember someone else explaining gnosticism in similar words, I wonder who that was.... |
