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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (5122)	12/17/2000 2:35:09 PM
From: ecommerceman	Respond to of 28931

More on the Gnostics, this from Amazon... Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Gnosticism's Christian form grew to prominence in the 2nd century A.D. Ultimately denounced as heretical by the early church, Gnosticism proposed a revealed knowledge of God ("gnosis" meaning "knowledge" in Greek), held as a secret tradition of the apostles. In The Gnostic Gospels, author Elaine Pagels suggests that Christianity could have developed quite differently if Gnostic texts had become part of the Christian canon. Without a doubt: Gnosticism celebrates God as both Mother and Father, shows a very human Jesus's relationship to Mary Magdalene, suggests the Resurrection is better understood symbolically, and speaks to self-knowledge as the route to union with God. Pagels argues that Christian orthodoxy grew out of the political considerations of the day, serving to legitimize and consolidate early church leadership. Her contrast of that developing orthodoxy with Gnostic teachings presents an intriguing trajectory on a world faith as it "might have become." The Gnostic Gospels provides engaging reading for those seeking a broader perspective on the early development of Christianity. --F. Hall

To: E who wrote (5122)	12/17/2000 2:56:41 PM
From: ecommerceman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

Another "Gnostic Gospels" review... A magnificent soul-bridge connecting Christ, theology, & art June 27, 2000 Reviewer: Earl Hazell As a young man afraid to leap off what seemed to be a heretical ledge with the books that now make up 80% of my personal library (from Frazer's GOLDEN BOUGH to Joseph Campbell to Godfery Higgins' ANACALYPSIS), this book was the begining of my answering the calling to higher knowledge. I knew intuitively that there was so much more to Christ and Christianity than what I was taught to blindly accept in church, or was trivialized by New Age spiritualists. My intiuition wasn't affirmed until I got this book. Elaine Pagels brings the art back to the Christian mind, heart and way of life, by bringing out the texts and philosophies of the early Christians who didn't "make the cut," as a Seventh-Day Adventist friend of mine once said (she hadn't realized nor was taught that they were, for the most part, assassinated for political reasons). With them- the Gnostic Christians- and their ways lost, a disowning of much of the spiritual self became part and parcel of Christian doctrine, setting itself up as antagonistic to much of its ancient influences and original purpose. Elaine Pagels allowd me to finally, comfortably see Christ the way one would look at an artist like Dizzy Gillespie, in a world where all the money and power comes from playing three chords in a rock band and nothing else. The full beauty and metaphoric power of Christianity is revealed to have been lost by most, hidden by few, antagonistic to nothing but the lower forms of thought, feeling, behavior, language and ritual that Catholicism actually yielded to, in the efforts to establish itself as the state religion under Constantine and beyond. The things that call to aspects of the mind and soul that are thought to be antagonistic to Christian doctrine and "pagan" in their implications, actually form the essence and the specifics of Christ's teaching. In such, Pagels shows that the line separating Christianity from paganism, philosophy and much more ancient religious thought in the modern mind can only be kept in place via a misreading of the actual scripture, out of full context. Pagels makes it fundamentally clear just how important the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library is to all people, not just Christian or Christian raised. She succeeds in creating a bridge, connecting all of those many subjects and ideas that your heart and soul call to simultaneously, but cannot seem to get without great sacrifice. And her writing style makes it all so clear and easy to understand to anyone that you will come away very enlightened- and affirmed- on the first reading. This book will probably become a very important part of the library of whoever reads it.