Synopsis of Contents

	PAGE
INTRODUCTION	1-153
PROLEGOMENA	3-28
The Creed of Christendom	3
The New Era Two Thousands Years ago	4
The New Hope of To-day	5
Our Present Task	5
The One Religion	6
The Sunshine of its Doctrine	7
The Comparative Science of Religion	8
The True Scholar of Religion	9
The Just Method of Comparison	9
The Analysis of Religion	10
The Beginnings of Christianity	11
The First Two Centuries	12
The "Higher Criticism"	14
"Providentissimus Deus"	14
Its Immediate Result	16
The Force of Reaction	17
The Force of Progress	18
The Nature of Criticism	18
The Resultant	19
p. vi
	PAGE
Nineteen Centuries Ago and Now	21
The Return of Souls	23
The Conditions of the Comparison	23
The Intensified Present	24
Occident and Orient	25
The Reconciliation of Science and Theology	25
The Coming and Going of Souls	26
The Birth and Death of Races	27
The Manhood of the Western World	8
SOME ROUGH OUTLINES OF THE BACKGROUND OF THE GNOSIS	29-120
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS	29-36
The Greatest Story in the World	29
The Need of a Background	30
The Main Means to a Recovery of the Outlines	30
The Gnostic Schools	32
Where to look for their Origins	32
The Nature of the Field to be Surveyed	33
The Soil of the Field	34
Three Mother Streams	35
GREECE	36-57
The Greece of 600 B.C.	36
The Precursors of Pythagoras	37
The Orphic Tradition	39
Primitive Hellas	39
The Wavelets of Aryan Immigration	41
The Orphic Line	42
The Greece of Homer	43
Orpheus returns to Greece	44
The Mysteries	46
Their Corruption	47
The Reason of it	47
p. vii
PAGE
The Various Traditions	48
The Political Mysteries	49
The Private Mysteries	49
The Orphic Communities	50
The Philosophic Mysteries	51
Pythagoras and Plato	51
Aristotle and Scepticism	53
East and West	54
Rome	55
The Mysteries of Mithras	55
EGYPT	57-65
The Wisdom of Egypt	57
The Blendings of Tradition	58
The Mystic Communities	60
The Therapeuts	60
The Earliest Christians of Eusebius	61
The Pseudo-Philo Theory	62
Its Death blow	63
An Interesting Question of Date	64
The Title and Context	65
PHILO ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE	66-86
The Essæans	66
The Name Therapeut	66
Their Abandonment of the World	67
Their Retreats	68
The Mareōtic Colony	69
Their Dwellings	69
The Original Meaning of the Term Monastery	70
Their Prayers and Exercises	70
The Nature of their Books	71
Their Mode of Meeting	71
The Sanctuary	72
Their Rule	72
p. viii
	PAGE
Fasting	73
The Seventh-day Common Meal	73
Housing and Clothing	73
Their Sacred Feasts	74
The Banquet on the Fiftieth Day	75
Seniority	75
The Women Disciples	75
The Plain Couches	76
The Servers	76
The Frugal Fare	77
The President	78
The Instruction	78
The Interpretation of Scripture	79
The Singing of Hymns	79
Bread and Salt	80
The Sacred Dancing	80
The Morning Prayer	82
A Note on the Sacred Numbers	82
Philo's Connection with the Therapeuts	84
The Lay Disciples	85
The Variety of Communities	85
JEWRY	86-95
The Influence of Babylon	86
The Writing of Scripture-history	88
The Mythology of History	88
Honest Self-delusion	90
The Spiritualizing of Judaism	91
Zealotism	91
Pharisaism	92
The Chassidim and Essenes	93
The Inner Schools	94
ALEXANDRIA	95-120
A Bird's-eye View of the City	96
p. ix
	PAGE
The Populace	100
The Library	102
The Museum	106
The Schools of the Sophists	109
The Dawn-land	110
The New Religion	113
Jewish and Christian Schools	116
GENERAL AND GNOSTIC CHRISTIANITY	121-153
THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY	121-125
The Canon	121
The Gospels	122
The Letters of Paul	123
The Gentilization of Christianity	124
THE EBIONITES	126-130
The Nazoræans	126
The Poor Men	127
The Ebionite Tradition of Jesus	128
THE ESSENES	131-136
Their Manner of Life	132
The Degrees of Holiness	133
Points of Contact with Christianity	134
THE TENDENCIES OF GNOSTICISM	136-142
The "Secularizing" of Christianity	136
Yahweh not "the Father" of Jesus	138
The Inner Teaching	138
Various Classes of Souls	139
The Person of Jesus	140
The Main Doctrines	141
THE LITERATURE AND SOURCES OF GNOSTICISM.	143-153
Literature	143
Indirect Sources	146
Direct Sources	151
p. x
	PAGE
THE GNOSIS ACCORDING TO ITS FOES	155-449
SOME GNOSTIC FRAGMENTS RECOVERED FROM THE POLEMICAL WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS	157-414
No Classification possible	157
THE "SIMONIANS"	160-161
The Origin of the Name	160
DOSITHEUS	162-164
A Follower of John the Baptist	162
The Pre-Christian Gnosis	163
"SIMON MAGUS"	164-174
The Ebionite "Simon"	165
The "Simonian" Literature	167
The "Simonian" System of Irenæus	168
The Great Announcement	170
The Hidden Fire	171
The Fire Tree	172
The Æons	173
MENANDER	175-177
His Date	175
His Doctrines	175
A Link with Zoroastrianism	177
SATURNINUS	177-180
The Chain of Teachers	177
Asceticism	178
Summary of Doctrines	178
The Making of Man	180
THE "OPHITES"	181-188
The Obscurity of the Subject	181
p. xi
	PAGE
The Term "Ophite"	182
The Serpent Symbol	183
The Myth of the Going-forth	186
Pseudo-philology	187
AN ANONYMOUS SYSTEM FROM IRENÆUS	188-193
The Spiritual Creation	188
Yahweh Ialdabaōth	189
O. T. Exegesis	189
Christology	191
Jesus	191
AN EARLY "OPHITE" SYSTEM	193-197
Justinus	193
The Book of Baruch	194
Baruch	196
Christology	197
THE NAASSENI	198-206
Their Literature	198
Their Mystical Exegesis	199
The Assyrian Mysteries	200
The Egyptian	201
The Greek	201
The Samothracian	202
The Phrygian	202
The Mysteries of the Great Mother	203
The Fragment of a Hymn	205
THE PERATÆ	206-212
The Source of their Tradition	206
The Three Worlds	207
A Direct Quotation	208
The Meaning of the Name	209
Psychological Physiology	210
The Lost Books of Hippolytus	212
p. xii
	PAGE
THE SETHIANS	213-216
Seth	213
An Outline of their System	214
The Mysteries	215
THE DOCETÆ	217-221
God	218
The Æons	218
Cosmos and Man	219
The Saviour	220
MONOÏMUS	222-223
Number Theories	222
How to Seek after God	223
THE SO-CALLED CAINITES	224-229
The Obscurity of the Subject	224
The Enemies of Yahweh the Friends of God	225
Judas	226
A Scrap of History	228
THE CARPOCRATIANS	229-233
Their Idea of Jesus	230
Reincarnation	231
"EPIPHANES"	233-236
The Moon god	234
Communism	234
The Monadic Gnosis	236
CERINTHUS	237-238
The Scape-Goat for the "Pillar-Apostles"	237
The Over-Writer of the Apocalypse	238
NICOLAUS	239-240
"Which Things I hate"	239
CERDO	240-241
The Master of Marcion	240
p. xiii
	PAGE
MARCION	241-249
The Spread of Marcionism	241
The "Higher Criticism"	242
The Gospel of Paul	244
Eznik	246
A Marcionite System	247
The Title Chrēstos	249
APELLES	250-252
His Wide Tolerance	250
Philumēnē	250
Her Visions	251
THE BASILIDIAN GNOSIS	253-284
Basilides and his Writings	253
Our Sources of Information	255
The Divinity beyond Being	256
Universality beyond Being	257
Ex Nihilo	259
The Sonship	260
The Holy Spirit	261
The Great Ruler	262
The Ætherial Creation	263
The Sub-lunary Spaces	264
Soteriology	265
The Mystic Gospel	267
The Sons of God	268
The Final Consummation	270
Jesus	272
Karman and Reincarnation	274
The Theory of "Appendages"	276
Moral Responsibility	277
A Trace of Zoroastrianism	278
The Spurious System	280
Abrasax	282
p. xiv
	PAGE
THE VALENTINIAN MOVEMENT	284-293
The "Great Unknown" of Gnosticism	284
"They of Valentinus"	285
The So-called Eastern and Western Schools	287
The Leaders of the Movement	287
The Syntheticizing of the Gnosis	289
Sources of Information	291
VALENTINUS	294-311
Biography	294
Date	296
Writings	297
The Fragments that Remain	298
Concerning the Creation of the First Race of Mankind	299
On the Pure in Heart	300
Concerning One of the Powers of the Perfect Man	302
Ye are Sons of God	303
The Face of God	303
Concerning the People of the Beloved	305
The Galilæans	306
The Wisdom of the "Little One"	306
The Chain of Being	307
The Ariadne's Thread out of the Maze	309
SOME OUTLINES OF ÆONOLOGY	311-335
Towards the Great Silence	311
The Depth beyond Being	312
The Æon World	313
The Platonic Solids	314
A Living Symbolism	316
The "Fourth Dimension"	318
The Eternal Atom	320
The Law of Syzygy	321
p. xv
	PAGE
The Law of Differentiation	322
The Three and the Seven	323
The Twelve and Ten	323
The Dodecahedron	325
The Decad	326
Chaos	328
Theos	329
Cosmos	331
Mythology	332
The Sophia-Mythus	333
The Mother of Many Names	334
HIPPOLYTUS’ ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE VARIANTS OF THE SOPHIA-MYTHUS	335-357
The Father of All	335
The Parents of the Æons	336
The Names of the Æons	338
The World-Mother	339
The Abortion	340
The Term "Only-begotten"	341
The Cross	342
The Last Limit	343
The Mystic or Cosmic Jesus	345
The Grief of Sophia	346
The Sensible World	347
Its Demiurge	348
"Words" or Minds	351
Souls	351
Bodies	352
The New Man	353
The Mystic Body of the Christ	354
Soteriology	355
THE NUMBER-SYMBOLISM OF MARCUS	358-382
Sources	358
p. xvi
	PAGE
Number-letters	359
Kabalism	361
The Great Name	363
The Echo of the Name	365
The Symbolic Body of the Man of Truth	366
The Numbers	369
Gospel Exegesis	370
The Creation of the Sensible World	372
The Tetraktys	373
Theological Arithmetic	375
Jesus the Master	376
The "Moving Image of Eternity"	378
From the Marcosian Ritual	380
PTOLEMY	383-390
The Letter to Flora	383
The "Higher Criticism"	385
The Source of Moses’ Inspiration	387
The Proem to the Fourth Gospel	388
HERACLEON	391-392
His Commentary on the Fourth Gospel	391
BARDESANES	392-405
Biography	392
Writings	393
Indirect Sources	395
From His Hymns	396
The Book of the Laws of Countries	398
Karman	399
Fortune and Nature	400
The Right and Left	401
The Hymn of the Soul	403
THE HYMN OF THE ROBE OF GLORY	406-414
p. xvii
	PAGE
SOME TRACES OF THE GNOSIS IN THE UNCANONICAL ACTS	415-449
FOREWORD	415-418
The Gnostic Acts	415
Catholic Over-Working	416
Early Collectors	417
FROM THE ACTS OF THOMAS	419-426
A Hymn to Wisdom	419
Its Meaning	421
Two Sacramental Invocations	422
A Note thereon	423
The Palace that Thomas built	424
FROM THE ACTS OF JOHN	426-444
A Recently-published Fragment	426
The Rationale of Docetism	426
The Evolution of Tradition	427
Mystic Stories of Jesus	428
The Christ speaks with Jesus	429
An Early Form of One of the Great Miracles	430
A Ritual from the Mysteries	431
The Doxology	434
The Mystery of the Cross	435
The Interpretation thereof	437
The Initiation of the Cross	438
The Higher and Lower Selves	439
A Prayer of Praise to Christ	440
John's Farewell Address to his Community	441
John's Last Prayer	442
The Story of John and the Bugs	443
FROM THE ACTS OF ANDREW	445-446
Address to the Cross	445
p. xviii
	PAGE
FROM THE TRAVELS OF PETER	446-449
The Descent of Man	446
The Mystic Redemption through the Cross	447
Afterword	449
THE GNOSIS ACCORDING TO ITS FRIENDS	451-602
SOME GREEK ORIGINAL WORKS IN COPTIC TRANSLATION	453-592
THE ASKEW AND BRUCE CODICES	453-458
The Askew Codex	453
The Bruce Codex	454
Translations	455
The Difficulty of the Subject	456
Programme	457
SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS OF THE SO-CALLED PISTIS SOPHIA TREATISE	459-506
The Teaching of the Eleven Years	459
The Mystic Transfiguration and Ascent in the Twelfth Year	459
The Master Returns to His Disciples	460
The Mystic Incarnation of the Twelve	460
That the Soul of Elias is Born in John the Baptist	461
Of His Own Incarnation	461
Concerning the Robe of Glory	461
The Hymn of Welcome "Come unto Us"	462
The Three Vestures of Light	463
The Journey into the Height	464
The Master Robs the Æons of a Third of Their Light	465
The Questions of Mary	466
Why the Rulers have been Robbed	466
p. xix
	PAGE
The Shortening of the Times	468
The Heaven-journey Continued	468
The Myth of Pistis Sophia	469
The Enmity of Arrogant	469
The Fall into Matter	470
The Descent of the Soul	471
Its Repentance and Redemption	471
The Degrees of Purification	472
The Light-crown	473
The Final Victory	473
An Otherwise-unknown Story of the Infancy	474
Of the Glory of them of the Thirteenth Æon	476
The Scale of Light	477
The Perfect shall be Higher than the Emanations of Light in the Kingdom 477
The "Last" shall be "First"	478
The Three Supernal Spaces of the Light	478
The Inheritance of Light	479
The Mystery of the First Mystery	479
The Gnosis of Jesus, the Mystery of the Ineffable	479
The Disciples lose Courage in Amazement at the Glories of the Gnosis	480
The Highest Mystery is the Simplest of them All	481
Concerning the One Word of the Ineffable	481
The Glory of Him who Receiveth the Mystery	483
Of the Thrones in the Light-kingdom	484
There are Other Logoi	484
The Degrees of the Mysteries	484
The Boons they Grant	485
The Limbs of the Ineffable	485
The Thousand Years of Light	486
The Books of Ieou	487
p. xx
	PAGE
Ye are Gods	487
Of Souls in Incarnation	488
The Preaching of the Mysteries	489
The Burden of the Preaching	489
The Boundary Marks of the Paths of the Mysteries	490
The After-death State of the Uninitiated Righteous	490
Of those who Repent and again Fall Back	491
The Added Glories of the Saviours of Souls	492
Concerning the Irreconcilables	492
Of the Infinite Compassion of the Divine	493
Of Those who Mimic the Mysteries	493
Can the Pains of Martyrdom be Avoided	494
The Mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead	494
The Transport of the Disciples	495
That this Mystery is to be Kept Secret	495
The Constitution of Man	496
The Evil Desire which Constraineth a Man to Sin	497
The After-death State of the Sinner	497
And of the Initiated Righteous	498
"Agree with Thine Enemy"	499
The Stamping of the Sins on the Souls	499
The Burning up of the Sins by the Fires of the Baptism-Mysteries	500
The Infinite Forgiveness of Sins	501
But Delay Not to Repent	502
For at a Certain Time the Gates of the Light will be Shut	502
"I know not whence ye are"	503
The Dragon of Outer Darkness	503
The Draught of Oblivion	504
p. xxi
	PAGE
The Parents we are to Leave	504
The Books of Ieou Again	505
The Christ the First of this Humanity to Enter the Light	506
’Tis He Who Holds the Keys of the Mysteries	506
SUMMARY OF THE EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOKS OF THE SAVIOUR	507-517
The Immanent Limbs of the Ineffable	507
The Christ is the Ineffable	507
The Gnosis of the Christ	508
The Initiation of the Disciples on the Mount	508
The First Veil is Drawn Aside	509
They Enter the Way of the Midst	510
The Ordering of the Fate-sphere is Described	510
All Mysteries up to the Light-treasure are Promised them	511
The Punishments of the Ways of the Midst	512
The Duration of the Punishments	512
The Disciples Pray for Mercy to Sinners	513
They Enter an Atmosphere of Exceeding Great Light	514
The Vision of the Baptism-Mysteries	514
They Return to Earth	515
The Celebration of the Mystic Eucharist	515
The Mysteries that are to be Revealed	515
The Punishment of Sinners in the Lower Regions and the Evil Bodies they Receive when Reborn	516
The Cup of Wisdom	516
The Note of a Scribe	517
SUMMARY OF THE FRAGMENTS OF THE BOOK OF THE GREAT LOGOS ACCORDING TO THE MYSTERY	518-546
p. xxii
	PAGE
The Book of the Gnoses of the invisible God	518
The Hidden Wisdom	518
A Dark Saying is Explained	519
The Flesh of Ignorance	520
The Mysteries of the Treasure of Light	520
To be Revealed to the Worthy Alone	521
The Lesser Mysteries	522
The Good Commandments	522
The Greater Mysteries	523
The Powers they Confer	523
The Mystic Rite of the Baptism of the Water of Life	524
The Baptism of Fire	526
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit	526
The Mystery of Withdrawing the Evil of the Rulers	527
The Powers the Lesser Mysteries Confer	527
The Mystery of the Forgiveness of Sins	528
The Powers it Confers	528
The Ordering of the Light-treasures	529
The Great Light	529
Invocation to the True God	530
Invocation to the Unapproachable	531
The Mystery of the Twelve Æons	531
The Thirteenth Æon	532
The Fourteenth Æon	532
The Three Great Rulers	532
Concerning Ieou the Emanator of the Middle Light world	533
The Tetragrammaton	534
The Type of the Treasures	535
The Type of the True God Ieou	535
The Mystic Diagrams	536
Cosmic Embryology	536
p. xxiii
	PAGE
The Seal on the Forehead of Ieou	537
General Characteristics of the Diagrams	537
The Twelve the Order of Jesus	538
Hymn to the First Mystery sung in the Thirteen Æons	539
The Thirteenth Æon	539
The Sixty Treasures	540
The Little Idea	541
The Name of the Great Power	542
Hymn to the Unapproachable God sung in the Seventh Treasure	543
The Great Logoi according to the Mystery	544
The Universal Idea	545
Hymn to the [? First] Mystery	545
The Way of the Midst	546
SELECTIONS FROM THE UNTITLED APOCALYPSE OF THE CODEX BRUCIANUS	547-566
The First Being	547
The Second Being	547
The Supernal Cross	548
The Twelve Depths	548
The Primal Source	549
The Unmanifested	550
The Manifested, the Plērōma	550
Three-faced and Two-faced Space	551
The View of the Commentator	552
Marsanēs, Nicotheus, and Phōsilampēs	553
The Creative Logos	553
The Descent of the Light-spark	554
The Spiritual Atom	554
Hymn to the Logos	555
The Christ	555
The Glorified of the Logos	556
p. xxiv
	PAGE
The At-one-ment	556
Soteriology	557
The Ineffable Vesture	557
The Purification of the Lower Nature	558
The World-Saviour	558
The Promise	559
The Powers of the Light vesture	559
The Mothers of Men	560
The Song of Praise of the Mother Above	561
The Hidden Worlds	561
The Man	562
The Lord of Splendour	562
His Promise to Them who Believe	563
The Prayer of the Earth-born	564
The Powers of Discrimination are Given them	564
The Ladder of Purification	565
The Son of God	565
Hymn to the Light	566
NOTES ON THE CONTENTS OF THE BRUCE AND ASKEW CODICES	567-578
The Kinship of the Titled Treatises	567
Date	568
Authorship	568
The Titles	569
The Books of Ieou	569
The Probable Author	570
The Obscurity of the Subject	570
The Original Pistis Sophia Treatise	572
The Coptic Translation	572
The Books of the Saviour	573
The Copyist	573
The Scheme Pre-supposed in these Treatises	574
p. xxv
	PAGE
An Appreciation of the Untitled Treatise	576
Not to be Attributed to a Single Author	577
Its Apocalyptic Basis	577
The Over-working	578
THE AKHMĪM CODEX	579-592
The MS. and its Contents	579
The Gospel of Mary	580
The Wisdom of Jesus Christ	582
Irenæus quotes from The Gospel of Mary	582
An Examination of his Statements	583
The Father	583
The Mother	584
The Pentad	584
The Decad	586
The Christ	587
The Egyptian Origin of the Treatise	588
The Opinion of Harnack	589
The Importance of the MS.	591
SOME FORGOTTEN SAYINGS	593-602
Rejected Logoi	593
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri	600
CONCLUSION	603-633
AFTERWORD	605-607
BIBLIOGRAPHIES	608-633
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY	609-623
Early Works	609
Critical Studies prior to 1851	610
Works subsequent to the Publication of the Philosophumena in 1851	613
p. xxvi
	PAGE
THE COPTIC GNOSTIC WORKS	624-627
REVIEWS AND ARTICLES IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN PERIODICALS	628-630
UNCANONICAL ACTS	630
GNOSTIC (?) GEMS AND ABRAXAS-STUDIES	631
GNOSTIC WORKS MENTIONED BY ANCIENT WRITERS	631
THE MOST RECENT TEXTS OF THE HÆRESIOLOGICAL CHURCH FATHERS AND THEIR ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS	631-633

Synopsis of Contents

Synopsis of Contents

Comments and social are coming soon