(no subject)
Uh, oh, watch out, Catholics, Gnosticism is rearing its ugly head again, like the gopher thingy that you try to hit with the mallet, only when you do, out it pops somewhere else.
New statement from the Vatican: JESUS CHRIST: THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE: A Christian reflection on the 'New Age'
(this is a large document that may take a while to load on some connections)
--Wherein Wicca, theosophism, the occult revival of the 19th Century, feng shui, crystals, channeling, yoga, and Zen are all linked to ancient Gnosticism.
While the authors of this document have compiled a lot of information, it is clear that they fundamentally misunderstand the "threat" to them at a superficial level, and demonstrate that they have not even begun to understand or investigate the true meaning of the teachings of Gnosticism.
For example, Colossians 1:15-20, which was central to Valentinian theology and Christology, is cited herein as "anti-Gnostic."
Despite the fact that dualism is more fundamentally a tenet of orthodox than Gnostic Christianity, dualism is again called a "Gnostic" heterodoxy, at the same time that Gnosticism is blamed for New Age permutations on the idea of pantheism. Gnosticism cannot possibly be both dualistic and pantheistic, the two views are mutually exclusive.
In short, the goal of this text is to sort out everything the authors do not like about the "New Age" movement and its various permutations (most especially wicca, theosophism, and modern esoterica) and label them as "Gnostic," quite obviously without any understanding of what it is they are trying to malign.
New statement from the Vatican: JESUS CHRIST: THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE: A Christian reflection on the 'New Age'
(this is a large document that may take a while to load on some connections)
--Wherein Wicca, theosophism, the occult revival of the 19th Century, feng shui, crystals, channeling, yoga, and Zen are all linked to ancient Gnosticism.
While the authors of this document have compiled a lot of information, it is clear that they fundamentally misunderstand the "threat" to them at a superficial level, and demonstrate that they have not even begun to understand or investigate the true meaning of the teachings of Gnosticism.
For example, Colossians 1:15-20, which was central to Valentinian theology and Christology, is cited herein as "anti-Gnostic."
Despite the fact that dualism is more fundamentally a tenet of orthodox than Gnostic Christianity, dualism is again called a "Gnostic" heterodoxy, at the same time that Gnosticism is blamed for New Age permutations on the idea of pantheism. Gnosticism cannot possibly be both dualistic and pantheistic, the two views are mutually exclusive.
In short, the goal of this text is to sort out everything the authors do not like about the "New Age" movement and its various permutations (most especially wicca, theosophism, and modern esoterica) and label them as "Gnostic," quite obviously without any understanding of what it is they are trying to malign.
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