Kurt Rudolph
Gnosis: Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken Religion
(Gnosis: The Nature and History of a late-antique Religion)
GNOSIS: The Nature & History of Gnosticism by Kurt Rudolph is arguably the definitive document on that branch of Judaeo-Christian Gnosticism, which has survived uninterrupted to the present time. Rudolph bases his work on numerous original Gnostic sources including the writings of the early "Church Fathers;" and The Corpus Hermeticum, The Pistis Sophia, The Hymn of the Pearl; various extracts from Mandean literature and, of course, the Nag Hammadi (the Judaeo-Christian Gnostic Texts, discovered in 1947)
Rudolf states that the underlying theme of this traditional Gnosticism is (1) Revolt against both the natural and socio-political order, and (2) the belief that the only salvation from the world of darkness lies in the individual ability to unite with the Originating Consciousness through direct Knowledge (Gnosis).
The world is the product of a divine tragedy, a disharmony in the realm of God, a baleful destiny in which man is entangled and from which he must be set free.
(p. 66)
The use of the masculine pronoun is specific here, as that branch of Gnosticism described in this book is ascetic and male oriented—at least in its early, possibly pre-Christian stage.
The more closely Gnosticism became identified with the growing Christian Establishment—that is, as an alternative to it —and moved from Palestine to Alexandria and Rome — the more women found a spiritual and intellectual haven in its esoteric doctrines. As the text progresses into later manifestations of Gnostic Philosophy, Rudolph also documents examples of more tolerant, even libertine Gnostic sects.
The role of the feminine spiritual element, however, was pronounced in all branches of Gnosticism, symbolized in Pistis (Faith) and Sophia (Wisdom):
Sophia...wished to work alone, without her consort.
[p. 73]
The "consort" is the Demiurge, or false god [p.78] whose formula can be expressed as:
12 angels [the Zodiac]
x 7 angels each = 84
x 3 powers = 252
+ 108 = 360 or a solar year. MsSVig
Gnosis: Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken Religion
(Gnosis: The Nature and History of a late-antique Religion)
GNOSIS: The Nature & History of Gnosticism by Kurt Rudolph is arguably the definitive document on that branch of Judaeo-Christian Gnosticism, which has survived uninterrupted to the present time. Rudolph bases his work on numerous original Gnostic sources including the writings of the early "Church Fathers;" and The Corpus Hermeticum, The Pistis Sophia, The Hymn of the Pearl; various extracts from Mandean literature and, of course, the Nag Hammadi (the Judaeo-Christian Gnostic Texts, discovered in 1947)
Rudolf states that the underlying theme of this traditional Gnosticism is (1) Revolt against both the natural and socio-political order, and (2) the belief that the only salvation from the world of darkness lies in the individual ability to unite with the Originating Consciousness through direct Knowledge (Gnosis).
The world is the product of a divine tragedy, a disharmony in the realm of God, a baleful destiny in which man is entangled and from which he must be set free.
(p. 66)
The use of the masculine pronoun is specific here, as that branch of Gnosticism described in this book is ascetic and male oriented—at least in its early, possibly pre-Christian stage.
The more closely Gnosticism became identified with the growing Christian Establishment—that is, as an alternative to it —and moved from Palestine to Alexandria and Rome — the more women found a spiritual and intellectual haven in its esoteric doctrines. As the text progresses into later manifestations of Gnostic Philosophy, Rudolph also documents examples of more tolerant, even libertine Gnostic sects.
The role of the feminine spiritual element, however, was pronounced in all branches of Gnosticism, symbolized in Pistis (Faith) and Sophia (Wisdom):
Sophia...wished to work alone, without her consort.
[p. 73]
The "consort" is the Demiurge, or false god [p.78] whose formula can be expressed as:
12 angels [the Zodiac]
x 7 angels each = 84
x 3 powers = 252
+ 108 = 360 or a solar year. MsSVig