A01=Michael Allen Williams
Against the Galilaeans
Agrippa Castor
Anti-Judaism
Antinomianism
Apocrypha
Apocryphon
Apostasy
Asceticism
Author_Michael Allen Williams
Blasphemy
Borborites
Cainites
Category=QRYC1
Catharism
Celibacy
Cerinthus
Christian fundamentalism
Christian Identity
Church Fathers
Clement of Alexandria
Contra Celsum
Demiurge
Elohim
Epiphanes (gnostic)
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Exegesis
False prophet
Gnosticism
God
Good and evil
Gospel of Eve
Heresy
Heresy of the Free Spirit
Heterodoxy
Ideal type
Incorruptibility
Infidel
Irenaeus
Jews
Judaism
Judas Iscariot
Justification (theology)
Justin Martyr
Manichaeism
Marcion of Sinope
Marcionism
Martyr
Nicolaism
Orthodox Judaism
Plotinus
Predestination
Pseudo-Philo
Puritans
Reform Judaism
Religion
Religious text
Renunciation
Satan
Sect
Sethianism
Sophia (Gnosticism)
Spiritual marriage
Spirituality
Superiority (short story)
The Other Hand
Theodicy
Theodotus of Byzantium
Theology
Thou shalt not covet
Tractate
Wickedness
Writing
Zostrianos
Product details
- ISBN 9780691005423
- Weight: 539g
- Dimensions: 197 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 02 May 1999
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Most anyone interested in such topics as creation mythology, Jungian theory, or the idea of "secret teachings" in ancient Judaism and Christianity has found "gnosticism" compelling. Yet the term "gnosticism," which often connotes a single rebellious movement against the prevailing religions of late antiquity, gives the false impression of a monolithic religious phenomenon. Here Michael Williams challenges the validity of the widely invoked category of ancient "gnosticism" and the ways it has been described. Presenting such famous writings and movements as the Apocryphon of John and Valentinian Christianity, Williams uncovers the similarities and differences among some major traditions widely categorized as gnostic. He provides an eloquent, systematic argument for a more accurate way to discuss these interpretive approaches. The modern construct "gnosticism" is not justified by any ancient self-definition, and many of the most commonly cited religious features that supposedly define gnosticism phenomenologically turn out to be questionable.
Exploring the sample sets of "gnostic" teachings, Williams refutes generalizations concerning asceticism and libertinism, attitudes toward the body and the created world, and alleged features of protest, parasitism, and elitism. He sketches a fresh model for understanding ancient innovations on more "mainstream" Judaism and Christianity, a model that is informed by modern research on dynamics in new religious movements and is freed from the false stereotypes from which the category "gnosticism" has been constructed.
Michael Allen Williams is Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Washington, and is currently chair of the Department of Near East Languages and Civilization. He is also the author of The Immovable Race: A Gnostic Designation and the Theme of Stability in Late Antiquity and co-editor, with Collett Cox and Martin Jaffee, of Innovation in Religious Traditions: Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change.
