Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to The Da Vinci Code [Hardcover]

Richard Smoley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0060783397 | ISBN-13: 978-0060783396 | Publication Date: April 11, 2006

The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's "Gnostic Gospels" and Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. Many people now are delving into the byways of this tradition of inner Christianity, hoping to find an alternative to stale dogmas and blind beliefs. Among the most compelling of these lost traditions is Gnosticism. "Forbidden Faith" explores the legacy of the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, from its influence on early Christianity to contemporary popular culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Tackling the perplexing, if not esoteric, topic of Gnosticism has proved a daunting challenge for most who have tried to introduce it to the general reading public. Not so for Smoley, former editor of the journal Gnosis. This clear, concise (albeit cursory in spots) primer traces the Gnostic threads of philosophy, religion, science and popular culture from their biblical references through to their 21st-century appearances in novels and film. Moving easily from one century to the next while at the same time connecting them to each other, Smoley is at once thoughtful and thought-provoking, suggesting that if the history of the Gnostic legacy were a drama, he'd script it in two acts, divided between the "rise and fall of the great dualist heresy... [and]... the entrance of Kabbalah" into Western heritage. Beside the usual examples of the Gospel of Thomas, the Cathars, Rosicrucians and Masons, he resuscitates Manichaeism and Hesychasm. He highlights not only William Blake and Carl Jung, but Theosophy maven Helena Blavatsky, German philosopher Eric Voegelin and, surprisingly, literary critic Harold Bloom. Throughout, Smoley reinforces that Gnosticism is, and always has been, here to stay. He paves a wide, clear path to understanding it, accessible even to the weekend seeker. (May)
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From Booklist

There are plenty of books about Gnosticism, but instead of just interpreting Gnostic Gospels in relation to Christianity, Smoley takes a more inclusive approach, showing how Gnosticism has flourished in one form or another throughout the ages, rearing its head today in the popularity of The Da Vinci Code and the myriad books that have followed in its wake. Smoley begins with an introduction to the Gnostics, tracing their beliefs back to the Egyptians. He then moves forward in history, discussing in readable style the Gnostics' battles with orthodoxy as well as Gnosticism's evolution and its links to other forms of mysticism, including kabbalah. Throughout, Smoley makes the point that the appeal of Gnosticism, whatever its form, stems from a lack of vitality in Christianity, which in turn derives from the fact that "crucial material about the earliest era of Christianity seems to be missing." Although Smoley writes in a popular style, he never lacks for scholarship. The many readers interested in Gnosticism will find new and valuable ways of looking at the topic here. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060783397
• ISBN-13: 978-0060783396
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Smoley is one of the world's most distinguished authorities on the mystical and esoteric teachings of Western civilization.

Richard was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1956. He attended the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and entered Harvard in 1974. As an undergraduate, Smoley was managing editor of the university's venerable literary magazine, The Harvard Advocate, and edited an anthology entitled First Flowering: The Best of the Harvard Advocate, 1866-1976. Featuring prefaces by Norman Mailer and Robert Fitzgerald, the book was published by Addison-Wesley in 1977.

After taking a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in classics at Harvard in 1978, Richard went on to the University of Oxford in the U.K., where he edited The Pelican, the magazine of Corpus Christi College. He took another B.A. in the Honour School of Literae Humaniores (classics and philosophy) in 1980, and received his M.A. from Oxford in 1985.

The most important part of his stay at Oxford came from his contact with a small group that was studying the Kabbalah, one of the mainstays of the Western esoteric tradition. It was here that he was first introduced to many of the ideas he has discussed in his books and articles.

After two years at Oxford, Richard moved to San Francisco in 1980. During this time he continued his spiritual investigations, working with teachings ranging from Tibetan Buddhism to A Course in Miracles. He was also a member of the board of directors of the San Francisco Miracles Foundation, an organization sponsoring the work of A Course in Miracles.

In 1986, Richard started writing for a new magazine called Gnosis: A Journal of the Western Inner Traditions. After four years of writing for Gnosis and a brief stint as managing editor, he came on board as editor in November 1990. In his eight years as editor of Gnosis, he put together issues of the magazine on subjects as diverse as Gnosticism, Freemasonry, G.I. Gurdjieff, and the spirituality of Russia. In 1998 Gnosis won Utne Reader's award for best spiritual coverage. In May 1999, Richard's book, Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions, coauthored with Jay Kinney, was published by Penguin Arkana. (A revised edition was issued by Quest Books in 2006.)

Richard's book Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition, was published in fall 2002 by Shambhala Publications. An audio version read by Richard is available from Berkshire Media Artists Inc. The award-winning literary magazine The Sun featured him in a lengthy interview on Christianity in its September 2003 issue.

Richard has also worked as editor for Faith.com, a Web site on religion and spirituality, and as managing editor of Lindisfarne Books, a highly respected publisher of titles on the spiritual traditions. He is a consulting editor and frequent contributor to Parabola: The Journal of Myth and Tradition. He has served as guest editor of Science of Mind magazine, and works as a consultant for the New Century Edition of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, sponsored by the Swedenborg Foundation in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He is a frequent contributor to the Australian magazine New Dawn. He presently lives in western Massachusetts, where he teaches philosophy as an adjunct professor at Holyoke Community College. He is also editor of Quest Books, operated by the Theosophical Society in America.

In January 2006, Tarcher/Penguin published The Essential Nostradamus, Richard's guide to this fascinating but elusive prophet. The Essential Nostradamus contains fresh and accurate new translations of Nostradamus's key prophecies, as well as an evaluation of his work -- and of prophecy in general.

In April 2007, Harper San Francisco (now Harper One) released the paperback edition of Richard's Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism (originally published in hardcover in 2006). This is an accessible and engaging history of the secret currents of Western civilization -- including Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Catharism, the Rosicrucian legacy, Freemasonry, Theosophy, and much more. It also explores how these currents have shaped modern trends and thinkers ranging from William Blake to C.G. Jung, and, in more recent times, Philip K. Dick, Harold Bloom, and A Course in Miracles.

Richard's book,Conscious Love: Insights from Mystical Christianity was published in April 2008 by Jossey-Bass.

He has also written a novel entitled The Gospel of Matthias, which tells the story of Christ in the context of esoteric Christianity. It's currently unpublished; if you'd like to get a copy, please contact Richard by e-mail.

Currently he works as editor of Quest Books and executive editor of Quest magazine, both published by the Theosophical Society in America.

Richard has appeared on several History Channel documentaries on prophecy and religious history. He lectures and gives workshops throughout the United States. Organizations that have sponsored his talks and workshops include:
* The New York Open Center
* The Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, New York
* The California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco
* The Kabbalah Society, London
* The Theosophical Society in America, Wheaton, Illinois
* Krotona School of Theosophy, Ojai, California,
* Nine Gates Mystery School
* Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York
* The Lumen Foundation, San Francisco
* The Krotona School of Theosophy, Ojai, California
*The Bodhi Tree Bookstore, West Hollywood
* The Swedenborg Foundation
* East-West Books, New York
* Pioneer Valley Anthroposophical Society, Hadley, Massachusetts
* The Kabbalah Society of East Tennessee
* The Seven Rays Institute Conference, Mesa, Arizona
* The Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta, sponsored by the Joseph Campbell Foundation
* Friends of Jung, Kansas City

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the best in one volume., April 24, 2006

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Dr. C. H. Roberts (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to The Da Vinci Code (Hardcover)

This book is easily the most comprehensive, easy to read, well researched book on esoteric spirituality. All of this in the space of 256 pages! The index is thorough (have you noticed that more and more non-fiction books are being published without indices?! Not this one, I am happy to report!)and the chapters are well organized. The book serves well either as an introduction to esoteric/gnostic spiritualities, as a historical survey of the history of those spiritualities, or as an up-to-date series on recent developments in this area of knowledge. Richard Smoley is an authority on these matters and has done a marvelous job with this book. I was especially interested in and appreciative of the section of the book that discusses A Course in Miracles. This one is a "must have" book! Highly recommended.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars OK Introduction to Gnostic History and Its Legacy, May 19, 2006

By 

Matthew S. Schweitzer "zohoe" (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to The Da Vinci Code (Hardcover)

"Forbidden Faith" serves up the usual introductory material regarding the history and legacy of early Christian Gnosticism. Gnosticism and many of the related esoteric subjects like the Knights Templar, the Cathars, the Holy Grail, etc. are all the rage these days thanks to books like "Da Vinci Code" which have brought the subject of Gnosticism and its ancient texts to the mainstream.

"Forbidden Faith" provides a background history to the origins of Gnosticism and its relationship and influences with other ancient belief systems. It shows that Gnosticism borrowed heavily from the dualist beliefs that featured so prominently in Zoroastrianism in the centuries preceeding the birth of Christianity. Later, the Gnostics and their teachers created a much more mystical version of Christianity which was at odds with mainstream orthodoxy, ultimately leading to its followers being labeled heretics and persecuted unto death by rival Christian factions. The Gnostics lost their battle for acceptance and virtually all of their history and religious texts were lost for nearly two thousand years, that is until the revolutionary discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945. The book also traces the various Gnostic influences on other well-know heretical groups like the Cathars and the Bogomils who shared many fo the same ideas about a malevolent creator deity and the inherent evil of the corrupted material world in which we live. Finally, the book highlights a number of Gnostic ideas that have seeped through into modern pop culture such as films like "The Matrix" and the works of sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick which often deal with the concept that the world is nothing more than an elaborate illusion created by malevolent forces to manipulate and control the protagonist.

"Forbidden Faith" is a decent intro to the concept of Gnoisticsm and gives a good background on its origins, history, and legacy. It also highlights some modern works that draw on Gnostic concepts or revolve around the history of this ancient group of believers who have finally, after some 2000 years, gotten their due.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of complex subject, June 6, 2006

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Book lover (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to The Da Vinci Code (Hardcover)

A wonderful introduction to the labrythine history of this fascinating religious group. Smoley, a Harvard and Oxford educated scholar, writes in an accessible way that really draws you in to the subject. Read it along with Elaine Pagels, "The Gnostic Gospels."