Customer Reviews

The Gnostic Religion

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have heard from others that Jonas' book is less difficult to follow than Rudolph's book "Gnosis". I would agree with this assessment, in some ways. I found Jonas' book to be well organised and less "wordy" than that which Rudolph wrote.

While Jonas does not cover as wide a range of types of Gnosticism, he does enter into greater detail. He uses Valentinian and Manichaean Gnosticism as examples of different streams of Gnostic thought. The detail into which he goes with the different elements of these schools is excellent, and is quite easily understood. He also covers the imagery and symbolism of Gnostic religion, as well as some on Marcion, Simon Magus and other topics.

One drawback is the book's age, and it is a little dated. Here, Rudolph's book offers a more recent analysis with more of the Nag Hammadi Codices easily available than in Jonas' time. Despite this, Jonas still presents an excellent overview, and his book is rightly considered a classic in the field.

Overall, the book is worth the money and worth the effort to read. It provides a sound basis and introduction to Gnosticism that is not too loaded with incomprehensible words and rubbish.

If you know little to nothing about Gnosticism, start with Hans Jonas.

As an introduction to this insightful work, Hans Jonas opens with one of the most illuminating overviews of the condition of the Greco-Roman and the Orient from times of Alexander the Great to the early centuries of the Christian Era. Then, moving into the Gnostic texts, Jonas discusses the meaning of "gnosis", as the ancient man understood it, along with other terms pervasive throughout Gnostic literature. At last, in part one, Jonas describes the extent of the Gnostic movement, and ultimately sets the stage for his in-depth analysis of the various schools and Gnostic systems of thought in part two, namely those of Simon Magus, Marcion, Valentinian, Hermes Trismegistus, and the infamous Manes. In part three, Jonas deals with the Gnostic cosmology and morality, with some of the new discoveries in the field, and finally, in the epilogue, he closes with a dissertation on Gnosticism, Existentialism, and Nihilism. Hans Jonas' work, overall is an excellent, comprehensive study of the multifaceted belief systems of the Mediterranean World. While his treatment may exhaust even the most concentrated of readers, it nevertheless will furnish such a wealth of knowledge that it will act as a superb reference tool and will be a valuable source for religious, cultural, or philosophical studies.

As a Gnostic, it was a delight to read this book. Everything I knew and did not know, I found in detail in this book by Jonas.

You will find the background on the history of Gnosticism in Alexandria; history on its development; the various contributors (e.g. Babylon, Syria, Greek), the various "systems of thought" (eg Valentinian) and their proponents; and a bit of philosophy on Metaphysics.

The excerpts and quotations from ancient Gnostic sources like the Mandaeans tracts and Manichaean books are very helpful and exciting. It is well structured and very easy to follow!

A disadvantage is that it tends to overlook the influence of ancient Egyptian mythology of the after-death (regarding the journey of the soul after death), which influeced Gnosticism profoundly! Also it does not mention the Cathars and Catharism. But this should detract nothing from the book, it is a classic and a masterpiece on Gnosticism!

For those of us who study Church history (especially as regards heretical movements), the Gnostic heresies are some of the most important, whether from its appearance in the early centuries of Christianity, to the conflicts with the Manichaeans, even on into the Middle Ages with the Cathars and the Bogomils, and possibly now with the rise of a more feminist-tinged neo-Gnosticism a la "The Da Vinci Code" and Pangels' works. For those of us interested in these topics, this is a must read.

Jonas delves into the origins and development of various Gnostic sects and their histories, in themselves and in connection with Christianity. He makes good use of the (at the time) recently discovered Nag Hammadi documents (as much as was available then) and previous histories/documents regarding the Gnostics. The book focuses on the Gnostic sects around the time of the Roman Empire, and does not extend into the Gonstic revivals in times after. Considering the amount of information available on Gnostic mythology, it is understandable that Jonas would keep his focus limited.

As a warning, if one is looking for an easy-to-read introduction to the Gnostic sects and heresies, this is not the book to read. It presumes some previous knowledge of the Gnostics, and is most obviously geared towards academics. If you are somewhat familiar with the heresy, and/or are an academic, this is a work to have.

Jonas near the end makes some connections between Gnostic thought and that of more modern existentialists. Whether he is correct or not, I leave to the reader.

While some of this work is dated, it does provide core insights into the Gnostic history and heresy, and should be read through by those interested in understanding this most tenacious of heretical sects.

Hans Jonas has done a masterful job in this study. Combining a historical overview of the development of the early Gnostic movement with a wonderful analysis of the systems' underlying belief structures, Jonas manages to bring the history and the thought alive for anyone reading his work.

A student of Martin Heidegger's, Jonas also has an extremely intriguing essay at the end of this work titled "Gnosticism, Existentialism, and Nihilism" that draws some almost startling parallels between the first few centuries after Christ and the spiritual and intellectual crises that we are confronting in this century.

Jonas has a unique ability to combine Germanic thoroughness and rigour with the lucid writing more typical of what comes from scholars and thinkers in the English/American tradition.

In short, an indespensable, marvelously engaging work. More than highly recommended reading, it is my favorite book on this subject-- a model of thoughtful and thought-provoking scholarship. If you are "scholastically inclined," and interested in learning about the Gnostics, I can think of no better place to start.

With regard to the review below, I would agree that there are parts of this book that involve swinging the pickaxe. But what's wrong with that? It's a fun activity, and actually causes one to learn things--imagine that! The fact that the prose is densely packed (although never obscure) is part of this book's charm. And the pickaxe usually isn't necessary, due to the overall clarity of the writing. For example, the chapters on the Velentinian speculation and the "Hymn of the Pearl" are magnificently written, and do much to enhance one's understanding of the subjects. As far as the passage you quoted, I would submit that you made it appear much more difficult than it is by omitting the preceding reference to the concept of "theoria." In this very book, Jonas states that, "[t]o look at what is there, at nature as it is in itself, at Being, the ancients called by the name of contemplation, theoria." Theoria is the "there" to which your passage refers. With that in mind, one can see that Jonas is trying to make a point regarding epistemology. The classical notion of knowledge involved the subject's essentially passive observation of Being. Gnosis as viewed by gnostics was a different form of knowledge, one that involved the interaction between subject and object set out in the passage. Most authors merely state that Gnostics sought gnosis (knowledge) and leave it at that. That's what I like about this book. Jonas always takes it to the next level, and leaves you with a thorough understanding of the subject. Swing the pickaxe--it's worth it.

Gnosticism was a syncretic religious movement which flourished from the time of St Paul to about 200 AD. The Gnostics were brilliant seekers who like many thoughtful people of the time, were seeking for an answer to the meaning of existence in a turbulent and unstable world addled with war, injustice, evil, and suffering.

Jonas offers an excellent examination of the Gnostic religion and the main ideas of Gnosticism, and introductions to the most famous Gnostic teachers (Valentinus and Basilides) and schools. Central to Gnostic thought was escape of the spiritual soul of man from the prison of the material world to the perfect realm of light or the spirit, where an ineffable God of pure light and spirit lived in a perfect universe of spirit-beings. The problem for the Gnostics was how to escape there from the prison of the material world and the body, which was ruled by evil beings whose aim was to keep all trapped here.

The Gnostics were great mythmakers and elaborated on the hidden and unseen realms of the spirit in fantastically complex accounts of how the world began with a catastrophe in the realm of the spirit, followed by the attempts of spiritual beings from that realm to heal the rifts in reality and bring the Gnostic to redemption. They were also deeply dualistic and asctetic, regarding childbirth and sex as evils to be avoided.

Jonas compares Gnostic thought with schools of philosophy today such as existentialism, which describe man's 'fallen' nature in an imperfect and undesired existence, from which redemption is necessary (but perhaps not possible because of the secular nature of modern society).

Readers of this volume should also acquire either Bentley Layton's Gnostic Scriptures or the Nag Hammadi Library, as reading the primary sources is essential to understanding Gnostic thought.

As a Gnostic, it was a delight to read this book. Everything I knew and did not know, I found in detail in this book by Jonas.

You will find the background on the history of Gnosticism in Alexandria; history on its development; the various contributors (e.g. Babylon, Syria, Greek), the various "systems of thought" (eg Valentinian) and their proponents; and a bit of philosophy on Metaphysics.

The excerpts and quotations from ancient Gnostic sources like the Mandaeans tracts and Manichaean books are very helpful and exciting. It is well structured and very easy to follow!

A disadvantage is that it tends to overlook the influence of ancient Egyptian mythology of the after-death (regarding the journey of the soul after death), which influeced Gnosticism profoundly! Also it does not mention the Cathars and Catharism. But this should detract nothing from the book, it is a classic and a masterpiece on Gnosticism!

"...all investigations of detail over the last half century have proved divergent rather than convergent, and leave us with a portrait of Gnosticism in which the absence of a unifying character seems to be the salient feature" - Hans Jonas, Preface, 1958

No modern writer that I am aware of has brought life to Gnosticism as Jonas has. While in no way neglecting historical or theological issues, Jonas didn't get bogged down in them: he insisted on revealing the existential import of Gnosticism. Indeed, at the end of this book he explores the commonalities of ancient Gnosticism and Heidegger's existentialism. What does it mean to feel one is in a cosmos in which God is alien or absent?

Jonas provides a broad sweep of the conditions at the time Gnosticism developed at the beginning of the Christian era. His writing is that of a scholar but not targetted only to scholars: I find myself frequently excited by his insights. He writes: "... Gnosticism is actually a product of synceticsm [so ] each of these theories can be supported from the sources and none of them is satisfactory alone; but neither is the combination of all of them [supportable] which would make Gnosticism out to mere a mere mosaic of these elements and so miss its autonomous essence." Yet nearly fifty years later some scholars look for a single source for Gnosticism while many are unable to find a suitably bounded definition.
Jonas would not cage Gnosticism. Instead he asserts "The gnostic movement - such as we must call it - was a widespread phenomena in the critical centures indicated, feeding like Christianity on the impulses of a widely prevalent human situation, and therefore erupting in many places, many forms, and many languages."

Jonas discusses many Gnostic texts and themes in organized chunks that made reading them easy for me and I moved rapidly and enthusiastically through the book. Certainly I need to re-read it but after this first reading I launched into reading a number of other books on early Gnosticism as well as wondering how I can apply the insights of Gnosticsm to my life now. Few authors and books have had such an immediate impact on me.

Highly informative and eloquently written. Though outdated by today's standards, Hans Jonas has written a wonderful and insightful study into Gnosticism's foundational teachings, the faith's context within the Greco-Roman world of late antiquity, and it's modern relevancies. Though dense and somewhat rigidly academic in structure and approach, the text is a valuable asset to any student of Gnosticism. It is not, however, reccomended as introductory reading for the reasons stated above.