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Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy: A Study in the History of Gnosticism

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Alistair H. B. Logan's book "Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy" has a controversial title, but is in itself a very detailed and scholarly work. It is not written for people who have not had some exposure to Gnosticism, or are unfamiliar with texts from Gnostic sources.

Logan's basic theory is to posit an underlying myth to various works and to trace the various influences that can be seen throughout a group of Sethianised books. He posits two main redactions and also tackles the doctrinal content of them in each stage from given premises which he makes clear.

For this book, I would recommend access to and familiarity with some of the following books: "Against Heresies", by Irenaeus of Lyon, (especially Book 1, Chapters 29 and 30), "The Apocryphon of John" in both the Short and Long Recensions, "The Gospel of the Egyptians", "The Three Steles of Seth", "The Trimorphic Protennoia", "On the Origin of the World", "The Hypostasis of the Archons" and a few more. Fortunately, most of these are available in James M. Robinson's "The Nag Hammadi Library", which makes it somewhat easier. Others are available from other sources, (some online).

Logan's organisation is very clear and logical, as he deals with a broad theory of Gnostic origins. In some points, he is in broad agreement with other scholars, (eg. Carl Smith in "No Longer Jews"), though he does differ on some points of location and cause. He also deals with broad aspects of developing myth and doctrine thoughout the books he traces. These broad aspects include cosmogony, anthropogony, eschatology and much more. Logan places primary importance on the textual evidence, and his book reflects this concern.

A second point is Logan's vocabulary, which can be pretty tough going at times. I found myself reaching for the dictionary on more than one occassion. In that sense, it was very challenging for me, but I learned a lot of new words, which is always good.

Logan's book is a very detailed and very specialised look at the textual evidence that seems to point to Sethian and, to some degree, to Valentinian Gnosticism. Logan's writing is extremely weighty, though considering his task, I fail to see how it could be otherwise. Textual criticism figures highly in his book, so one should bear this in mind when considering it. In this sense, if textual criticism is what interests you, this book is surely to be heaven-sent.

Logan covers a wide range of material, and he is very thorough in his approach and work. In short, it is a great book, but not one to introduce yourself to Gnosticism on.

Another reviewer of this book apparently didn't read the book. Logan does an exceptional job separating myth and fable from what can be discerned historically, linguistically and archeologically of how things came to be in regards to the gnostics and what became the orthodoxes. His treatment of the subject is level and very thoughtful. The book isn't an attack on the Catholic Church or the Christian faith. It's not an attack on anything. The title belies much of the content of the book. It's just that many people who just see the title, read the blurb and write a scathing review are predisposed to label it a fraud anyway. It's a *very* good book, for whatever viewpoint you have on it. I checked it out from my parish library and then decided to purchase it.

Alistair H. B. Logan's book "Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy" has a controversial title, but is in itself a very detailed and scholarly work. It is not written for people who have not had some exposure to Gnosticism, or are unfamiliar with texts from Gnostic sources.

Logan's basic theory is to posit an underlying myth to various works and to trace the various influences that can be seen throughout a group of Sethianised books. He posits two main redactions and also tackles the doctrinal content of them in each stage from given premises which he makes clear.

For this book, I would recommend access to and familiarity with some of the following books: "Against Heresies", by Irenaeus of Lyon, (especially Book 1, Chapters 29 and 30), "The Apocryphon of John" in both the Short and Long Recensions, "The Gospel of the Egyptians", "The Three Steles of Seth", "The Trimorphic Protennoia", "On the Origin of the World", "The Hypostasis of the Archons" and a few more. Fortunately, most of these are available in James M. Robinson's "The Nag Hammadi Library", which makes it somewhat easier. Others are available from other sources, (some online).

Logan's organisation is very clear and logical, as he deals with a broad theory of Gnostic origins. In some points, he is in broad agreement with other scholars, (eg. Carl Smith in "No Longer Jews"), though he does differ on some points of location and cause. He also deals with broad aspects of developing myth and doctrine thoughout the books he traces. These broad aspects include cosmogony, anthropogony, eschatology and much more. Logan places primary importance on the textual evidence, and his book reflects this concern.

A second point is Logan's vocabulary, which can be pretty tough going at times. I found myself reaching for the dictionary on more than one occassion. In that sense, it was very challenging for me, but I learned a lot of new words, which is always good.

Logan's book is a very detailed and very specialised look at the textual evidence that seems to point to Sethian and, to some degree, to Valentinian Gnosticism. Logan's writing is extremely weighty, though considering his task, I fail to see how it could be otherwise. Textual criticism figures highly in his book, so one should bear this in mind when considering it. In this sense, if textual criticism is what interests you, this book is surely to be heaven-sent.

Logan covers a wide range of material, and he is very thorough in his approach and work. In short, it is a great book, but not one to introduce yourself to Gnosticism on.

This book is an attempt to distort the morals of catholic church. The name "Gnosticism" in this book covers many different phenomena.Not mentioned, Gnos is the greek word for knowledge, which in my opinion, resembles the tree of knowledge. The message of gnosticism in this book is ,in my opinion, "A neo-pagan effort to distract society away from the true God, and focus on polytheism and its discontents". Since the book openly denies or rejects the hypostatic union(trinity), gnosticism and its forms are sins of religion and truth. To the extent that the author is ignorant about the true instruction of faith, (given by Jesus Christ), or presenting its teaching falsely, the author, and neo-gnostic fallowers must be said to conceal rather than reveal the true nature of God and religion.