Gnostic religion in antiquity
By: Roelof van den Broek
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
ISBN-13: 9781107031371; 9781107514799
Subjects: Historia; Gnosticism; Gnosis; Frühchristentum
Description: "Gnostic religion is the expression of a religious worldview which is dominated by the concept of Gnosis, an esoteric knowledge of God and the human being which grants salvation to those who possess it. Roelof van den Broek presents here a fresh approach to the gnostic current of Late Antiquity within its historical and religious context, based on sources in Greek, Latin and Coptic, including discussions of the individual works of preserved gnostic literature. Van den Broek explores the various gnostic interpretations of the Christian faith that were current in the second and third centuries, whilst showing that despite its influence on early Christianity, gnostic religion was not a typically Christian phenomenon."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 232-247) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Gnosis and Gnostic religion; title: Gnostic literature I: tradition; title: Gnostic literature II: texts; title: Anti-Gnostic literature; title: Gnosis: essence and expressions; title: Backgrounds.