Past MSCP Course

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The Philosophy of Gnosticism

Lecturer: Nina Power

Originally Taught: Summer School 2022

This course will examine, via the writings of Georges Bataille, Ioan Couliano, Gershom Scholem, Elaine Pagels, Hans Jonas, Harold Bloom, Philip K. Dick and Eric Voegelin the contemporary meaning of Gnosticism as a theory of knowledge. This five-day course will examine the core gnostic concepts and approaches, including dualism, Sophia, the demiurge, logos and aeon. It will ultimately aim to provide students with the ability to see how gnostic ideas have permeated our contemporary culture, even, or especially, when we believe we live in secular times.

Reading marked with an asterisk is primary, but try to read as many of the texts as possible for the full experience!

Day 1: What is Gnosticism?

Reading:

  • *Ioan P. Couliano, ‘Chapter 2: Myths about Gnosticism: An Introduction’, The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism, translated by H. S. Wiesner and the author (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), pp. 50-69
  • *Kurt Rudolph, ‘THE SOURCES’, Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism, translation edited by Robert McLachlan Wilson (New York: HarperCollins, 1987 [1977]), pp. 9-52
  • Henry Corbin, ‘The Dramatic Element Common to the Gnostic Cosmogonies of the Religions of the Book’, Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 14, Nos. 3 & 4 (Summer-Autumn, 1980), pp. 199-221.
  • Michael Allen Williams, Introduction & ‘Chapter 1 What Kind of Thing Do Scholars Mean by “Gnosticism”? A LOOK AT FOUR CASES’, Rethinking “Gnosticism”: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 3-28

Day 2: Gnostic Texts

Reading:

Day 3: The Meaning of Gnosticism

Reading:

  • *Hans Jonas, Prefaces & ‘Part 1: Gnostic Literature – Main Tenets, Symbolic Language, Chapter 2: The Meaning of Gnosis and the Extent of the Gnostic Movement’, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity, second edition (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963 [1953]), pp. xiii-xx & pp. 31-47
  • *Georges Bataille, ‘Base Materialism and Gnosticism’ (1930), The Bataille Reader, edited by Fred Botting and Scott Wilson (London: Blackwell, 1997), pp. 160-164
  • Gershom G. Scholem, ‘Chapter IX, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GNOSTIC AND JEWISH SOURCES. JEWISH SOURCES ON THE OGDOAS. YALDABAOTH AND ARIEL. ELIJAH AND LILITH’, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition, Second Edition (New York: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1965 [1960]), pp. 65-74
  • *Ioan P. Couliano, ‘Chapter 11: Modern Nihilism’, The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism, translated by H. S. Wiesner and the author (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), pp. 249-266
  • Ioan P. Couliano, ‘Chapter 10: The Tree of Gnosis’, The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism, translated by H. S. Wiesner and the author (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), pp. 239-248

Day 4: Gnosticism and Politics

Reading:

  • *Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics: An Introduction (Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press, 1974 [1952]).
  • *Eric Voegelin, Science, Politics and Gnosticism: Two Essays (Washington D.C., Gateway Editions, 1997 [1959])
  • Harold Bloom, ‘Chapter V: Millennium’, Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, And Resurrection (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996), pp. 217-230

Day 5: Gnosticism and Culture

Reading: