Norea is a fire-breathing prophet. Fire of Norea is her story.
This is a series on the relationship between Greek philosophy and gnostic literature. To start with the first post, please go here. Here are my concluding thoughts on the extent to which Platonism influenced gnosticism and, secondarily, whether Judaism is actually the more likely origin. Famed Jewish historian Gershom Scholem argued for a link between early... Continue Reading →
Philo's work is somewhat enigmatic. For instance, he uses Plato's theory of Ideas in De specialibus legibus I.329 to explain how the Hebrew God made the cosmos: "God created the universe, but without being personally involved in this task, because he, being perfectly blessed, could not enter into contract with indefinite and confused matter. He made use of... Continue Reading →
This is a series on the relationship between Greek philosophy and gnostic literature. To start with the first post, please go here. This post looks at Plato, Middle Platonism and the influence of other Greek philosophies on Middle Platonism regarding negative theology and the concept of an ineffable deity, drawing largely from Deirdre Carabine's book on... Continue Reading →
In the previous post, I provided an overview of this series, in which I will look at Platonic thought, Philo of Alexandria and the gnostic text Apocryphon of John in order to argue that gnostic thought, although it may have utilized philosophical terms to explain its concepts, was not a philosophical system based on Greek philosophy. In this... Continue Reading →
Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of generation. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of anything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things should be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest sense the origin of creation... Continue Reading →
This is the conclusion to a series on Valentinus, the early Christian condemned by Irenaeus as a "heretic" by association with the Gnostikoi, a designation perpetuated by modern scholars of religious history. I have attempted to rehabilitate his biography and use Valentinus as an example of how the binary dichotomy of "orthodoxy vs. heresy" has... Continue Reading →
In the previous posts of this series, (Valentinus was a Christian, not a "Gnostic": Exploration of the history shaped by the "Orthodoxy vs Heresy" Dichotomy and A History of Orthodoxy vs. Heresy Part II: Valentinus Up Close) I looked at the way Valentinus has been characterized by modern scholars and argued that, with the scant... Continue Reading →
I'm about to graduate with a degree in Religious Studies. Thursday, I submitted the final paper of my graduate degree: this one an attempt to salvage the reputation of second century Alexandrian Christian (often called "gnostic") Valentinus from the heresiological reports of Church Fathers like Irenaeus and the resulting orthodox historical narrative that shapes... Continue Reading →
Wow, what a feeling. I've never "won" NaNoWriMo before (50,000 words written in the month of November for National Novel Writing Month). I've been working on my novel for roughly four years and this is the third year I've participated in NaNoWriMo. The problem has always been that I was still doing research for my... Continue Reading →
fireofnorea 