Practicing Gnosis : ritual, magic, theurgy, and liturgy in Nag Hammadi, Manichaean and other ancient literature : essays in honor of Birger A. Pearson /
Practicing Gnosis : ritual, magic, theurgy, and liturgy in Nag Hammadi, Manichaean and other ancient literature : essays in honor of Birger A. Pearson /
edited by April D. DeConick, Gregory Shaw, John D. Turner.
- 1 online resource (ix, 571 pages) : illustrations.
- Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, v. 85 0929-2470 ; .
- Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 85. Biblical Studies, Ancient Near East and Early Christianity E-Books Online, Collection 2014, ISBN: 9789004262416. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Front Matter / Introduction / For Birger Pearson: A Scholar Who Both Studies and Embodies Syncretism / Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, Religionswissenschaft, Piano, Oboe and Bourbon / Birger Pearson: Scholar, Professor and Mentor / Birger Albert Pearson A Bibliography / The Road for the Soul Is through the Planets: The Mysteries of the Ophians Mapped / Ecstatic Religion in the Roman Cult of Mithras / The Gospel of Philip as Gnostic Initiatory Discourse / Becoming Invisible: Rending the Veil and the Hermeneutic of Secrecy in the Gospel of Philip / Ritual in the Second Book of Jeu / Death on the Nile: Egyptian Codices, Gnosticism, and Early Christian Books of the Dead / Going to Church with the Valentinians / Practicing “Repentance” on the Path to Gnosis in Exegesis on the Soul / Opening the Way of Writing: Semiotic Metaphysics in the Book of Thoth / “I Worship and Glorify”: Manichaean Liturgy and Piety in Kellis’ Prayer of the Emanations / The Manichaean Weekly Confession Ritual / Ritual Ingenuity in the Mandaean Scroll of Exalted Kingship / Natural, Magical, Scientific or Religious? A Guide to Theories of Healing / Astrological Medicine in Gnostic Traditions / The Persistence of Ritual in the Magical Book of Mary and the Angels: P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 685 / Image and Word: Performative Ritual and Material Culture in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls / From Baptismal Vision to Mystical Union with the One: The Case of the Sethian Gnostics / Marcosian Rituals for Prophecy and Apolytrosis / Ritual in the Hekhalot Literature / The Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Interpretation of Plato’s Sophist / Did Plotinus “Friends” Still Go to Church? Communal Rituals and Ascent Apocalypses / The Meaning of “One”: Plurality and Unity in Plotinus and Later Neoplatonism / Theurgy and the Platonist’s Luminous Body / Index / April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner -- April D. DeConick -- George W.E. Nickelsburg -- Gerald James Larson -- Gregory Shaw -- April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner -- April D. DeConick -- Roger Beck -- Bas van Os -- Elliot R. Wolfson -- Erin Evans -- Nicola Denzey Lewis -- Einar Thomassen -- Madeleine Scopello -- Edward P. Butler -- Fernando Bermejo-Rubio -- Jason David BeDuhn -- Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley -- Naomi Janowitz -- Grant Adamson -- Marvin Meyer -- Rebecca Lesses -- John D. Turner -- Niclas Förster -- James R. Davila -- Zeke Mazur -- Michael A. Williams -- Kevin Corrigan -- Gregory Shaw -- April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner.
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ritual, magic, liturgy, and theurgy were central features of Gnosticism, and yet Gnostic practices remain understudied. This anthology is meant to fill in this gap and address more fully what the ancient Gnostics were doing. While previously we have studied the Gnostics as intellectuals in pursuit of metaphysical knowledge, the essays in this book attempt to understand the Gnostics as ecstatics striving after religious experience, as prophets seeking revelation, as mystics questing after the ultimate God, as healers attempting to care for the sick and diseased. These essays demonstrate that the Gnostics were not necessarily trendy intellectuals seeking epistomological certainities. They were after religious experiences that relied on practices. The book is organized comparatively in a history-of-religions approach with sections devoted to Initiatory, Recurrent, Therapeutic, Ecstatic, and Philosophic Practices. This book celebrates the brilliant career of Birger A. Pearson.
9789004248526
10.1163/9789004248526 DOI
2013023890
Gnosticism--History.
B638 / .P73 2013
299/.932
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Front Matter / Introduction / For Birger Pearson: A Scholar Who Both Studies and Embodies Syncretism / Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, Religionswissenschaft, Piano, Oboe and Bourbon / Birger Pearson: Scholar, Professor and Mentor / Birger Albert Pearson A Bibliography / The Road for the Soul Is through the Planets: The Mysteries of the Ophians Mapped / Ecstatic Religion in the Roman Cult of Mithras / The Gospel of Philip as Gnostic Initiatory Discourse / Becoming Invisible: Rending the Veil and the Hermeneutic of Secrecy in the Gospel of Philip / Ritual in the Second Book of Jeu / Death on the Nile: Egyptian Codices, Gnosticism, and Early Christian Books of the Dead / Going to Church with the Valentinians / Practicing “Repentance” on the Path to Gnosis in Exegesis on the Soul / Opening the Way of Writing: Semiotic Metaphysics in the Book of Thoth / “I Worship and Glorify”: Manichaean Liturgy and Piety in Kellis’ Prayer of the Emanations / The Manichaean Weekly Confession Ritual / Ritual Ingenuity in the Mandaean Scroll of Exalted Kingship / Natural, Magical, Scientific or Religious? A Guide to Theories of Healing / Astrological Medicine in Gnostic Traditions / The Persistence of Ritual in the Magical Book of Mary and the Angels: P. Heid. Inv. Kopt. 685 / Image and Word: Performative Ritual and Material Culture in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls / From Baptismal Vision to Mystical Union with the One: The Case of the Sethian Gnostics / Marcosian Rituals for Prophecy and Apolytrosis / Ritual in the Hekhalot Literature / The Platonizing Sethian Gnostic Interpretation of Plato’s Sophist / Did Plotinus “Friends” Still Go to Church? Communal Rituals and Ascent Apocalypses / The Meaning of “One”: Plurality and Unity in Plotinus and Later Neoplatonism / Theurgy and the Platonist’s Luminous Body / Index / April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner -- April D. DeConick -- George W.E. Nickelsburg -- Gerald James Larson -- Gregory Shaw -- April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner -- April D. DeConick -- Roger Beck -- Bas van Os -- Elliot R. Wolfson -- Erin Evans -- Nicola Denzey Lewis -- Einar Thomassen -- Madeleine Scopello -- Edward P. Butler -- Fernando Bermejo-Rubio -- Jason David BeDuhn -- Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley -- Naomi Janowitz -- Grant Adamson -- Marvin Meyer -- Rebecca Lesses -- John D. Turner -- Niclas Förster -- James R. Davila -- Zeke Mazur -- Michael A. Williams -- Kevin Corrigan -- Gregory Shaw -- April D. DeConick , Gregory Shaw and John D. Turner.
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ritual, magic, liturgy, and theurgy were central features of Gnosticism, and yet Gnostic practices remain understudied. This anthology is meant to fill in this gap and address more fully what the ancient Gnostics were doing. While previously we have studied the Gnostics as intellectuals in pursuit of metaphysical knowledge, the essays in this book attempt to understand the Gnostics as ecstatics striving after religious experience, as prophets seeking revelation, as mystics questing after the ultimate God, as healers attempting to care for the sick and diseased. These essays demonstrate that the Gnostics were not necessarily trendy intellectuals seeking epistomological certainities. They were after religious experiences that relied on practices. The book is organized comparatively in a history-of-religions approach with sections devoted to Initiatory, Recurrent, Therapeutic, Ecstatic, and Philosophic Practices. This book celebrates the brilliant career of Birger A. Pearson.
9789004248526
10.1163/9789004248526 DOI
2013023890
Gnosticism--History.
B638 / .P73 2013
299/.932