What Heresy?

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The Pontificator linked to a delicious article by Mother Frederica Mathewes-Green on Elaine Pagel’s neo-gnosticism. Check it out.

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3 Responses to “What Heresy?”

1. 

   Erich Says:
   October 16th, 2004 at 7:20 pm

   Neo-Gnostic movements are indeed quite interesting for intellectuals. I have fallen into this trap at times, and am not sure that I’ve ever really escaped it. As a matter of fact, there’s a Buddhist professor here who generally tries to convert me whenever we go very far into conversation. He’s not really an evangelical Buddhist, it’s just so much on his mind that he can’t help himself. Anyway, although Buddhism is not technically gnostic, as gnosticism tends to be a Western phenomenon, it has many similarities. In both cases, there seems to be a sense of elitist Enlightenment (the part that attracts intellectuals), as well as a general tendency to see the world as illusory. It’s difficult to criticize though, considering their rejection of Western logic (Buddhist, not gnostic). If you can’t use the law of contradiction, it seems very difficult to talk about these things. This is also the way that Buddhists call Christianity “dualist” in comparison to themselves. Seeing the world as illusory, they see a spiritual unity to everything. The fact that we recognized differences means that we are dualists at best. However, from our perspective, dualism begets monism. Thus, the language issue is highly frustrating and leads to arguing in circles.

2. 

   pete Says:
   October 25th, 2004 at 1:10 am

   man, that Elaine Pagels is such a sensationalist hack.

3. 

   basil Says:
   October 25th, 2004 at 5:03 am

   Pete, that probably says it best about the whole neo-Gnostic movement.