Savez-vous ce qu'est le gnosticisme ? Non ? Pourtant, vous devriez. Parce que comme pour la postmodernité, c'est très certainement une vision du monde qui influence largement la vôtre.
En premier lieu, c'est une spiritualité qui voit la vérité sous forme de connaissance (la Gnose).
Historiquement, cette connaissance était principalement dissimulée derrière des symboles, et l'on y accédait en apprenant à déchiffrer ces symboles par des rites d'initiation.
Aujourd'hui, il s'agit plus spécifiquement de la connaissance de soi, ou de vérité intérieure, personnelle, que l'on doit rechercher par méditation et expériences mystiques.
Les religions orientales, la Franc-Maçonnerie, la Kabbale, le Soufisme, et les Églises Émergentes sont exemples de spiritualités gnostiques modernes.
Comme tout bon Monisme, le gnosticisme prétend que le divin est une force impersonnelle présente en toutes choses, et notamment en nous, et c'est pourquoi nous devons chercher à nous reconnecter à ce Grand Tout par une introspection spirituelle.
Alors, et maintenant, ça vous dit quelque chose?
8 septembre 2010
Inscription à :
Publier les commentaires (Atom)
3 commentaires:
I can't help being a bit tongue-in-cheek about this one--don't forget Christianity IS a "religion orientale" though I know what you meant.
If you're really interested in studying the Gnostics in-depth, there's a lot of heavy-hitting scholarship out there, though personally I never thought that was worth it. It's more fun studying the true stuff, and more effective for ministry. One of my favorites was Luke Timothy Johnson's book on the Trinity. Or anything Bonhoeffer. :-)
Have you read any of the standard textbooks on the church Fathers, gnostics, etc.? There's a basic set, can't remember the name at the moment, but they're fairly well-known and very readable. You can probably get them cheap off Amazon or find them in the Bible College library.
The general "secret knowledge" thing is definitely a big problem over here, though, especially in the new age stuff. And any new theology, really.
My opinion is that when the Body gets starved for good theology, they get obsessed with seeking knowledge of God instead of God Himself, because they've forgotten how to identify Him and are trying to remember. So, as always, knowing the Fathers can fix it! They dealt with Gnostics just fine, after all... And without the canon! What a feat!
And that'smore or less what I'll say in my next article.
Sorry for the delay in reading and answering your mail by the way. I've been focusing on ministry stuff lately, but it's important because if I can do this right at the beginning of the school year, it should all go smoothly then...
Oh no worries. Yeah they told us in campus ministry in the States that the first "two weeks" of the school year determined so much of how people spent their time after that. Work away my friend!
I'm starting to work on getting permission from my boss to come to the GBU conference in the spring. It's either that or AFLF.
The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (organized by verse, with little paragraphs from each of the Fathers underneath) is coming out on CD in a few months. Hands down my favorite commentary. So much "meat"! As soon as used copies start showing up Ebay, I'm there! :-D
Enregistrer un commentaire