TY  - BOOK
AU  - Williams,Michael Allen
TI  - Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category 
SN  - 9780691005423
AV  - BT1390 
U1  - 299.932 
PY  - 1999///]
CY  - Princeton, NJ : 
PB  - Princeton University Press, 
KW  - Gnosticism
KW  - RELIGION / History
KW  - bisacsh
KW  - Against the Galilaeans
KW  - Agrippa Castor
KW  - Anchorite
KW  - Anthropomorphism
KW  - Anti-Judaism
KW  - Antinomianism
KW  - Antipope
KW  - Apocalypse
KW  - Apocrypha
KW  - Apocryphon
KW  - Apostasy
KW  - Asceticism
KW  - Blasphemy
KW  - Borborites
KW  - Cainites
KW  - Catharism
KW  - Celibacy
KW  - Cerdo (gnostic)
KW  - Cerinthus
KW  - Christian Identity
KW  - Christian fundamentalism
KW  - Christianity
KW  - Church Fathers
KW  - Clement of Alexandria
KW  - Consubstantiality
KW  - Contra Celsum
KW  - Creation myth
KW  - Demiurge
KW  - Demonization
KW  - Dialogue with Trypho
KW  - Divine Spark
KW  - Doctrine
KW  - Elohim
KW  - Epiphanes (gnostic)
KW  - Epistle to the Laodiceans
KW  - Ernst Troeltsch
KW  - Exegesis
KW  - Exorcism
KW  - False prophet
KW  - God
KW  - Good and evil
KW  - Gospel of Eve
KW  - Gospel of Philip
KW  - Heresy of the Free Spirit
KW  - Heresy
KW  - Heterodoxy
KW  - Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit
KW  - Ideal type
KW  - Incorruptibility
KW  - Infidel
KW  - Irenaeus
KW  - Jews
KW  - Judaism
KW  - Judas Iscariot
KW  - Justification (theology)
KW  - Justin Martyr
KW  - Manichaeism
KW  - Marcion of Sinope
KW  - Marcionism
KW  - Martyr
KW  - Metempsychosis
KW  - New religious movement
KW  - Nicolaism
KW  - Orthodox Judaism
KW  - Plotinus
KW  - Predestination
KW  - Problem of evil
KW  - Pseudo-Philo
KW  - Puritans
KW  - Pythagoreanism
KW  - Reform Judaism
KW  - Religion
KW  - Religious text
KW  - Renunciation
KW  - Sacred prostitution
KW  - Satan
KW  - Sect
KW  - Secularization
KW  - Self-denial
KW  - Sethianism
KW  - Sexual Desire (book)
KW  - Sexual abstinence
KW  - Simon Magus
KW  - Skepticism
KW  - Sophia (Gnosticism)
KW  - Spiritual marriage
KW  - Spirituality
KW  - Superiority (short story)
KW  - Tertullian
KW  - The Other Hand
KW  - Theodicy
KW  - Theodotus of Byzantium
KW  - Theology
KW  - Thou shalt not commit adultery
KW  - Thou shalt not covet
KW  - Tractate
KW  - Wickedness
KW  - Writing
KW  - Zostrianos
N1  - Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; FIGURES AND TABLES --; PREFACE --; ABBREVIATIONS --; INTRODUCTION --; CHAPTER ONE. What Kind of Thing Do Scholars Mean by “Gnosticism”?. A LOOK AT FOUR CASES --; CHAPTER TWO. “Gnosticism” as a Category --; CHAPTER THREE. Protest Exegesis? or Hermeneutical Problem-Solving? --; CHAPTER FOUR. Parasites? or Innovators? --; CHAPTER FIVE. Anticosmic World-Rejection? or Sociocultural Accommodation? --; CHAPTER SIX. Hatred of the Body? or the Perfection of the Human? --; CHAPTER SEVEN. Asceticism . . . ? --; CHAPTER EIGHT . . . or Libertinism? --; CHAPTER NINE. Deterministic Elitism? or Inclusive Theories of Conversion? --; CHAPTER TEN. Where They Came From . . . --; CHAPTER ELEVEN . . . and What They Left Behind --; CONCLUSION --; NOTES --; MODERN WORKS CITED --; INDEX; restricted access
N2  - Most anyone interested in such topics as creation mythology, Jungian theory, or the idea of "secret teachings" in ancient Judaism and Christianity has found "gnosticism" compelling. Yet the term "gnosticism," which often connotes a single rebellious movement against the prevailing religions of late antiquity, gives the false impression of a monolithic religious phenomenon. Here Michael Williams challenges the validity of the widely invoked category of ancient "gnosticism" and the ways it has been described. Presenting such famous writings and movements as the Apocryphon of John and Valentinian Christianity, Williams uncovers the similarities and differences among some major traditions widely categorized as gnostic. He provides an eloquent, systematic argument for a more accurate way to discuss these interpretive approaches. The modern construct "gnosticism" is not justified by any ancient self-definition, and many of the most commonly cited religious features that supposedly define gnosticism phenomenologically turn out to be questionable. Exploring the sample sets of "gnostic" teachings, Williams refutes generalizations concerning asceticism and libertinism, attitudes toward the body and the created world, and alleged features of protest, parasitism, and elitism. He sketches a fresh model for understanding ancient innovations on more "mainstream" Judaism and Christianity, a model that is informed by modern research on dynamics in new religious movements and is freed from the false stereotypes from which the category "gnosticism" has been constructed
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400822218
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781400822218
UR  - https://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781400822218/original
ER  -