Gnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Modern times === {{Main|Gnosticism in modern times}} Found today in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities, the [[Mandaeans]] are an ancient Gnostic [[ethnoreligious group]] that follow [[John the Baptist]] and have survived from antiquity.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987|p=343}} Their name comes from the Aramaic ''[[Manda (Mandaeism)|manda]]'' meaning knowledge or [[gnosis]].<ref name=Rudolph/> There are thought to be 60,000 to 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide.<ref name="yaledailynews"/>{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}} A number of modern gnostic ecclesiastical bodies have been set up or re-founded since the discovery of the [[Nag Hammadi library]], including the [[Ecclesia Gnostica]], [[Johannite Church#Apostolic Johannite Church|Apostolic Johannite Church]], [[Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica]], the [[Gnostic Church of France]], the [[Saint Thomas Christians|Thomasine Church]], the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, and the North American College of Gnostic Bishops.<ref name="Taussig2013">{{cite book|last=Taussig|first=Hal|title=A New New Testament: A Reinvented Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts|year=2013|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-79210-1|page=532}}</ref> A number of 19th-century thinkers such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer]],<ref>[[Schopenhauer]], ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'', Vol. II, Ch. XLVIII</ref> [[Albert Pike]] and [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Madame Blavatsky]] studied Gnostic thought extensively and were influenced by it, and even figures like [[Herman Melville]] and [[W. B. Yeats]] were more tangentially influenced.<ref name="smith">Smith, Richard. "The Modern Relevance of Gnosticism" in The Nag Hammadi Library, 1990 {{ISBN|0-06-066935-7}}</ref> [[Jules Doinel]] "re-established" a [[Gnostic Church of France|Gnostic church in France]] in 1890, which altered its form as it passed through various direct successors (Fabre des Essarts as ''Tau Synésius'' and Joanny Bricaud as ''Tau Jean II'' most notably), and, though small, is still active today.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Early 20th-century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism include [[Carl Jung]] (who supported Gnosticism), [[Eric Voegelin]] (who opposed it), [[Jorge Luis Borges]] (who included it in many of his short stories), and [[Aleister Crowley]], with figures such as [[Hermann Hesse]] being more moderately influenced. [[René Guénon]] founded the gnostic review, ''La Gnose'' in 1909, before moving to a more [[Perennial philosophy|Perennialist]] position, and founding his [[Traditionalist School]]. Gnostic [[Thelema|Thelemite]] organizations, such as Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and [[Ordo Templi Orientis]], trace themselves to Crowley's thought. The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library after 1945 has had a huge effect on Gnosticism since World War II. Intellectuals who were heavily influenced by Gnosticism in this period include [[Lawrence Durrell]], [[Hans Jonas]], [[Philip K. Dick]] and [[Harold Bloom]], with [[Albert Camus]] and [[Allen Ginsberg]] being more moderately influenced.<ref name="smith" /> [[Celia Green]] has written on Gnostic Christianity in relation to her own philosophy.<ref name="Green">Green, Celia (1981, 2006). ''Advice to Clever Children''. Oxford: Oxford Forum. pp. xxxv–xxxvii.</ref> [[Alfred North Whitehead]] was aware of the existence of the newly discovered Gnostic scrolls. Accordingly, [[Michel Weber]] has proposed a Gnostic interpretation of his late metaphysics.<ref>Michael Weber. [https://www.academia.edu/869320/_Contact_Made_Vision_The_Apocryphal_Whitehead_2008_ Contact Made Vision: The Apocryphal Whitehead] Pub. in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.), ''Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought'', Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008, I, pp. 573–599.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page