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Christoph Markschies

Autor(a) de Gnosis: An Introduction

27+ Works 168 Membros 3 Críticas 1 Favorited

About the Author

Christoph Markschies is Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Heidelberg
Image credit: Christoph Markschies

Obras por Christoph Markschies

Gnosis: An Introduction (2001) 58 exemplares
Arbeitsbuch Kirchengeschichte (1995) 7 exemplares
La Gnosis (2002) 4 exemplares
Die hohe Kunst der Politik: Die Ära Angela Merkel (2021) — Contribuidor — 4 exemplares
Atlas der Weltbilder (2011) 3 exemplares

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A fantastic introduction to Gnosis. I'd read and studied many other books and texts for years, but still had more to learn.
 
Assinalado
BoyntonLodgeNo236 | 1 outra crítica | Jan 3, 2021 |
LA GNOSIS

La Gnosis ("Conocimiento") se cuenta entre los fenómenos más fascinantes de la historia de las religiones. Sus paralelos directos con el moderno Esoterismo han intensificado considerablemente, en estos últimos tiempos, el interés por esta antigua forma de religión.

El presente libro constituye una exposición completa y actualizada del estado de la investigación sobre la Gnosis, y muestra con claridad dónde acaban las certezas y empiezan las hipótesis sobre este fenómeno tan oscuro de la historia de la religión.

Su autor, Christoph Markschies, recoge las principales fuentes antiguas, tanto de autores críticos como de partidarios de las corrientes gnósticas, para arrojar alguna luz sobre lo que para algunos es una religión propia y para otros una forma de conocimiento herético.

Publicado por Herder supone una buena aproximación al difuso asunto de la Gnosis religiosa de los primeros siglos de nuestra era, ya que en apenas 200 páginas trata todos los tópicos fundamentales del tema: alcance y definición de la gnosis, fuentes y textos antiguos, principales corrientes y personajes, el maniqueísmo y unas conclusiones finales. La edición se completa con varios apéndices interesantes y una bibliografía recomendada.

Es un texto de fácil lectura y comprensión para cualquier persona de cultura media, que no requiere especiales conocimientos de filosofía ni de historia de las religiones. Desde mi punto de vista es la primera opción para introducirse en este apasionante tema (junto con Los evangelios gnósticos de Elaine Pagels).
Es un título muy oportuno para los interesados y estudiosos del la gnosis y el desarrollo de las diferentes doctrinas gnósticas. La edición de Editorial Herder es impecable. Muy recomendable.

Sobrer el autor:

Christoph Markschies es catedrático de Historia de la Teología en Heidelberg y miembro titular de la Academia de Ciencias de Berlín-Brandeburgo. Ha sido distinguido con el “Premio Leibniz”, otorgado por la Asociación Alemana de Investigadores. Es autor de numerosos libros sobre cristianismo antiguo, gnosticismo e historia de la teología
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
FundacionRosacruz | Mar 30, 2018 |
Christoph Markschies is the chair for Ancient Church History at Humboldt University in Berlin. He has studied Theology, classical Philology, and Philosophy in Marburg, Jerusalem, Munich, and Tübingen. An accomplished author and academic, he previously served as the president of Humboldt University from 2006 to 2010. His specialization and interests are in the organization of the early church and the transmission of knowledge in the inchoate state of early Christianity. As such, he is well suited to introduce the polyvalent and challenging issue of Gnosis.

** A Definitional Challenge **
In the introduction to Markschies little book, he too tackles the tricky question of definition of a slippery term. Acknowledging “any definition remains somewhat arbitrary” (1), he performs a quick survey of the usage of “Gnosis” from Plato through the Fathers. With more optimism than King (in "What is Gnosticism" - see my review for expansion), Markschies anticipates being able to demonstrate how the diversity in the movement can be defined under a typological umbrella. In his first chapter, he offers up a typological model that will serve as a basis for understanding gnostic movements and their development. The model consists of 8 parts (16-17):

1. The experience of a transcendent, supreme God;
2. The introduction of divine beings closer in nature to humanity than to the above mentioned deity;
3. The judgment of world and matter as evil leading to alienation of the gnostic in the world;
4. The lessor creator god (demiurge), often ignorant, sometimes evil;
5. A mythological drama wherein a divine element falls to this evil world and inhabits a subset of humanity as a divine spark;
6. Redemption through knowledge of this reality that can only be gained through an otherworldly redeemer who descends from the heavenly realm only to return again;
7. The redemption of humanity through the god (or spark) within, and finally
8. A dualistic tendency seen in concept of God, opposition of spirit and matter, and in anthropology.

This model is not without difficulty. Markshies acknowledges that any unity within Gnosticism must be held loosely, but feels that the evidence will support that the particulars of Gnosticism can be considered under the model as above described to aid in ordering the phenomenon for historical study (26-7).

** The Sources Applied to the Model **
In a clear and concise fashion, Markschies embarks on a high-level view of the sources that inform our understanding of Gnosticism. He divides these into four broad groups: (1) The apologists who through critique pass on forms of the original gnostic writings, (2) additional critics who report on the practices of the “heretics,” (3) The original Coptic gnostic texts, and finally (4) the non-gnostic texts that serve as witnesses to Gnosticism or as material tracing the “history of ideas.”

In chapter 3, Markschies begins to consider how his model applies to the early sources. He divides the history into three phases. First is an early phase as seen in the Gospel of John and the letters to Ephesus and Colossae. At best, these texts serve as a prehistory with gnostic undercurrents (73). In Simon Magus, Irenaeus finds the root of heresy and the “knowledge falsely so-called.” Here we see the model for gnosis applies where it did not in the biblical books mentioned above (75). The question is whether the gnosis of Simon Magus was Christian, or a non-Christian competitor. In light of Irenaeus’s response, Markschies has doubts that it could possibly be viewed as Christian (77). Going on to evaluate Menander, Saturninus, and Basilides, he sees “reconstruction of the beginnings of ‘gnosis’ rests on very thin ice” (81). Rather than assigning these early phase to Gnosticism pure and simple, Markschies sees these thoughts as a response of the early church coping “with the fact that after the death of Jesus the promised end of the world had not come, and that while his community grew, it did so only slowly, and was exposed to harsh persecutions” (83).

The second phase consists of the so-called “great systems” of Gnosticism that were manifest in the late second and early third centuries (85). As the exemplars of this era, Marcionism, Valentinianism, and the “so-called Barbelo-gnostics” are offered for evaluation. Of the three, the Valentinians fit perfectly into Markschies proposed model (93). In an anachronistically disturbing way, the focus on making “Christianity more competitive in the market of opinions, philosophies and forms of religion by ‘expanding’ Christian theology” gave Valentinianism a popularity and liveliness that carried on for quite some time.

The third phase is covered in the final three chapters of Markschies work as he traces the culmination and final development of Gnosticism through Manichaeism. In Manichaeism we see a “great and deliberate synthesis of religions which transcended the other religions” (101-2). Because of this, they regarded themselves as the superior Christians when compared to the standard of orthodoxy. Manichaeans flourished, first in public, then in secret, until the fifteenth century when they were all but extinguished by the Mongols. Their influence extended well into the Middle Ages, particularly in the East (108).

Contra King, Markschies has used the same data to reach quite a different thesis. This contrast serves as an excellent model of both the reality that data always underdetermines theory, and that there is no such thing as a view from nowhere. Evidence can be a dangerous thing if it is trusted to lead us where it wills—consciously or unconsciously guided by our own inevitable agendas, presuppositions, or ignorance.
… (mais)
1 vote
Assinalado
Innerstrife | 1 outra crítica | Feb 11, 2013 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
27
Also by
7
Membros
168
Popularidade
#126,679
Avaliação
½ 3.6
Críticas
3
ISBN
47
Línguas
3
Marcado como favorito
1

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