Gnosticism and the history of religions

Author's name: David G. Robertson Overview Introduction and table of contents Translation: Mohammed Abdullah This is not the Gnostic topic with a new subject in the Arab library; and until not long ago, most of our perceptions of Gnosticism were derived from the defensive writings classified by Church Fathers in response to Gnostic heresy. These writings contain summaries of Gnostic beliefs, their books, and their figures, while the texts of the Gnostics themselves were considered lost until recently. There was nothing new that could be added to what exists in those defensive writings due to the lack of other sources. The motivation to translate this book is due to its addition to the Arab library, and this is in two points: First: Its monitoring of the systematic division occurring within academic circles and how it reflected on the study of Gnosticism; in this regard, the author repeatedly emphasizes the systematic fracture in the study of Gnosticism, which established "two Gnostics" and not one Gnosticism; the first is Gnosticism as a historical religion, and the second is what he called "Gnosis" or Gnostic knowledge; which some researchers considered as an "eternal" core transcending history, or rather a kind of internal religious practice that can exist at any time and place. Second: The author's tracking of several contemporary Gnostic groups that appeared in the West, attempting to trace the ways through which these groups connect themselves to the early Gnostics. Details Number of pages: 366 Book size: 17×24 Publisher: Afaq Al-Ma'rifa