>want to learn more about Gnosticism>open up Pistis Sophia>it's literally just a bunch of random nonsenseSeriously? THIS was what all the hype was about?
>>18454784Gnosticism is just a bunch of different interpretations of the gospels mixed with various pagan beliefs.
>>18454784First realize that "Gnosticism" is not a monolithic movement or religion but dozens of loosely related movements, there's at least as much variance among them as, say, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Old Catholics.Also, many of the texts are rather opaque (like the one you listed) and you're better off by reading something with introductory material and lots of footnotes/explanations.Also keep in mind that pretty much everybody who calls themselves a Gnostic in the modern day is just an edgy larper.
>I'm interested in learning more about Roman history >Open up De Bello Civili in the original Latin to a random page>It's literally just a bunch of random nonsense Seriously? THIS was what all the hype was about?
>>18454784The ~4th century "Jeuian" Gnostics associated with Pistis Sophia and the Books of Jeu don't get much attention despite having massive texts compared to other groups in large part, I suspect, because most people have the impression that they're a bunch of random nonsense.E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Jeu>M. R. James was unimpressed with the work; he wrote that its "mystic diagrams, and numbers, and meaningless collections of letters (...) require a vast deal of historical imagination and sympathy to put oneself in the place of anybody who could tolerate, let alone reverence, the dreary stuff.Personally my favourite Gnostic sects are the Simonians, Valentinians, and Sethians. And Marcionites if you want to count them as Gnostic. A few of my favourite gnostic texts are the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocryphon of John, the Great Declaration of Simon Magus, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Truth, Ptolemy's Letter to Flora, and the Hymn of the Pearl. A lot of the hype is also in the possibility that some of what's in the New Testament could have originated from one or more groups that could be called Gnostic, but which were edited into conformity with the soon-to-be orthodoxy. However I don't think anyone imagines that the Jeuians could be reflective of a pre-new-testament Christianity.
>>18454843To be clear, anyone could easily still think everything I recommended is a bunch of random nonsense, but to me it's at least more readable random nonsense.
>>18454843>believing they were distinct, insular sects that "believed in" the texts in a dogmatic wayNigga why you think so many "sects" were represented at Nag Hammadi? Just some coincidence that they just happened to be found by some collector or connoisseur?
>>18454852Notice how nothing I said actually corresponds to what you quoted. That said, Pistis Sophia and the books of Jeu are notably not present in the Nag Hammadi library.
>>18454852There are shitloads of gnostic texts that are not in nag hammadai. nag hammadi is not the be all end all of it
>>18454858Shiieettt ight nigga here's your (you)
>>18454862Thanks, I'll store it away for a rainy day.
>>18454784It's just demons taking the piss and seeing how dumb people can be
>>18454827>IT came to pass, when Jesus had risen from the dead, that he passed eleven years discoursing with his disciples, and instructing them only up to the regions of the First Commandment and up to the regions of the First Mystery, that within the Veil, within the First Commandment, which is the four-and-twentieth mystery without and below--those [four-and-twenty] which are in the second space of the First Mystery which is before all mysteries,--the Father in the form of a doveliterally how is anyone supposed to make sense of this lol
>>18454908>um dumping jargon without explaining it is good actually unironically these people do not care about initiating new members who have not done the work and study of understanding their religion. Which may sound odd but consider how much Christian culture has conditioned us to wanting to evangelize and explain stuff easily. Also it is nonsense
>>18454843Imagine M.R James calling anyone else's writing dreary. The gall.
>>18454784I view "gnosticism" as synonymous with "schizophrenia" just based on the anons I've interacted with, so this doesn't surprise me at all.
>>18454784>>18454799>>18454821Roman-era religion was no better or any more coherent than the average day over at /x/, and the various religious versions of gnosticism no better than a specific thread on the same board.
>>18454784It's not that bad, read some stuff with lots of introductory notes and keep in mind all the time that this was supposed to be a counterpart to early Christianity. If you open your eyes you can notice how much of it is trying to reconstruct Christian belief in order to try to adapt it to a system which is inherently elitist. Gnostics basically just wanted to feel special. They wanted to believe that their salvation was certain, and that other people that were not like them would not be saved. They wanted to feel superior to other people.
>>18454908>Brevi spatio interiecto, vix ut iis rebus quas constituissent conlocandis atque administrandis tempus daretur, hostes ex omnibus partibus signo dato decurrere, lapides gaesaque in vallum coicere. Nostri primo integris viribus fortiter propugnare neque ullum flustra telum ex loco superiore mittere, et quaecumque pars castrorum nudata defensoribus premi videbatur, eo occurrere et auxilium ferre, sed hoc superari quod diuturnitate pugnae hostes defessi proelio excedebant, alii integris viribus succedebant; quarum rerum a nostris propter paucitatem fieri nihil poterat, ac non modo defesso ex pugna excedendi, sed ne saucio quidem eius loci ubi constiterat relinquendi ac sui recipiendi facultas dabatur.literally how is anyone supposed to make sense of this lol
>>18454784Antichrists and atheists will try to confuse your mind with this sort of bullshit. That's the reason for the hype.
>>18454908How is it any worse than the bullshit you find in the bible?
