What gets to me is the idea that any of this is new, as far as threatening Christian beliefs goes. I mean, both The Last Temptation of Christ, and Jesus Christ Superstar paint Judas as a heroic figure, and while those aren't exactly canonical literature, I'll guarantee that they'll have a heck of a lot more influence on people than any scholarly tome about Gnosticism (c.f The DaVinci Code)...
The basic Gnostic approach owes far more to Zoroastrianism than it does to Christianity or Judaism (and in fact expanded into the Manichaeian doctrines). Personally, I find it pretty distasteful, but hey, different strokes, right?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-06-14 02:57 pm (UTC)The basic Gnostic approach owes far more to Zoroastrianism than it does to Christianity or Judaism (and in fact expanded into the Manichaeian doctrines). Personally, I find it pretty distasteful, but hey, different strokes, right?