Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times

461 Pages·1997·6.55 MB·English

by  Roelof van den Broek

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Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times
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SUNY Series in Western Esoteric Traditions
David Appelbaum, editor
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Gnosis and Hermeticism From Antiquity to Modern Times
edited by
Roelof van den Broek
and Wouter J. Hanegraaff
State University of New York Press
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In chapter 4 the Gospel of Truth is quoted from the translation by H. W. Attridge and G. W. MacRae, in Nag,
Hammadi Codex I, vol. 1, ed. H. W. Attridge (Leiden, 1985), with permission from Royal E. J. Brill, Leiden.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gnosis and hermetism from antiquity to modern times/edited by
Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff.
p.cm. (SUNY series in western esoteric traditions)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7914-3611-X (hardcover: alk. paper). ISBN 0-7914-3612-8
(pbk.: alk. paper)
1.GnosticismHistory. 2. HermetismHistory. I. Broek, R. van
den. II. Hanegraaff, Wouter J. III. Series.
BT1390.G485 1998
299'.932dc21 97-26329
CIP
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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to the liberal theologians, Bible critics, and religious historians who increasingly came to dominate the academic
study of Christianity. On the contrary: the historical study of Gnosticism could serve these scholars as a useful
means of undermining the claims of their more conservative colleagues.
The situation was entirely different with respects to post-Renaissance "Hermeticist" movements. Not only were
these less distant in a strictly chronological sense, they were also much closer in spirit. Having flowered in the
same period that saw the emergence of modern science and rationality (and having been, as we now know,
crucially involved in that emergence) they evidently touched upon the very roots of modernity itself. If Gnosticism
had traditionally been perceived as the enemy of established Christianityexemplifying what were regarded as
essentially pagan temptationsmodern Hermeticism held a comparable position in relation to the newly established
rationalist worldview. To the intellectual heirs of the Enlightenment, it appeared very much as Gnosticism had
appeared to the early church fathers: as a collection of archaic and potentially dangerous superstitions. They were
regarded as the epitome of those kinds of error from which human reason had now finally managed to free itself.
However, one openly fights an enemy only as long as one fears that he still might win. In this respect as well,
history seems to repeat itself. Like the Christian Church before it, modern rationalism, once safely consolidated,
could afford itself the luxury of exchanging active combat for a more comfortable (and perhaps more effective)
solution: silence. Believing in the inevitable progress of human rationality, one could simply ignore esotericism, in
the confident expectation that its still surviving remnants would eventually wither and die by itself.
However, even if one avoids the use of currently fashionable labels (most of which seem to begin with "post-" and
to produce book titles beginning with "Beyond"), it is clear that the optimistic self-confidence of Enlightenment
thinking is no longer widely shared. Together with growing doubts about the doctrine of human progress through
science and rationality, we witness a new interest in historical alternatives to the dominant components of western
culture. It is only natural that the study of Gnosis and Hermeticism profits from this widespread reorientation. It is
the conviction of the editors of this volume, nevertheless, that in
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Table of Contents
Preface vii
1 Gnosticism and Hermetism in Antiquity: Two Roads to Salvation
Roelofvan den Broek 1
2 Gnostic and Hermetic Ethics
Jean Pierre Mahé 21
3 Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western Christianity
Johannes van Oort 37
4 A Christian Gnostic Text: The Gospel of Truth
Jan Helderman 53
5 The Asclepius: From the Hermetic Lodge in Alexandria to the Greek Eucharist and
the Roman Mass
Gilles Quispel 69
6 A Reading of the Discourse on the Ogdoad and the Ennead (Nag Hammadi Codex
VI.6)
Jean Pierre Mahé 79
7 The Cathars: Medieval Gnostics?
Roelof van den Broek 87
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8 Renaissance Hermeticism and the Concept of Western Esotericism
Antoine Faivre 109
9 Francesco Patrizi's Hermetic Philosophy
Cees Leijenhorst 125
10 Spiritual Alchemy: Interpreting Representative Texts and Images
Karen Claire Voss 147
11 Music and the Hermetic Tradition
Joscelyn Godwin 183
12 Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism
Roland Edighoffer 197
13 Christian Theosophic Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Arthur Versluis 217
14 Romanticism and the Esoteric Connection
Wouter J. Hanegraaff 237
15 William Blake and His Gnostic Myths
Jos van Meurs 269
16 Western Esoteric Schools in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
Daniël van Egmond 311
17 Stockhausen's Donnerstag aus Licht and Gnosticism
Joscelyn Godwin 347
18 The New Age Movement and the Esoteric Tradition
Wouter J. Hanegraaff 359
List of Contributors 383
Indexes 385
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Preface
It is still often regarded as self-evident that western culture is based on the twin pillars of Greek rationality, on the
one hand, and biblical faith, on the other. Certainly, there can be little doubt that these two traditions have been
dominant forces in cultural development. The former may be defined by its sole reliance on the rationality of the
mind, the latter by its emphasis on an authoritative divine revelation. However, from the first centuries to the
present day there has also existed a third current, characterized by a resistance to the dominance of either pure
rationality or doctrinal faith.
The adherents of this tradition emphasized the importance of inner enlightenment or gnosis: a revelatory
experience that mostly entailed an encounter with one's true self as well as with the ground of being, God. In
antiquity this perspective was represented by Gnostics and Hermetists; in the Middle Ages by several Christian
sects. The Cathars can, at least to a certain extent, be considered part of this same spiritual tradition. Starting with
the Italian Renaissance of the late fifteenth century, the newly discovered "Hermetic philosophy" rapidly spread all
over Europe. It found many adherents, in particular during the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth
century. This so-called Hermeticist tradition and its later developmentsthe whole of which may referred to as
"western esotericism"was characterized by an organic view of the world that assumed a strong internal coherence
of the whole universe, including an intimate relationship between both its spiritual and its material elements.
The scientific mechanization of the world, the doctrinal consolidation
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of Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and the rationality of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century made
the Hermetic philosophy, with its strong connections to alchemy, magic, and astrology, scientifically backward and
religiously suspect. Nevertheless, the hermeticist current took on new forms in Rosicrucianism and Christian
theosophy, and continued to flourish in secret associations such as Freemasonry. Thus, it continued to have a
strong impact not only on philosophers, mystics, and occultists, but on many writers, painters, and musicians as
well.
In our own time many people, disappointed in the perspectives on humanity and the world offered by either
rationalism or traditional religion, turn again to the basic principles of Gnosticism and Hermeticism, often
integrated with some kind of New Age thinking.
The academic study of these developments is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Most literature about the
various aspects of "western esotericism" has traditionally been of an apologetic or polemic nature: a debate,
basically, among believers and their opponents. Academic researchers generally tended to avoid an area of cultural
expression that was widely regarded as inherently suspect; openly to express interest in these traditions might too
easily endanger a scholar's prestige among colleagues. During the last few decades, the realization has been
growing that this attitude has little to commend it from a scholarly point of view, and may on the contrary have
blinded us to important aspects of our cultural past. Even more importantly, it has become increasingly clear that
the scholarly recovery of "esoteric" traditions may eventually force us to question basic received opinions about the
foundations of our present culture.
These considerations apply most directly to those movements that developed in the wake of the Hermetic revival of
the Renaissance period. The scholarly study of ancient Gnosticism and Hermetism has been accepted and taken
seriously for much longer. This should not surprise us, if we take into account the battle between doctrinal
Christian theology and Enlightenment rationality that began around two centuries ago. An impartialinstead of
polemichistorical study of Gnosticism was potentially dangerous to the self-understanding of traditional
Christianity and its modern representatives. It held little threat, on the other hand,
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