The Concept of Rebirth as the Christ and the Initiatory Rituals of the Bridal Chamber in theGospel of Philip

Antichthon ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Majella Franzmann
Keyword(s):  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
The World ◽  
Secret Knowledge ◽  
Bridal Chamber

In this article I begin with an outline of the connection between theological concepts related to the person of the Gnostic Christian Saviour and the ritual practice of Gnostic Christian groups. After setting the scene in this general way, I look specifically at theGospel of Philip, investigating the connection between the description of the rebirth of the Saviour at the Jordan and the rebirth of the Gnostic in the ritual of the bridal chamber.The Nag Hammadi corpus, to which theGospel of Philipbelongs, contains many texts which may be identified as Gnostic Christian, partly because of the fact that, in these texts, the key figure of the Saviour or Revealer is identified as Jesus or Christ. The work that Jesus performs in the world for the Gnostics is revelation, for the most part, rather than redemption in the sense in which mainstream Christianity identified his activity. His revelation may involve imparting secret knowledge, especially during that time prior to his final ascent into the heavenly region of light (for those texts which are closely aligned with the mainstream Christian pattern of descent and several stages of ascent for Jesus), but it must be generally categorised as activity designed to awaken the Gnostic to the insight (gnosis) which this person already possesses.

First Round the World: 1519–22

1963 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-466
Author(s):  
E. G. R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Far East ◽  
The West ◽  
The Far East ◽  
World Geography ◽  
The World ◽  
Secret Knowledge

In 1518 a Spanish gentleman, just back from the West Indies, addressed a Summary of World Geography to his King. In the Dedication he pointed out that since the Pope's Line, which parted the Portuguese and Spanish spheres, ran through the mouth of the River Amazon, 28°W. of Ferro, all the World beyond 150°E. (i.e. 130°E. of Greenwich) lay open to exploitation by Spain. And according to the World Map of the day the area included Java, Japan, King Solomon's Ophir, and (best of all) the Spice Islands or Moluccas from which the Portuguese were already making fabulous fortunes. This gentleman was not the only person to speak to the young King on this matter. The captains and pilots who had opened up the Spice Islands for Portugal were dissatisfied with the rewards which their own King had given them, and a number of them offered their services and their special and secret knowledge to his rival. Ferdinand Magellan was one of them. From his experience in the Far East he was of the opinion that the Moluccas could be safely approached from the west, by way of the Great Ocean. And it should be emphasized that in suggesting this he had no romantic notions about becoming the first man to circumnavigate the globe. He put forward a business pro position which the Spanish King accepted. Immediately the most thorough preparations were set on foot. They included the making of new charts, new globes, new sea-quadrants and sea-astrolabes, by the best pilots and craftsmen of the day, of whom the most were Portuguese.

A Way of Salvation: Becoming Like God in Nag Hammadi

Numen ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta
Keyword(s):  
Human Development ◽  
Central Place ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
Dynamic View ◽  
The World

Abstract Contrary to general belief, ethical progress as a means to attain the divine and thereby achieve salvation occupies a central place in the Nag Hammadi writings. Plato’s conception of the homoiosis theo or “likeness to god” fits very well this dynamic view of man, since it optimistically claims the possibility of human development and progress. Plato’s dialogues are far from offering a univocal exposition of how this progress was fulfilled, but later Platonists show a rather systematizing tendency. The present paper provides an overview of the homoiosis theo in the Platonic dialogues and evaluates its appropriation by both Middle Platonism and the world of Gnosis. It also offers an exposition and analysis of those Nag Hammadi writings that may allow a proper understanding of the meaning and goal of the homoiosis theo in this collection of texts.

scholarly journals Knowledge guardianship, custodianship and ethics: a Melanesian perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kabini Sanga ◽  
Martyn Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Solomon Islands ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Communities ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
Knowledge Area ◽  
Secret Knowledge

© The Author(s) 2020. Across the world, knowledge communities categorise and attach conditions of guardianship to different kinds of knowledge. For private or secret knowledge, those responsible for its care have obligations for arranging and restricting transmission to ensure community survival. While an insider/outsider positionality is often used to navigate this knowledge area, a binary approach is unhelpful. Taking a more relational reading of positionality, we support a dynamic understanding of the transmission of restricted knowledge, using relevant principles of guardianship or custodianship. Based on a Melanesian Solomon Islands tribe, the study sketches a set of principles and shows how they operate in practice. Our intents are to honour the contribution that Melanesian thought makes to rethinking research dichotomies regarding secret knowledge, that readers appreciate the dynamic nature of knowledge guardianship, and that this case study enhances the discussion on ethical entitlement to, or restriction of, Indigenous knowledge in the Pacific region and beyond.

scholarly journals The Concept of Bridal Chamber in the Valentinian Inscriptions

Literatūra ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
Gražina Kelmelytė
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
Bridal Chamber

This article investigates the Valentinian ritual, called “bridal chamber”, in the only surviving Valentinian funeral epitaphs, Flavia Sophe and NCE 156. These inscriptions stand out from the context of other Valentinian sources because they are extant in the Ancient Greek, not the Coptic language. Bridal chamber is a polysemous concept in the Nag Hammadi texts, and therefore begs the question, what does it mean in the Valentinian funeral epitaphs? Furthermore, this article is an attempt to elucidate the connections between the two inscriptions by interpreting the concept of bridal chamber.

Envy and Anger at the World’s Creation and Destruction in the Treatise without Title ‘On the Origin of the World’ (NHC II,5)

2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Crislip
Keyword(s):  
Nag Hammadi ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
The World

AbstractThe passion of envy in the Nag Hammadi Treatise without Title has been noted by scholars for four decades. The present essay approaches the use of the competitive emotions in the Treatise without Title with a sensitivity to ancient conceptions of the passions, and thus clarifies the role of envy. The Treatise without Title links the passion of envy with anger, an emotional concatenation that is found elsewhere in Jewish and Christian emotional thought, and this emotional concatenation drives the action in three core episodes: the origin of the world from the shadow, the engendering of Death by Yaltabaoth, and the final destruction of the gods of chaos and the prime parent. By reading the emotions in the Treatise thusly, the structuring role of envy is clarified, and long debated elements (i.e. the descent of “bile” into the world, and the mutual destruction of the archons) are explained.

scholarly journals The Snake and Its Chthonic Essence in Traditional Beliefs, Language and Folklore of the Khakass

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 142-153
Author(s):  
Venariy A. Burnakov
Keyword(s):  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Lexical Analysis ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Natural Objects ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
First Time ◽  
Biological Nature

Purpose. The aim of the study is to characterize the image of the snake as a chthonic creature in Khakass culture. Based on the goal, the following tasks were set: to analyze folklore and ethnographic information of these people and identify the key components of this mythological creature, to discover the semantic connections of its image with natural objects and elements, as well as with the idea of death. The work is based on the analysis of a wide range of sources. For the first time, it introduces field ethnographic and archival folklore materials, as well as author translations from Khakas into Russian of excerpts from heroic legends – alyptyg nymykhtar, proverbs and sayings related to the topic under consideration. Particular attention is paid to the lexical analysis of the myth-ritual complex related to the image of the snake. Results. As a result of the analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) the image of a snake was widespread in Khakass culture. This reptile was endowed with sacred attributes. In this connection, its image was widely used in language, folklore, and ritual practice; 2) the formation of characteristic features of the mythological image of this reptile was influenced by its biological nature, first of all, the morphology of its body, behavior, lifestyle, way of hunting, and, of course – the environment; 3) with all the variety of symbolic characteristics of this reptile, the key is its perception, as a chthonic creature. It was closely associated with the cult of natural objects, in particular with respect for the land. Its deep connection with the underworld is revealed; 4) in religious and mythological consciousness of the Khakass, this reptile acts as an inhabitant of the world of the dead, and is also a harbinger of death, and often its personification; 5) in mythological consciousness, the projection of its zoological features was expressed mainly in endowing its image with features such as agility, cunningness and greed, which was reflected in phraseological units.

scholarly journals Knowledge guardianship, custodianship and ethics: a Melanesian perspective

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kabini Sanga ◽  
Martyn Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Solomon Islands ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Communities ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Binary Approach ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
Knowledge Area ◽  
Secret Knowledge

© The Author(s) 2020. Across the world, knowledge communities categorise and attach conditions of guardianship to different kinds of knowledge. For private or secret knowledge, those responsible for its care have obligations for arranging and restricting transmission to ensure community survival. While an insider/outsider positionality is often used to navigate this knowledge area, a binary approach is unhelpful. Taking a more relational reading of positionality, we support a dynamic understanding of the transmission of restricted knowledge, using relevant principles of guardianship or custodianship. Based on a Melanesian Solomon Islands tribe, the study sketches a set of principles and shows how they operate in practice. Our intents are to honour the contribution that Melanesian thought makes to rethinking research dichotomies regarding secret knowledge, that readers appreciate the dynamic nature of knowledge guardianship, and that this case study enhances the discussion on ethical entitlement to, or restriction of, Indigenous knowledge in the Pacific region and beyond.

scholarly journals The Vedic Agni and Scandinavian Fire Rituals: A Possible Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-97
Author(s):  
Anders Kaliff
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Archaeological Interpretation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

To use ethnographic analogies is not the same as picking up ready-made interpretations from one cultural context and importing them into another. On the contrary, analogies are a powerful and necessary tool for any archaeological interpretation. If we as scientists are not aware of this we will most certainly use our own time and culture as an unconscious analogy: it is not possible to make interpretations, or even to think, without references outside oneself, and such references are nothing but analogies. l will put forward the hypothesis that the Late Bronze Age society of Scandinavia had rituals resembling, and probably related to, the Vedic tradition. As in Vedic tradition, fire sacrifice seems to have been an important ritual practice in Scandinavia. The Vedic fire altars are built as a symbolic microcosmos, repeating the creation of the world, and the fire (Agni) is seen as a link between earth and the heavenly fire —the sun.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document