According to Rumi, one's words should pass through three gates: 1. Is it true? 2. Is it necessary? 3. Is it kind?
Philo's work is somewhat enigmatic. For instance, he uses Plato's theory of Ideas in De specialibus legibus I.329 to explain how the Hebrew God made the cosmos: "God created the universe, but without being personally involved in this task, because he, being perfectly blessed, could not enter into contract with indefinite and confused matter. He made use of... Continue Reading →
Let me tell you then why the creator made this world of generation. He was good, and the good can never have any jealousy of anything. And being free from jealousy, he desired that all things should be as like himself as they could be. This is in the truest sense the origin of creation... Continue Reading →
This is the conclusion to a series on Valentinus, the early Christian condemned by Irenaeus as a "heretic" by association with the Gnostikoi, a designation perpetuated by modern scholars of religious history. I have attempted to rehabilitate his biography and use Valentinus as an example of how the binary dichotomy of "orthodoxy vs. heresy" has... Continue Reading →
In the previous posts of this series, (Valentinus was a Christian, not a "Gnostic": Exploration of the history shaped by the "Orthodoxy vs Heresy" Dichotomy and A History of Orthodoxy vs. Heresy Part II: Valentinus Up Close) I looked at the way Valentinus has been characterized by modern scholars and argued that, with the scant... Continue Reading →
In the previous post, I provided an overview of how Valentinus was characterized by early Church Fathers (heresiologists) and how those reports continue to shape modern scholarship despite evidence to the contrary. In this post, I will look at these issues in more detail. I apologize as this post, with its survey of fragmentary evidence,... Continue Reading →
In this series, I will look at the historical figure Valentinus (2nd c, CE), whose life work demonstrates an important intersection of second century, CE, Western thought: Hellenistic trends in Judaism and Christianity in Alexandria, "gnostic" influences from Syria and Palestine, a classical education in Greek philosophy and highly sophisticated Christian theology. He is remembered,... Continue Reading →
Pass Three Gates 