Post by zendancer on Dec 31, 2011 9:26:14 GMT -5
Yep, I think the gnostic gospels, including GOT, were discovered in about 1947. Amazingly, the brothers who found the clay jars and brought the manuscripts home had no idea of their value, and many scrolls were burned in a stove before an antiquities dealer learned about them and authorities swooped in and grabbed everything that hadn't been burned. Scholars knew about the GOT because of references to it in other writings, but they only had a tiny fragment of it. Elaine Pagels has become well known because of her writings about the gnostic gospels. The reference book including all of the gospels is "The Nag Hammadi Library." For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the early church there were apparently many teachings that circulated about the life of Jesus. Some, like the GOT, were highly mystical and pointed to non-duality. Others, like the books that eventually became canonized in the Bible, were primarily dualistic (God is "out there" and humans are "down here on earth" living out a kind of morality play.) The battle over which teachings were finally accepted as authentic is a great story. Needless to say, we know who won the battle! As soon as power became concentrated by the dualists, all of the gnostic gospels were pronounced heretical and anyone owning a copy of a gnostic gospel could be killed. The word "gnostic" comes from the word "gnossis" which means "direct knowing." Goodness knows we wouldn't want people having any kind of direct knowledge of God unmediated by priests or the sanctioning of churchly institutions! LOL
Some of the other gnostic gospels are pretty far out. In one story, Jesus, as a child, got mad at another kid and shrunk him to the size of a dog. Joseph and Mary made him bring the kid back up to normal size. Ha ha. In another story Jesus, as a kid, made some mudpies fly off into the sky. Clearly, the range of stories about Jesus extended from the ridiculous to the sublime.
One of the most interesting and controversial books about Jesus is one written by Stephen Mitchell, the husband of Byron Katie, and one of the best translators of non-dual literature in the world. Even though I am extremely open-minded, when I read it the first time, I was somewhat shocked (due to vestiges of my hard-core fundamentalist upbringing--ha ha), but upon reflection, I think the guy probably nailed the story correctly. It explains why Jesus referred to himself as "the son of Mary" even though that is not how Jewish men would have referred to themselves, and it explains why Jesus was more concerned about his "heavenly Father" than Joseph, his earthly father. I can't remember the title, but anyone interested can google a list of Mitchell's books and find it.
I'd like to think that one day some more dead sea scrolls will be found that will explode the canonized version of events, and give us a clearer picture of Jesus's everyday life. I am sure that if Jesus were here today, he would be quite surprised at what the church has done with his teachings.
Over a ten-year period I wrote a series of newspaper articles about Mystical Christianity and non-dualism which eventually got condensed into a book--"A Path to Christ-Consciousness, Non-Conceptual Awareness Practice as a Doorway to the Infinite." I wrote it specifically for Christians, but only one or two people ever had a clue what I was writing about, so I lost interest in continuing that effort. As a funny side note, I once gave a copy of that book to a Methodist minister who is in our extended family. He wrote and told me that I ought to be teaching in a divinity school. Ha ha. I then sent him my Pouring Concrete book, and he never again talked to me about spirituality. Some people just can't handle the truth! LOL
Some of the other gnostic gospels are pretty far out. In one story, Jesus, as a child, got mad at another kid and shrunk him to the size of a dog. Joseph and Mary made him bring the kid back up to normal size. Ha ha. In another story Jesus, as a kid, made some mudpies fly off into the sky. Clearly, the range of stories about Jesus extended from the ridiculous to the sublime.
One of the most interesting and controversial books about Jesus is one written by Stephen Mitchell, the husband of Byron Katie, and one of the best translators of non-dual literature in the world. Even though I am extremely open-minded, when I read it the first time, I was somewhat shocked (due to vestiges of my hard-core fundamentalist upbringing--ha ha), but upon reflection, I think the guy probably nailed the story correctly. It explains why Jesus referred to himself as "the son of Mary" even though that is not how Jewish men would have referred to themselves, and it explains why Jesus was more concerned about his "heavenly Father" than Joseph, his earthly father. I can't remember the title, but anyone interested can google a list of Mitchell's books and find it.
I'd like to think that one day some more dead sea scrolls will be found that will explode the canonized version of events, and give us a clearer picture of Jesus's everyday life. I am sure that if Jesus were here today, he would be quite surprised at what the church has done with his teachings.
Over a ten-year period I wrote a series of newspaper articles about Mystical Christianity and non-dualism which eventually got condensed into a book--"A Path to Christ-Consciousness, Non-Conceptual Awareness Practice as a Doorway to the Infinite." I wrote it specifically for Christians, but only one or two people ever had a clue what I was writing about, so I lost interest in continuing that effort. As a funny side note, I once gave a copy of that book to a Methodist minister who is in our extended family. He wrote and told me that I ought to be teaching in a divinity school. Ha ha. I then sent him my Pouring Concrete book, and he never again talked to me about spirituality. Some people just can't handle the truth! LOL