Gnostic Cosmology and the Apocryphon of John [Lecture]

This is a re-recorded version of an older talk by Dan Attrell entitled "What Athens Has Got To Do With Jerusalem: The Marriage of Greek and Jewish Themes in the Apocryphon of John"
Artwork: Nicholas Roerich - Mother of the World
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Agus, Aharon. "Some Early Rabbinic Thinking on Gnosticism." The Jewish Quarterly Review 71 (1), 1980: 18-30.
Carroll, Scott T. "The "Apocalypse of Adam" and Pre-Christian Gnosticism." Vigiliae Christianae 44 (3), 1990: 263-279.
Dodds, E. R. Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Grant, Robert M. Gnosticism and Early Christianity. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.
Grant, Robert M. "The Earliest Christian Gnosticism." Church History 22 (2), 1953: 81-98.
Grant, Robert. M. "Les êtres intermédiaires dans le judaïsme tardif." Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni 38, 1967: 245-259.
Hengel, Martin. Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975.
Hoeller, Stephan A. The Gnostic Society Library: The Nag Hammadi Library. March 13, 2014. gnosis.org/nagh... (accessed May 16, 2014).
Katz, Joseph. "Plotinus and the Gnostics." Journal of the History of Ideas 15, 2, 1954: 289-298.
MacCulloch, James A. "The Ascent of the Soul: A Comparative Study in Gnosticism." The Irish Church Quarterly 5 (18), 1912: 122-141.
Nock, Arthur Darby. "Gnosticism." The Harvard Theological Review 57 (4), 1964: 255-279.
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.
Pearson, Birger A. "Gnosticism as Platonism: With Special Reference to Marsanes (NHC 10,1)." The Harvard Theological Review 77 (1), 1984: 55-72.
Quispel, Gilles. "Ezekiel 1:26 in Jewish Mysticism and Gnosis." Vigiliae Christianae 34 (1), 1980: 1-13.
Quispel, Gilles. "Gnosticism and the New Testament." Vigiliae Christianae 19 (2), 1965: 65-85.
Quispel, Guilles. Gnosis als Weltreligion. Leiden: Origo, 1951.
Rasimus, Tuomas. "Ophite Gnosticism, Sethianism, and the Nag Hammadi Library." Vigiliae Christianae 59 (3), 2005: 235-263.
Scholem, Gershom G. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism,and Talmudic Tradition. Philadelphia: Maurice Jacobs, 1965.
Swartz, Michael D. "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Later Jewish Magic and Mysticism." Dead Sea Discoveries 8 (2), 2001: 182-193.
Von Stuckrad, Kocku. "Jewish and Christian Astrology in Late Antiquity: A New Approach." Numen 47, 2000: 1-40.
Yamauchi, Edwin M. "Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts?" Church History 48 (2), 1979: 129-141.
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[@colemarie9262]

This is amazing...for the layperson, it's almost impossible to find gnostic history content that isn't created by a random new age wiccan 22yr old. The very word is like a dog whistle for psuedo-intellectual occult rambling around here. Thank you so much.

[@thepixelatedpilgrim3283]

You should try the SHWEP or secret history of western esotericism podcast. If you like this youll be right at home there.

[@mikewallis2987]

Esoterica is a rock solid channel for gnostic texts

[@wardenofeden]

It's more likely that you click the first result

[@johncollins211]

Not only are they new age Wiccan lol but they also act like they're some revolutionary thinkers with secret knowledge and everyone else are sheeple. Like the only thing your an adept in is being egotistical and celibacy ( you know because they are above there animal nature)

[@aubreylear]

@@mikewallis2987 that's a good one; I'd also recommend religion for breakfast and let's talk religion

[@CoffeeConsumerZoomer]

Dude... great video! Gnosticism always fascinated me, but it's hard to find many sources that aren't bizzarre conspiracy theories, or new-age gunk. Was about to just give up until this was recommended. Glad to see this channel still pumping out truth like a boss!

[@ChaudhryRajinderNijjharJatt]

The Gospel Truth is the absolute Truth dug out through logical reasoning. It is the Tapp Root of the Tree of the Scriptures, the moral laws.

[@petercarri718]

Nothing more then criticism coming from an ignorant individual. This is speaks no truth and he has blinded you. When a blind man leads a blind man they both fall into the pit.

[@docjaramillo]

Check out the KZbin channel ‘Esotericism’ by Dr. Justin Sledge

[@gwendolynns]

First time listener, first video. I’m already familiar with Gnosticism but enjoy listening to other people discuss it. What a pleasure this was to listen to with earbuds. while cleaning and tidying up. Subscription well deserved. Articulate, nice cadence, cohesive. Looking forward to checking out your other videos.

[@peteprochilo]

This cosmology seems almost like a bridge between some of the early Greek creation stories and the Canaanite ones, with Yaldabaoth syncretizing with both YHVH as the demiurge and Phanes/Protogonos. Great lecture.

[@hermanhale9258]

I'm not hearing Jewish cosmology.

[@Soulshine711]

Interesting when people give a compliment about this video by saying something negative about "new age" or "wiccan" people or perspectives... Perhaps it might be beneficial for the soul to look into what part of the mind or spirit finds it necessary to downgrade others point of view, when giving a compliment. 🙏💖💖💖💖💖💖💖Much LOVE and respect to EVERYONE AND TO EVERYONE'S PERSPECTIVE.... The greatest GNOSIS is that of the Oneness of all, the OVERSOUL which unites us all. Sending everyone much wisdom, soul light, peace, and unconditional love

[@johnnewton8017]

Agreed! 🙌🏼

[@duantorruellas716]

50:40 to 51 :33 pretty much sums up the point of this presentation and what I take from it. As I am doing research for an occult painting of Sophia I found this very helpful in gaining a richer understanding of this aeon and her role in the gnostic belief system . Thank you Dan A. for yet another enlightening presentation.

[@clericknight7304]

Yes we have to add context and remember what time period this was written and what was happening at that point in history. I appreciate that

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Cheers

[@swarupdas2552]

I salute the Gnostic Gospel. They were Bang on reality

[@davlmt]

Amazing job, indeed gnosticism is a mind bogglingly 'coherent' syncretism of MANY different yet compatible religion and philosophies. Most thought provoking was that the theodicy was most likely heavily influenced by the hardships of the era which obviously makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for your work. I love the way you teach those things.

[@sidu3099]

Unbelievably good! Thank you, Dan!

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

I am getting the feeling that Crowley's "Thelema" was partially inspired by the early-1900s understanding of gnosticism

[@ennuiblu]

@@thishandleistacken Why did you become an "ex" Thelemite?

[@alicantuncer4800]

@@thishandleistacken Really interesting. Crowley sounds like a prophet of a major religion that I cannot name because I would get in legal trouble in my country but I think you know to whom I am referring.

[@krissyramsey3934]

Agreed 93 93/93 Ordo Temple Baphe-Metis IX°

[@shanejohns7901]

The Gnostics saw the story of Jesus as a Katabasis. But, as was common, something got changed. This time, the descent was from the Sub-Lunar realm of the Logos to the normal Human Plane -- rather than from the human plane to the chthonian underworld as had been common. The 'Harrowing of Hell' is actually a nested Katabasis.

[@paulsixtus4926]

Thank you!🙏💕

[@TheModernHermeticist]

You're very welcome

[@Hyperanthropos]

Can you reference the art you include in the backgrounds of your videos? Consistently excellent, and as you include a bibliography I think we'd all appreciate something analogous for the visual art.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Nicholas Roerich

[@braddaulton3976]

I feel like you broke new ground in this essay, awesome

[@laela6289]

Upon discovering the other Christianities, I actually have a newfound and better respect for the overall religious tradition. I could not be ok with the Old Testament God, or all of the contradictions that followed with it, as well as the patriarchic, linear, and violent ideas that were supported by it. The Gnostic traditions not only closed up the holes in a lot of the old testament, it actually showed that the thinkers and religious practitioners of the time, actually had pretty progressive views about love and universal kindness, and could even have pretty progressive views about women in spirituality, considering the time.

[@Zhicano]

I may be two years too late but same. I had the same thoughts on this

[@nights5956]

Glad to hear you again !!! Thank you

[@bastadimasta]

Thank you Dan.

[@docjaramillo]

What an interesting exposition of ancient esoterica

[@danielhorvat1128]

Thank you for your wonderful lectures.

[@imparisafari9345]

Brilliant

[@robertpaulcorless280]

Thank you from Manchester x

[@VVeltanschauung187]

I wish your audio was louder

[@_GreenShadow_]

Dude, I want a cloak like that.

[@arielabornski2030]

I'd be happy to pay for a copy of your paper. The research is excellent.

[@realSeanMcMahon]

Re: the etymology of names in Nag Hammadi. iirc Origin of the World or Hypostasis of the Archons says that “Yaldaboath” means “child come here” - there is another secondary meaning “child of chaos”. As for Barbelo, it is likely from Aramaic, Bar b’Elo, meaning Son of God. In the Apocryphon of John, for all its heretical theology in the Garden, it actually describes a Trinitarian Godhead that would probably pass as Catholic since it describes a procession from Father > Son > Holy Spirit. If you’re familiar with the “filioque” controversy, that’s a big deal!

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Interesting on Barbelo, I did not know that. As for Yaltabaoth, I always assumed it was simply a garbled version of Yah Tsabaoth

[@realSeanMcMahon]

@@TheModernHermeticist I agree there too. Great video!

[@DeaconOfTheDank]

Excellent video - very well researched.

[@willlull5719]

I'm really happy a lecture on this story was created since I feel it best encapsulates the Gnostic paradigm. However I do believe there is one assumption here that is worth bringing up. Is Yaldabaot the deity of the Hebrews, Yahweh? Of course this would be a presupposition for most as they read, especially since it uses a reflection of Genesis as a framework and separate subtle indications. However, the lecture left out where this same text names both Yahweh and Elohim as the true names of Cain and Abel, and never once does it list this as a name of Yaldabaot. There was plenty of opportunity. It makes it clear that Yaldabaot is Samael, who has a rich history within Judaism-especially esoteric Judaism. It's possible these two sons are meant as some sort of emanation of the ignorant demiurge, but is it possible these two names aren't in the original? Do we know how many 'cooks in the kitchen' there were?

[@AverageAmerican]

. Y❣️ H❣️ W❣️ H 1 + 2 + 3 Father + Son + Holy Spirit = one GOD *Then Elohim said, **_"Let us make man in our image and after our likeness."_* 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 (six is number of man) 1 = Whole 2 = Division 3 = UNITY

[@leondbleondb]

@@AverageAmerican YHWH = 26

[@AverageAmerican]

@@leondbleondb Y + 1 + H +2 + W + 3 +H = 32

[@fraterdeusestveritas2022]

One must comprehend the triune of God and the relationship between the 3 states in order to perform an accurate exegesis of these texts. They are pretty easy to interpret once you have that gnosis. The literal stories become redundant. All the texts are like a repeat these themes over and over like a broken record.

[@ASymbolicSymbol]

I find Origen's methodology could be the missing key here of truly understanding the text: HIs layered interpretation of literal, moral and allegory can be like the three-persons of the trinity come into one being as those layers of interpretation come together into one book (aka the bible)

[@Taliesin_McKnight]

Great video, brother.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Thanks, cheers mate.

[@LSDMTHC]

Beautiful work.

[@alexmenard473]

Wow what a channel

[@TheModernHermeticist]

🙏

[@marksinnersaint8707]

Thanks for this (audio) Viddy !!! 👍👍👍

[@canisronis2753]

Fantastic! well done, thank you!

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for listening.

[@Johnathan909309]

Do you think gnosticism predates Christianity or is Christianity a development of? What is also your view on the church fathers?

[@Valgrant]

Thank you for your brilliant work, very grateful to you. Please could you tell me what the image used in the video is? Thank you :)

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Mother of the World by Nicolas Roerich

[@jorgechackon]

Welcome to the Jungle ! Now take me down to the Paradise City!

[@slmille4]

It's interesting that HP Lovecraft died before the discovery at Nag Hammadi. I guess he had all the same platonic and judeo-christian pieces that the gnostics had, and when confronted with the chaos of the early 20th century he came up with the ideas like the idiot god Azathoth as opposed to the ignorant god Yaldabaoth.

[@TheModernHermeticist]

There's always the works of Irenaeus that were available to people before Nag Hammadi.

[@sticky59]

Wonderful stuff.

[@JW-mq1lc]

Excellent.

[@Peace-Weaver]

Does anyone know the title of the artwork used in the video? Thanks in advance!

[@AverageAmerican]

Nicholas Roerich. YW

[@jennyeh4631]

Can you attribute / credit the image used?

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Nicholas Roerich - Mother of the World

[@backinblack1982]

This was absolutely fascinating!

[@charlesgodwin2191]

The creative process by which the universe came to be, applied to self - inquiry culminates in the Genesis of Revelation. The Absolute functions as a diversified unity that actualizes as a unified diversity or uni.- verse. What we usually call God is actually creative power or process which is neutral, impartially inclusive, potential/potency of good and evil. It is how this potency or power of the will is actualized that determines whether good or evil will be the outcome according to the law of cause and effect. We reap as we sow. In the beginning is the pattern or template for replication and the template is with the pattern maker and is of the archetype of the pattern maker known as the Creative. Thus our human archetype or template is the template of the creative process itself. We are the Creative and partake of that nature to an unknowable extent. Thus our essential being is inherently mysterious but explorable and ever more knowable. The third heaven is also the third ventricle of the brain. As without so within.

[@dustinbyerley7226]

Wonderful video. Thank you for making this. Just curious why you use the term mythology when referring to the Apocryphon of John. Is that a fact or speculation?

[@lovis9912]

Thank you for a great lecture! Who is the creator of the painting?

[@DanielaHal]

For me is a dilemma to believe all this or not. One is sure Bible is not deep enough... very good explanation of history of gnosticism. Thank you so much.

[@timsharpe6652]

You could spend a lifetime in Scripture (the bible) and still barely scratch the depth and breadth of its contents !! Try it lol

[@timsharpe6652]

After all what have you to lose right ?..

[@Instramark]

Dead Sea Scrolls report Gnostic beliefs of the Essenians, 80 BCE and earlier. Check out Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth by John Allegro.

[@arielabornski2030]

Is your paper available online? I'd like to be able to quote some of this and give credit to those in your bibliography.

[@The-Wide-Angle]

Is agnosticism related to hermeticism? Too many parallels to be coincidental.

[@TheGuiltsOfUs]

Gnosticism was one confused religion only later surpassed in madness by christianity

[@timmy18135]

Do the divisions of the heavens by the gods in any way connect with the concentric epicycles of ptolomeey

[@bewusstsein3527]

@ippos_khloros we are trapped here in the 7th heavens.. we cant ascend to 8 or 9th? Pleroma is where sophia came from.. thats our true home?

[@jarodjohnson7713]

29:20 this is the same condition expressed in the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. John is the self same as Enkidu, symbolically. John and Enkidu came after the fall of the lesser Watchers

[@jarodjohnson7713]

"the ascetic.practice of philosophy" the gnostic Albigenses and waldenses... Having been those who loved and lived as the true Christ. Enoch was the first of gnostic philosophy. Enoch is Thoth

[@hermanhale9258]

My old, old, encycopedia: The Gnostics couldn't have been Jewish, Jews would never have demonized Yahweh.

[@silentsage7830]

Great job, sir. Thank you for taking the time to put this lecture together. Question: Around the 29:30 mark, did you intentionally repeat the line “to the Jewish mind the wilderness is a liminal....” or was that an error in the editing process?

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Thanks. It was a mistake!

[@Honorbright24]

Can you relate the tarot thru this?

[@jamesharoldbardwell2182]

I think you probably could ..some equate sophia as the high priestess or the star even perhaps the empress. As for the rest I'll have a think .

[@ionescualice2842]

Search Gnostic Students channel and there yes they relate tarot with this 🤔

[@jorgechackon]

Definitely agree with Sophia being the high priestess. She trains the initiated apprentices with complex philosophy and big-picture, ahead of time middle pillar understanding. The star definitely as well because chosen ones always have a big bright star that seems to follow them everywhere. Those who have taken the chance and followed it notice to that it guides us towards blessings. Like the 3 Magi there are many who understand this special relationship between them and the universe. Also star-seeds. We are comet-people.

[@echo-tear]

31:50 - The Tao

[@FEEDMEKITTENS]

To skip past the history and context to get right to the meat of the Apocryphon you can skip to 11:05.

[@throwawaysupreme9400]

I see syncretism with African vodun and African diaspora religion

[@Grateful.For.Everything]

John go hard, or is it Jesus, or is it the Sethians…..whoever wrote it it’s good stuff.

[@ly6203]

👍👍👍😘😘🗡️🙏🙏🙏

[@TheModernHermeticist]

🙏

[@timmy18135]

He left out Roman gnosticism. There is also the nature of Fortuna to whom we are all enslaved

[@Deletedvirus404]

15:20

[@ALLHEART_]

St. Irenaeus of Lyons is a legend. Down with Gnosticism, up with Orthodoxy!

[@Instramark]

So he said.

[@dontcallmejon]

They flipped middle platonism and hermetism on its head; the intelligible one - the demiurge and the gods are no longer benefactory figures; a very negative black pilled life philosophy.

[@chasingamy704]

Whats funny about this is that people on here are calling the OT God evil but yet not once in the OT did God threaten to torture people forever in fire. Jesus did, and not only that but he made it clear that you dont have a choice because nobody can come to him unless the father draws them to him, he had an "elect", everyone else was considered accursed and good for nothing but the fire

[@lascreen3198]

OT creator is plenty evil: What is the most violent verse in the Bible? Samuel commands Saul "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Samuel 15:3).

[@bvgatti]

Canaan

[@kameh4804]

Gnosticism is fictionalized. Probably derived from Gnostic (GÆN-ostic) knowledge. GÆA (Gaia) was the first great city of GÅD ("god") >[Pangaea] [Earth].

[@bigchill123a]

27:48

[@Carlo-qj5jl]

ITS FUNNY WHEN ALL HIS SONS CALL HIM INSULTS LMAO! 1ST SON: EEEEEEE!!! 2ND SON: EEEHHHHH!! 3RD SON: ASS!!! ROTFL

[@nuggetoftruth-ericking7489]

Again, i give a partial Christian response to this at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHalpIKEqq2Dp7s

[@laela6289]

Every non-Christian scholar has acknowledged that modern post-Lutheran Christianity had extremely diverse roots, and didn't come from a single tradition that branched off into different churches, but rather a collection of traditions with the same underlying Abrahamic Jewish tradition, and the story of Jesus. There are also many many holes in the bible, such as the meaning behind the tree of knowledge of good and evil, how a loving caring god can also be so ruthless, jealous, human-like, and violent, and small things such as in Genesis God referring to himself plurally when creating the universe. Christians can resist this all they want, but the evidence is proving that the idea that the Bible's origins were pure and untainted ...for several thousand years is not true by any stretch of the human imagination... Why not embrace and explore the earlier traditions of Christianity that are metaphorical, poetic, female-inclusive, complex, intricate, and promotes ideas such as non-attachment to the material world, and focusing on the divine? instead of a linear inconsistent water-downed mainstream version of Christianity where God's "love" involves mercilessly drowning the entire world and we just have to mindless accept that because "he works in mysterious ways"?

[@hierosgamosvibration2951]

Ok...I’m going to say it: Blue Diamond.

[@hierosgamosvibration2951]

Tree Hugger Look up Steven Universe and Blue Diamond. The picture is similar to her character design.

[@Hyperanthropos]

what's the actual picture on this video?

[@Hyperanthropos]

Thanks

[@jdubeau007]

Christianity was born out of Gnosticism. Gnosticism disagrees with the Jews god. The Jewish god is the false god. The true God is the god of the new testament. Duality is common theme in many texts. Like the soul and the spirit. Father and Son. Gnosticism isn't Judaism.

[@gillbeatsisback01]

On the assumption that hes interested in spirituality i wonder what he might think about psychedelics and DMT especially

[@JeffCaplan313]

The Gnostics were certainly associated with administering mystery rites using psychedelic substances. Recent evidence for some of that occurring in Magdala by the Essenes. Specifically, check out the Stone of Magdala and compare that "Holy of Holies" symbol (the Flower of Life pattern) with the mandala pattern observed by individuals during DMT trips.