Gnosticism has become something of a sensation in today’s spiritual climate. From the shattering revelations of the 1980s bestseller Holy Blood, Holy Grail to the sensational fiction of The Da Vinci Code, the heterodox underbelly of Christianity is beginning to show.

At the same time there is a tendency to lock Gnosticism into a sort of Christian ghetto where its primary focus is on early Christian heresies and medieval conundrums, while indulging in all sorts of wild speculation and fantasy.

Tobias Churton is the perfect candidate to explore Gnosticism with an insightful gaze and a solid grip on history. In 1987 he was involved in the acclaimed British Channel Four series The Gnostics and wrote the companion volume. Many of us interested in Gnosticism were first exposed to the Gnostic tradition through these early works.

Churton breaks out of the Christian ghetto mentality and explores Gnosticism as a wider phenomenon meandering through history. His depth of coverage is impressive, from early Vedic and Zoroastrian traditions through Judaism, Christianity and medieval sects, to modern neo-Gnostics, including the infamous Aleister Crowley. He offers an excellent summary of various Gnostic streams, with lucid commentary and lots of quotes from primary sources.

Churton shows his background in Freemasonic history with a superb exploration of the Gnostic elements in Hermeticism and Freemasonry.

Churton sees Gnosticism as a playful exploration of the spiritual verities, a praxis (i.e. practical spirituality) based on a direct perception of the spiritual world (gnosis = to know), rather than as a purely speculative form and this is the key to understand his work.

One of the greatest difficulties in appreciating what a given Gnostic text means is that in most cases we read it as a text rather than appreciating it as a reflection, even a record of personal spiritual experience. Accordingly, Gnosticism ranges from the ascetic to the hedonistic, from a strictly dualistic worldview to an integral one. The creator of matter can be seen as a gift-giver, a vicious demonic demiurge, a stern school teacher or a playful lover, depending on one’s perception and more importantly, one’s stage of spiritual growth.

Gnosticism then must be appreciated as dynamic, changing according to need rather than as a canonical of sacred writings which are immutable and beyond question. While Gnosticism uses such concepts as good and evil, the Demiurge, dualism and so on, these are temporary constructs valuable only insomuch as they help the seeker gain spiritual insight. They are not ultimate truths or great secrets but more frameworks which are discarded when a further stage of development is achieved.

Gnosticism probably has more in common with the Dharma of the Buddha. When the Buddha states the Dharma is like a boat which takes you across the river of Samsara (life and death) and reminds us to use it to gain liberation and then leave it behind, he is stating an essential Gnostic tenet.

Churton separates the wheat from the chaff and disposes of unnecessary speculations and fantasy. To get a good handle on what Gnosticism is really all about (and isn’t), a great place to start is with Gnostic Philosophy by Tobias Churton.

– Reviewed by Robert Burns in New Dawn No. 93