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2011:gnostic-jesus-androgyny

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Gnostic Jesus Androgyny

<html><p xmlns:dct=“http://purl.org/dc/terms/”><a rel=“license” href=“http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/”><img src=“http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png” style=“border-style: none;” alt=“Public Domain Mark” /></a><br />This work (by <a href=“https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki” rel=“dct:creator”>https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki</a>), identified by <a href=“http://meninpublishing.org” rel=“dct:publisher”><span property=“dct:title”>Frank Redmond</span></a>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p></html>

Authored by Frank Redmond, 2011

I came across an interesting blog snippet about the gnostic Jesus and “his” views on sexuality at Sexuality and the Sacred in Gnostic Literature - History of the Ancient World Blog.

Here's the snippet:

”Jesus said to them ‘When you make the two one and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below and when you make the male and the female one and the same so that the male be not male nor the female female… then you will enter the kingdom.’ ” - Saying 22 Gospel of Thomas

What is so striking about this passage is Jesus' use of juxtaposition to demonstrate that all human values (race, gender, sexual preference, etc.) are all categories that can (easily) be turned inside-out. Jesus challenges his listeners to let go of our cultural categories which are meaningless so we can be free and join the Kingdom of Heaven. This doctrine reminds me of the Ancient Cynics who sought to undermine cultural values in an effort to show that Nature is the only measuring tool in the universe. Jesus had a similar objective with the Kingdom of God.

Discovering the Gnostic texts only makes me wonder what would have happened if more gnostic elements made their way into Christianity. Would things be different? It's worth wondering about. It makes the study of Gnostic texts all the more important.

2011/gnostic-jesus-androgyny.txt · Last modified: 2015/12/16 10:58 by 127.0.0.1

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