Eric Voeglin and the Gnostic Temptation

[the Left™]

Simply put Gnosticism is the "death of God" and the replacement of human potential as the ultimate truth

Voeglin argues in his Science, Politics, Gnosticism-- that progressivism, fascism, religious fundamentalism, marxism etc etc are all products of a dream and a fantasy, to achieve the practically impossible, all of these are phantoms of a world that you can never reach, and everything on your way is a means to an end( a dangerous slope)

So other than

OMG RREACTIONARY RULING CLASS PROPAGANDIST RAWRRRRAWRWR

do you think Voeglin has a point?

[RED DAVE]

No.

Voeglin seems to be one more right-wing obscurantist whose main point in the end is that, basically, human improvement is impossible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Voegelin

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article2810.html

The connection to Hayek tells you a lot. I wonder what he was doing politically in Germany and Austria during the 1920s. He did flee Vienna when the Anschluss took place.

RED DAVE

[Zostrianos]

Actually Gnosticism was a religious movement in late Antiquity that encouraged knowledge as a way to salvation, instead of blind faith.
Eric Voeglin didn't really know anything about gnosticism, so he redefined it and made it into something else entirely. He probably referred to Christian sources that demonized Gnosticism as an evil, false heresy, and he reused the term to fit his political construct.
Gnosticism in truth, is a much more rational approach to religion, superior to the blind faith preached by the Church.

[Philosopher Jay]

The Gnostics were various Christian cults of the 2nd Century, probably the earliest non-Jewish Christian cults. They eventually lost power to the 3rd century Orthodox Churches. In the 4th century with the ascension of the orthodox Emperor Constantine to power in Rome, the gnostics and their churches were outlawed.
Generally the gnostic Christians took a more allegorical and mystical view of their various Jesuses and Christs than the orthodox who promoted the idea of an historical half man-half God named Jesus.
The Orthodox Churches denounced gnosticism as heretical and false.
The original Jewish-Christians were simply Jewish zealots trying to overthrow Roman rule and return to a Maccabean type autonomous Jewish state.
We can roughly show the evolution of Christianity by centuries:
1st Century. Jewish-Christianity. Reactionary Jewish fundamentalist anti-Roman movement. Defeated in Jewish-Roman wars 67-73 C.E.
2nd Century. Gnostic Mystery cults blend Jewish mysticism and Greco-Roman mysticism, offering individual salvation and eternal life.
3rd Century. Orthodoxy: Pro-Roman-anti Jewish cult mixing Jewish fundamentalist and Greco-Roman mysticism developed from Gnosticism.
4th Century. Roman Catholicism. Emperor Constantine gives orthodox churches economic and ideological control through the Roman state apparatus.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Actually Gnosticism was a religious movement in late Antiquity that encouraged knowledge as a way to salvation, instead of blind faith.
Eric Voeglin didn't really know anything about gnosticism, so he redefined it and made it into something else entirely. He probably referred to Christian sources that demonized Gnosticism as an evil, false heresy, and he reused the term to fit his political construct.
Gnosticism in truth, is a much more rational approach to religion, superior to the blind faith preached by the Church.

A "more rational approach to religion" is like a "more rational approach to reading tea leaves", i.e. a contradiction in terms.

[Azraella]

Simply put Gnosticism is the "death of God" and the replacement of human potential as the ultimate truth

Voeglin argues in his Science, Politics, Gnosticism-- that progressivism, fascism, religious fundamentalism, marxism etc etc are all products of a dream and a fantasy, to achieve the practically impossible, all of these are phantoms of a world that you can never reach, and everything on your way is a means to an end( a dangerous slope)

So other than

OMG RREACTIONARY RULING CLASS PROPAGANDIST RAWRRRRAWRWR

do you think Voeglin has a point?

I haven't read Philosopher Jay's links but based on this summary of his views he has a piss poor understanding of Gnostic philosophy.

Gnosticism is 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 Gnosticism.

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(s) 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(s), 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.

This is a good start on Gnosticism (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594770352?tag=nedabo-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1594770352&adid=1WTR5YDGT605J5S04Y69&)


Source: I am a Gnostic as well as a Norse Heathen.