The Spiritual Seed: The Church of the ‘Valentinians’. By Einar Thomassen
‘It is a mistake to approach the Gnostics on the metaphysical side. There is a certain wild poetical force in Valentinus, but otherwise their world-philosophy is purely grotesque. The ordinary Christian controversialist felt that he had nothing to do but set out at unsparing length their tedious ped...
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| Format: | Electronic Review |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2007
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| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2007, Volume: 58, Issue: 1, Pages: 264-266 |
| Review of: | The spiritual seed (Leiden [u.a.] : Brill, 2006) (Wilson, R. McL)
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| Further subjects: | B
Book review
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | ‘It is a mistake to approach the Gnostics on the metaphysical side. There is a certain wild poetical force in Valentinus, but otherwise their world-philosophy is purely grotesque. The ordinary Christian controversialist felt that he had nothing to do but set out at unsparing length their tedious pedigrees, in the well-grounded confidence that no one would care to peruse them a second time’ (Charles Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria [Cambridge, 1886], p. 28). In the light of such a contemptuous dismissal, it is not surprising that for a long time Gnosticism was of little interest to patristic scholars, who were more concerned with the theology of Justin, Irenaeus, and their successors in the developing ‘orthodox’ tradition. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/fll149 |