Exploring Valentinian Gnosticism: Gnosis, Valentinianism, Orthodoxy, and Christian Dissent

What does it mean to search for the divine from within? In this expanded second edition, Edson Carvalho do Nascimento leads the reader through the history of Valentinian Gnosticism: from second-century Alexandria to the codices of Nag Hammadi, from the schools of Rome to the Cathar lands of Languedoc, from the courts of the Inquisition to the mirrors of modern psychology. In twelve parts and 134 chapters, the book reconstructs the mythology of the Pleroma, the fall of Sophia, the domain of the Demiurge, and the three human natures; follows the heresiologists who forged orthodoxy; walks with perfecti and credentes through the Albigensian Crusade and the final siege of Montségur; and converses with Jung and contemporary esotericism. Documented method, contemplative voice: an invitation to the long history of Christian dissent — and to the spark that still searches.