Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Esoteric Christianity is a mystical approach to Christianity which features "secret traditions" that require an initiation to learn or understand. [1] The term esoteric was coined in the 17th century and derives from the Greek ἐσωτερικός ( esôterikos , "inner").
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation [of the person] for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God" [1] or divine love. [2]
Prior to the discovery at Nag Hammadi, only the following texts were available to students of Gnosticism.Reconstructions were attempted from the records of the heresiologists, but these were necessarily coloured by the motivation behind the source accounts.
The best known example of this approach is Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), who stated that "Gnosticism is the acute Hellenization of Christianity." [ 236 ] According to Dillon, "many scholars today continue in the vein of Harnack in reading gnosticism as a late and contaminated version of Christianity", notably Darrell Block, who criticises ...
Esoteric Christianity refers to the study of the occult or mystic esoteric knowledge related to the inner teachings of Christianity. The term is generally associated with the Essenes and later the Rosicrucians. In esoteric Christianity, the religion of the Christ is taught as a mystery religion.
Christian views on magic vary widely among Christian denominations and among individuals. Many Christians actively condemn magic as satanic, holding that it opens the way for demonic possession. Some Christians simply view it as entertainment. Conversely, some branches of esoteric Christianity actively engage in magical practices.
Progressive Christianity is a contemporary movement which seeks to remove the supernatural claims of the faith and replace them with a post-critical understanding of biblical spirituality based on historical and scientific research. It focuses on the lived experience of spirituality over historical dogmatic claims, and accepts that the faith is ...
In the context of Ancient Greek philosophy, the terms "esoteric" and "exoteric" were sometimes used by scholars not to denote that there was secrecy, but to distinguish two procedures of research and education: the first reserved for teachings that were developed "within the walls" of the philosophical school, among a circle of thinkers ("eso-" indicating what is unseen, as in the classes ...