Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition

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Publication Year:
2025

ISBN-13: 9782763702780

<p style="margin: 3.7pt 3.25pt 0.0001pt 5pt; text-indent: 0.7pt; font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: justify; line-height: 14.06px;">No&nbsp;less&nbsp;than&nbsp;eleven of the&nbsp;fifty-three treatises&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Nag&nbsp;Hammadi Library fit&nbsp;the&nbsp;designation&nbsp;"Sethian&nbsp;Gnostic."&nbsp;They&nbsp;reveal&nbsp;the&nbsp;existence&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;hitherto unrecognized religious competitor of early Christianity. With its&nbsp;own roots in second temple&nbsp;Judaism and&nbsp;in various first and second century sectarian baptismal movements, Sethian Gnosticism is now the earliest form of Gnosticism for which we possess a&nbsp;great deal of textual evidence.&nbsp;Like the Christian school of Valentinus (120-160&nbsp;CE)&nbsp;and his followers-which it seems to antedate-Sethianism&nbsp;not only allied itself with the&nbsp;early Christian movement, but was also vitally indebted to the (Middle) Platonism of the first&nbsp;three&nbsp;centuries,&nbsp;even to&nbsp;the&nbsp;point that&nbsp;several&nbsp;of its&nbsp;theological&nbsp;treatises became&nbsp;the subject&nbsp;of&nbsp;scrutiny&nbsp;in&nbsp;Plotinus'&nbsp;third&nbsp;century&nbsp;Roman&nbsp;seminars.</p><p style="margin: 5.2pt 3.25pt 0.0001pt 4.5pt; text-indent: 9.05pt; font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; text-decoration: none; text-align: justify; line-height: 14.313334px;">Although this book provides commentary on and analysis of the entire corpus of Sethian literature and goes on to develop a history of this movementand&nbsp;its literature&nbsp;and&nbsp;ritual&nbsp;practice in the first three centuries, its&nbsp;main&nbsp;focus&nbsp;is&nbsp;upon&nbsp;its&nbsp;striking&nbsp;engagement&nbsp;with&nbsp;the&nbsp;Platonic metaphysics of the second and third centuries, especially evident in four of its most distinctively&nbsp;Platonizing&nbsp;treatises,&nbsp;<i>Zostrianos, Allogenes,&nbsp;</i>the&nbsp;<i>Three Steles of Seth,&nbsp;</i>and<i>Marsanes.&nbsp;</i>These treatises have profound implications for understanding the&nbsp;origins of Neoplatonism, including its&nbsp;theory of dynamic emanationism, certain&nbsp;aspects&nbsp;of Plotinus'&nbsp;thought, and the&nbsp;Middle&nbsp;Platonic interpretation of Plato's dialogues,&nbsp;especially&nbsp;the&nbsp;<i>Parmenides.</i></p><p style="margin: 5.45pt 3.25pt 0.0001pt 2.8pt; text-indent: 1.75pt; font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-align: start; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; text-decoration: none; line-height: 14.566668px;">Accordingly,&nbsp;<i>Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition&nbsp;</i>is&nbsp;divided into five&nbsp;sections:&nbsp;an&nbsp;introductory&nbsp;discussion&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;scholarly&nbsp;attempts&nbsp;to characterize&nbsp;the&nbsp;relation&nbsp;of&nbsp;Gnosticism&nbsp;and&nbsp;Platonism,&nbsp;followed&nbsp;by&nbsp;three main&nbsp;sections:&nbsp;Part&nbsp;One,&nbsp;an&nbsp;analysis&nbsp;and&nbsp;history&nbsp;of&nbsp;Sethian&nbsp;literature, mythology,&nbsp;and&nbsp;ritual&nbsp;practice&nbsp;in&nbsp;its&nbsp;pre-Christian,&nbsp;Christian,&nbsp;and&nbsp;post­ Christian&nbsp;phases;&nbsp;Part&nbsp;Two,&nbsp;a&nbsp;survey&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;development&nbsp;of&nbsp;Platonic&nbsp;metaphysics from Plato to Theodore of Asine; and Part Three, an extensive analysis&nbsp;of&nbsp;the four&nbsp;Platonizing&nbsp;Sethian&nbsp;treatises&nbsp;and&nbsp;their&nbsp;implication&nbsp;for the history&nbsp;and development&nbsp;of Middle and&nbsp;Neoplatonic&nbsp;metaphysics. The final section&nbsp;offers a concluding&nbsp;overview&nbsp;of&nbsp;the Sethian&nbsp;religion.</p>