Christoph Markschies

This introduction to Gnosis by Christoph Markschies combines great clarity with immense learning.In his Introduction Markschies defines the term Gnosis and its relationship to 'Gnosticism', indicating why Gnosis is preferable and sketches out the main problems. He then treats the sources, both those in the church fathers and heresiologists, and the more recent Nag Hammadi finds. He goes on to discuss early forms of 'Gnosis' in antiquity, Jewish and Christian (New Testament) and the early Gnostics; the main representatives of Gnosis, especially Valentinus and Marcion; Manichaeism as the culmination and end-point of Gnosis; ancient communities of 'Gnostics'; and finally 'Gnosis' in antiquity and the present.There is a useful chronological table and an excellent select bibliography.

An Introduction

Gnosis

Cilliers Breytenbach

This volume pays tribute to the diversity of Adolf Deissmann’s work as philologist, theologian and ecumenist and attempts to contextualise contemporary debates on his contribution historically. Dieser Sammelband würdigt das facettenreiche Schaffen Adolf Deissmanns als Philologe, Theologe und Ökumeniker und versucht, die zeitgenössischen Debatten um seine Leistungen historisch zu kontextualisieren.

Adolf Deissmann: Ein (zu Unrecht) fast vergessener Theologe und Philologe

Yohanan Friedmann

Current tendencies in religious studies and theology show a growing interest for the interchange between religions and the cultures of rationalization surrounding them. The studies published in this volume, based on the international conferences of both the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, aim to contribute to this field of interest by dealing with concepts and influences of rationalization in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and religion in general. In addition to taking a closer look at the immediate links in the history of tradition between those rationalizing movements and evolutions in religion, emphasis is put on intellectual-historical convergences: Therefore, the articles are led by central comparative questions, such as what factors foster/hinder rationalization?; where are criteria for rationalization drawn from?; in which institutions is rationalization taking place?; who propagates, supports and utilizes rationalization?

Christoph Markschies

Books

Your next favorite book is out there