Reviewer Rank:
7 - Total Helpful Votes: 22914 of 26592
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
In this absorbing work, Burton presents a balanced view of serpent handling believers, their history and religious culture. Combining academic research and oral sources, the author charts the history of the phenomenon while examining the legal and ethical issues associated with the practice. Although it is a scholarly study, the personal interviews and numerous black and white photographs make it a riveting read. The author takes a sympathetic approach while presenting both sides of the story, from the opinions of critics to the words of the believers themselves.
Chapters 2 & 3 deal with the life of pioneer George Went Hensley and the early history of the movement from around… Read more
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This is a brief but informative introduction to the belief systems known as Gnosticism and their differences with Ecclesiastical Christianity. Until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 the few known Gnostic texts were mainly quotes in hostile polemics attacking Gnosticism. There was greater diversity in Christianity in the 1st and 2nd centuries than today claims Bart Ehrman in Lost Christianities. By 200 AD the proto-orthodox version of Ecclesiastical Christianity had triumphed and all other believers were persecuted and their literature destroyed.
Pagels quotes extensively from… Read more
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A well-written introduction to Gnosticism, this work is unique in its comparison of the Nag Hammadi Library to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Hoeller examines the mysticism and mythology of the Essenes and the Gnostics within the framework of Carl Jung's depth psychology. The almost simultaneous discoveries at Qumran and Nag Hammadi revealed an ancient psycho-spirituality that had been virtually forgotten for almost 18 centuries. In both cases the retrieval/collection, translation and publication took years to complete and some documents are undoubtedly lost forever.
The author emphasizes Jung's awareness that Gnosticism was the only tradition which considered the psyche or soul as the… Read more
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