Im Mittelpunkt des Bandes steht die eingehende Kommentierung der ersten beiden Bucher des Adamantius-Dialogs, eines wichtigen antimarkionitischen Textes aus dem 4. Jahrhundert. Grundlage ist eine neue kritische Lesung des Textes der Handschrift codex Venetus gr. 496, da die GCS-Ausgabe von Bakhuyzen (1901) bekanntermassen fehlerhaft ist. Die ausfuhrliche Einleitung behandelt den gesamten Dialog einschliesslich, unter anderem, Text- und Quellenkritik und historischem Hintergrund.

"McGrath is a cool-eyed chronicler of a dispossessed generation – philosophical, astute and ultimately unforgiving. This is no pseudo rock'n'roll road trip, but an accessible and insightful study of the modern condition. The final autobiographical chapter is breathtaking."
DEBORAH BOSLEY, 'Literary Review'

"McGrath meets the nation's lost souls of the New Age. A 267-year-old princess from the tribe of Atlantis, a technoshaman, an alien who talks to Barbie dolls, an overweight angel and a prince who will never die all impress her with their certainties as much as they depress her with their chronic self-awareness. It's an ambitious debut: McGrath has a keen sense for deadpan descriptions of off-kilter encounters, and an acute knack for deflating the Myth."
EMER BRIZZOLARA, 'Ikon'

"Fortifying herself with booze, cigarettes and a useful amount of asperity and common sense, McGrath painstakingly trawls the aisles of the spiritual supermarket. She writes beautifully about the terrain, offers deliciously dyspeptic observations…and is very funny on the sense of spiralling dislocation which arises from being confronted not just with unfamiliar behaviour but with 'an entirely inner architecture'."
MICK BROWN, 'Daily Telegraph'

McGrath has a fine, questing mind, a splendid eye for detail and a healthily cynical attitude. Confronted at every turn – in her deliciously sardonic picaresque travelogue through America's south-western desert states – by the strange, the sinister and the just plain barmy…she maintains a fine, dense and colourful narrative that brings the desert landscape and the loony-tune New Agers vividly to life."
NICK CURTIS, 'Financial Times'

The author developed this booklet from talks that were held for members of the Anthroposophical Society. These became occasions for many to question potential membership of the First Class in a more conscious way, and for some to take the decisive step of entering the Michael School. 'This experience gave rise to the occasion for printing this lecture separately for interested individuals, as a stimulus to consider their relationship to the Michael School on Earth against the background of the karma that guides human beings in their present incarnation to anthroposophy. In this sense, the present text may well be an aid for some interested individuals to grasp to its full extent the unique significance of the establishment of the Esoteric School - carried out as it was by Rudolf Steiner based on the Michael Spirit - so as to gain the courage and will to become a member out of full inner conviction.' (From the Preface)

The Infinite Wisdom of the Akashic Records is an extraordinary book filled with unparalleled tools for transformation. Accessing the Akashic Records is one of the most powerful paths to self-awareness and personal change currently available. Lisa carefully and lovingly guides you through the Akashic Knowing Wisdom Prayer System, a five-step system with three vibrational keys to directly and easily access your Akashic Record. You will also become skilled at:
The art of formulating questions to receive life-enhancing answers.
Releasing karma, soul contracts, and vows that bind you to negative life patterns.
Gaining clarity about personal situations by practicing exercises.
Learning new healing tools from the Akashic Lords to assist you in further releasing old issues and aligning with your life purpose.

Author Lisa Barnett has gathered all her most successful techniques, strategies, shortcuts, and wisdom into this one book so you can do it yourself--anytime, anywhere.

Using the events of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor as his backdrop, T.H. Meyer studies questions of reality, truth and evil, offering important new perspectives. He shows that Anglo-American political practice (influenced by secret societies such as Skull and Bones) is based on an ideology of polarity and conflict. Meyer offers instances of this tendency, encouraging what Huntington famously referred to as a 'clash of civilizations'. For example, a week before George Bush senior spoke in Congress about the need for a 'new world order', a 'humorous' cartoon map in the Economist divided the world's continents into religious and philosophical blocks, creating a new region called 'Islamistan'. In 1997, Brzezinski wrote openly of US geostrategic plans, stating that it would be hard to achieve such goals 'except in the circumstances of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat'. This, apparently, was granted with the events of 9/11, and the subsequent launch of a 'war on terror'. The immediate comparisons, led by George W. Bush, with Pearl Harbor demand a reassessment of the events of 1941. Meyer points to conclusive evidence which suggests that Roosevelt deliberately provoked the attacks and failed to pass on intelligence to US Navy chiefs. Could it be possible that certain members of the US elite likewise deliberately remained passive before 9/11? Why, only two weeks after the attacks, were celebrations held at CIA headquarters in which Bush profusely thanked the secret services '...on behalf of the American people'? In contrast to the divisive thinking and 'conflict-management' of leading representatives of the Anglo-American elite (inspired by a contorted reading of some basic insights of the philosopher Hegel), the author shows how the holistic approach of Rudolf Steiner and Mabel Collins offers a radical, alternative way to deal with polarities, leading to the overcoming of conflict.

Salomos Oder er en poetisk skatt fra tidlig kristen mysterietradisjon. De ble skrevet i tiden mellom Jesu' dod og 300-tallet. Dette verket er i sin poetiske form gjennomtrukket av ekstatisk mystikk og andelig kjaerlighet, og er derfor saeregent for sin samtid. Odenes opphav er imidlertid fortsatt uklar, selv om de kan synes a vaere pavirket av en urkristen tradisjon som gikk under betegnelsen gnostisisme, pa grunn av vektleggingen av den mystiske og andelige erkjennelsen. Verket forsvant imidlertid for middelalderen, og ble regnet som tapt, i likhet med tekstene til mange andre tidlige kristne retninger. Ved en tilfeldighet ble de gjenfunnet, og brakt til England, hvor Rendel Harris oppdaget dem i 1909, uten at noen visste hvilken poetisk skatt de hadde brakt med seg fra Midtosten. Rendel Harris, som oppdaget odene i den usorterte forsendelsen, oversatte Salomos Oder til engelsk. Hundre ar etter presenteres Odene i norsk oversettelse, slik at de kan vaere til glede og inspirasjon for nye lesergrup

The extraordinary mysteries of the pyramids - revealed From the development of monumental architecture around 3,000 BC to the fabulous edifices that rose up from the desert plains of Giza, these are amongst the most remarkable structures in world history. Their story has given rise to a set of incredible legends: spaceships, ley lines, mysterious goings on... Is it fact or fiction? Joyce Tyldesley, writer, lecturer and broadcaster on Ancient Egypt, cuts away modern myth and prejudice to reveal the truth behind these astonishing structures. The Old Kingdom pharaohs believed that death was the beginning of eternal life. To help them on their way they built pyramids; huge ramps or stairways charged with the most potent magic, leading directly to the sky. Pyramids chronicles how and why Egypt's pharaohs built on so grand a scale, and shows how the pyramids helped to build Egypt itself. ‘A fascinating survey… For anyone who wants to know about pyramids, this is required reading’ Spectator ‘Tyldesley sets out to fill the gap between Egyptologists’ reserve, the excesses of tour guides and misinformed traditions… [she] should be required reading.’ Sunday Times

Eric Voegelin, one of today's leading political theorists and author of the contemporary classic "The New Science of Politics," here contends that certain modern movements, including Positivism, Hegelianism, Marxism and the "God is Dead" movement, are variants of the Gnostic tradition of antiquity. He attempts to resolve the intellectual confusion that has resulted from the dominance of gnostic thought by clarifying the distinction between political gnosticism and the philosophy of politics. Highly provocative, this book is essential reading for students of modern politics, philosophy, and religion.

The warmth and humanity of this collection of Judge's letters has inspired many seekers on the Path. In clear, compelling language, the author shows that in our search for spirit, the need is not to escape the world but to help transform it through our constant effort to be compassionate, resolute, and wise in daily life.

New Religious Movements: Challenge & Response is the most comprehensive, wide-ranging study on the global impact of new religions.
* New religions discussed include Hare Krishna, Sikh Dharma, The Unification Church, The Church of Scientology, The Jesus People and Wicca.
* Focuses on the rise of new religious movements in Italy, Brazil, United States, Germany and Britain. * The contributors are among the most respected and reputable experts in the field.

The Gnostic World is an outstanding guide to Gnosticism, written by a distinguished international team of experts to explore Gnostic movements from the distant past until today. These themes are examined across sixty-seven chapters in a variety of contexts, from the ancient pre-Christian to the contemporary. The volume considers the intersection of Gnosticism with Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Indic practices and beliefs, and also with new religious movements, such as Theosophy, Scientology, Western Sufism, and the Nation of Islam. This comprehensive handbook will be an invaluable resource for religious studies students, scholars, and researchers of Gnostic doctrine and history.

Gnosticism is far more than an ancient Christian and Jewish heresy. It arises in many religions as the belief in a radical dualism both in human beings and the cosmos: immateriality is perceived as good and matter as evil. In the modern age, Gnosticism is very much alive, focused on the belief that human beings are alienated from their true selves. Modern Gnosticism continues to espouse a radical dualism, but this can take a psychological, social and political, rather than a metaphysical form. Among the writers and thinkers of the last two centuries who can be labelled Gnostics are: Hegel, Blake, Goethe, Schelling, Emerson, Melville, Byron, Yeats, Hesse and Toynbee. This text is a collection of 16 essays illuminating Gnosticism in its relation to such issues as Jungian thought, the nature of evil, the place of the feminine, communism and fascism, existentialism, Christian scriptures, Kafka and Buddhism.

I 1460 kom munken Leonardo de Pistoia til Cosimo de Medicis hoff i Italia, med en samling greske traktater. Disse skulle vise seg for ettertiden a bli grunnsteinen i den sakalte hermetiske laere. Tekstenes hovedperson er den mytiske vismannen Hermes Trismegistus som har likhetstrekk med sa vel Bibelens Moses som romernes Merkur og egypternes Thoth. Det er disse traktatene som for ettertiden er blitt kalt Corpus Hermeticum, og som apenbarer en personlig erkjennelseslaere. Verket har i arhundrene etter det ble tilgjengliggjort gatt sin seiersgang gjennom filosofiske og religiose kretser. Det har fascinert, inspirert og provosert, og tekstenes rikdom har en dybde som evner a gripe sa vel forskere, som menn og kvinner pa soken etter andelig veiledning pa livets stier, pa vei mot menneskets fullbyrdels

A-ha! Working through a topic or question, a shaft of sudden inspiration hits. The cloud of fragmented ideas and thoughts clear as a whole picture begins to form coherently in your mind. What you have now worked out - in an unexpected, exciting eureka moment - will stay with you forever. All teachers seek this experience for their students. Liz Attwell explores theories of education to argue that traditional teaching, 'filling buckets', must be replaced by dynamic, progressive teaching that promotes active learning - not just 'lighting a fire', but knowing how to lay the sticks and finding the matches too. This progressive approach seeks to create a basis for inner awakening and original insight, in order for students ultimately to come to their own a-ha moments. In A Drop of Light, Liz Attwell presents her original research into the phenomenon of a-ha moments, offering a theoretical background as well as practical advice to give teachers the tools, lesson plans, anecdotes and inspiration to bring living thinking to their own classrooms. Goethe's approach and Rudolf Steiner's pedagogical ideas make an important contribution, but Attwell advises that teachers following Steiner's philosophy should enter into dialogue with educators from other backgrounds. Working together, enlightened teachers around the world can help schools and colleges to become true learning communities.

Book Three of the Law of One builds on the information presented in Books One and Two, continuing the exploration of the nature and balancing of the energy centers or chakras, sexual energy transfers, healing, reincarnation, meditation, and Wanderers. The nature of psychic prophecy is explored in Book Three, as are the nature and ramifications of what are usually called psychic attacks. A good deal of information is given on the principles of ritual magic in general and white magic in particular, and a beginning is made in the study of the archetypical mind, which is the mind of the Logos and serves as a kind of blueprint for our evolutionary process and which serves as the foundation concept for each of our individual minds.

The debates to disentangle the mystery of religion will most likely rage until eternity... This 320 page book critically re-examines theology and the disturbing trend to which religious practices and dogmatic faith have dangerously malformed in the new social order of our modern civilization.

The Crisis of Religion is a comprehensive polygraph test for organized religions and their gods — a thorough lie detection analysis of sinister misapplication of faith and the cognitive errors of the fundamental theologies that bind humanity to religious beliefs. Attentive readers of this book would evidently discern how staggering and incredibly infinite the human stupidity truly is where it concerns religion and dogmatic faith... Provocative, revealing, hot!

It is largely unknown that The Calendar of the Soul first appeared as the second part of a "calendar." It begins with an introduction by Steiner on what a calendar is -- a way of connecting past and future, earth and cosmos. It is important to get a sense of the movements of the Sun and Moon in relation to the planets and fixed stars.It is also important to bring the past into the present by invoking great beings in the evolution of consciousness on their appropriate birth or death days, and to celebrate the Holy Days. Steiner designed new zodiacal images for each month, traced the phases of the moon, and specified significant people, events and/or festivals for each day. By living into the year in this way, one is ready for the meditative year as expressed by the weekly verses of the "soul calendar."The introduction describes the original "calendar" and how it came to be. Included is a reproduction of the original, a translation of Steiner's introduction, and the Calendar of the Soul.

This volume offers a new translation of the Pseudo-Clementine family narrative here known as The Sorrows of Mattidia. It contains a full introduction which explores the obscured origins of the text, the plot, and main characters, and engages in a comparison of the portrayal of pagan, Jewish, and Christian women in this text with what we encounter in other literature. It also discusses a general strategy for how historians can utilize fictional narratives like this when examining the lives of women in the ancient world. This translation makes this fascinating source for late antique women available in this form for the first time.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries secular French scholars started re-engaging with religious ideas, particularly mystical ones. Mysticism in the French Tradition introduces key philosophical undercurrents and trajectories in French thought that underpin and arise from this engagement, as well as considering earlier French contributions to the development of mysticism. Filling a gap in the literature, the book offers critical reflections on French scholarship in terms of its engagement with its mystical and apophatic dimensions. A multiplicity of factors converge to shape these encounters with mystical theology: feminist, devotional and philosophical treatments as well as literary, historical, and artistic approaches. The essays draw these into conversation. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary range of contributions from both new and established scholars, this book provides access to the melting pot out of which the mystical tradition in France erupted in the twenty-first century, and from which it continues to challenge theology today.

In God as Reason: Essays in Philosophical Theology, Vittorio Hoesle presents a systematic exploration of the relation between theology and philosophy. In examining the problems and historical precursors of rational theology, he calls on philosophy, theology, history of science, and the history of ideas to find an interpretation of Christianity that is compatible with a genuine commitment to reason. The essays in the first part of God as Reason deal with issues of philosophical theology. Hoesle sketches the challenges that a rationalist theology must face and discusses some of the central ones, such as the possibility of a teleological interpretation of nature after Darwin, the theodicy issue, freedom versus determinism, the mindbody problem, and the relation in general between religion, theology, and philosophy. In the essays of the second part, Hoesle studies the historical development of philosophical approaches to the Bible, the continuity between the New Testament concept of pneuma and the concept of Geist (spirit) in German idealism, and the rationalist theologies of Anselm, Abelard, Llull, and Nicholas of Cusa, whose innovative philosophy of mathematics is the topic of one of the chapters. The book concludes with a thorough evaluation of Charles Taylor's theory of secularization. This ambitious work will interest students and scholars of philosophical theology and philosophy of religion as well as historians of ideas and science.

Why is there suffering, sickness and death? Why is no corner of human life and society immune from egotism, fear, tyranny, betrayal and guilt? What was God thinking when he allowed evil to come into existence? Drawing on the worldview of Rudolf Steiner, the author explains that the roots of evil lie with angelic beings. Schroeder discusses evil's prehistory in heaven and shows how the polarity of two kinds of evil, with good as a balance between them, manifests itself in earthly history, and in the areas of education, work, human relationships, sexuality, religion and technology. With the increased influence of evil in today's world, Schroeder considers how prayer, meditation and angelic guidance through reincarnation give us the possibility to overcome evil in all its forms.