08AR13-30

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Apologia Report 13:30

August 7, 2008

Subject: Gnostic influences in the 21st Century

In this issue:

GNOSTICISM - Modern Reformation magazine reviews the origins and influence of pop spirituality

HIGHER EDUCATION - growing more hostile towards conservative values

NEW AGE MOVEMENT - Oprah Winfrey confirms the observation that outspoken relativists depend on absolutes to "make the sale"

UNIFICATION CHURCH - new biography of Sun Myung Moon reveals further embarrassment for America's Republican Party

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GNOSTICISM

The May/June 2008 issue of Modern Reformation [1] strives "to make a beginning at identifying and classifying the new spiritual impulses that seem to be sweeping the world (and sweeping much of what is called evangelicalism along with them)," according to Executive Editor Eric Landry [2]. This tall order receives a broad, yet very general response in the form of several feature articles. Landry describes them (page 2), but the theme for all is modern gnosticism.

Of the essay, "The New Spirituality: Dismantling and Reconstructing Reality" [3], Landry says: "New Testament scholar and Presbyterian professor of all things pagan, Peter Jones, takes aim at the new spirituality and its view of reality." Jones, who is founder and president of TruthXchange [4], includes a well-considered glossary of terms familiar to Christians, but redefined by today's pop spirituality. (pp24-29)

"Lutheran pastor Mark Pierson wonders what all the fuss is about as he considers the cyclical nature of heresy in his article," says Landry. Titled "Old Heresy, New Heretics: The Return of Gnosticism" [5] Pierson provides a brief historical overview of Gnosticism. He begins with a comment on what has brought the subject to our attention: "[S]erious assertions made loudly and frequently by several renowned and influential scholars ... claim the secret contents of [recently discovered] documents have been disclosed, and Jesus' identity was formulated by the church and later imposed by the state. By persuasively appealing to historical events and religious texts about which the common person knows little, this movement is denying the central tenets of Christianity. It is known as the new Gnosticism, and its advocates are playing for keeps."

Pierson defines modern Gnosticism and describes its tenets, focusing on the famous 1940s discovery of Gnostic writings in Nag Hammadi, Egypt and the work of liberal scholar Elaine Pagels, "chief proponent of the new Gnosticism." (pp30-34)

Last, in "Protestant Gnosticism Reconsidered" [6], Presbyterian pastor Philip J. Lee writes: "In Against the Protestant Gnostics [8], I argued that Gnosticism, an ever-recurring heresy within Christianity, was resurfacing in modern guise within North American Protestantism. Two decades later, Gnostic characteristics within Protestant Christianity have reached proportions that I could not have imagined, and have affected the social and political fabric of the United States in ways that I could not have predicted. ...

"I identified several characteristics of Gnosticism and contrasted them with the characteristics of what I called 'ordinary' or 'historical' Christianity: (2) knowledge that saves versus knowledge of the mighty acts; an alienated humanity versus the good creation; salvation through escape versus salvation through pilgrimage; the knowing self versus the believing community; a spiritual elite versus ordinary people; selective syncretism versus particularity. It is not possible in this article to go into the rationale behind these various contrasts. I will, however, demonstrate the changes that have occurred in the past 20 years by looking at them in the context of these same categories."

Lee concludes by writing that "the development I described in 1987 has all but come to pass over 20 years later. ... [We] see not only a disdain for the New Testament account of the life of Jesus, but also a challenge to the very historical existence of Jesus. At the same time that we have experienced a rejection of the particularity of a Christ-centered gospel and its inescapable demands on its followers, we have witnessed the promotion of the more attractive, self-centered gospels of second-century Gnosticism. We are told that the gospels of Mary, Thomas, and Judas correct the constricting, Christ-focused agenda of ordinary Christianity.

"The present orthodoxy seems to be that there is no such thing as heresy; my belief, so long as it is sincere, is as acceptable as the next fellow's. If The Da Vinci Code [9] claims that the New Testament is a fraudulent document invented by the early church for its own nefarious purposes, well, why not? Syncretism has apparently carried the day." (pp37-40)

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HIGHER EDUCATION

The focus of Salvo magazine's current issue (No. 5 - 2008) is higher education's hostility toward conservative thinking. In "Mind Control: Now Occurring at a University Near You" (pp79-80), Herb London writes that "universities have become reeducation centers on the model of the old communist institutions that manipulated opinion for 'higher' purposes." London uses sample statements from the late Stanford University philosophy professor Richard Rorty as examples typical of "ambitious professors who are bent upon shaping students' beliefs." Overall, London finds that "Courses in the soft disciplines have largely become propagandistic exercises, as instructors have increasingly arrogated to themselves the role of moral arbiter."

Mark Linville expands on this with his essay, "Indoctrination 101" (pp10-16). In his summary of this edition of Salvo, main editor Bobby Maddex explains that the article is "An examination of what Linville calls 'the new orthodoxy' at American colleges and universities."

"The shared assumption is that, as a society, we have been systematically programmed to think within categories that are essentially racist, sexist, classist, and 'homophobic.' The only cure for such is to reprogram or reeducate ourselves. Thus, on many university and college campuses, there is a concerted effort on the part of faculty, administrators, and student groups to establish a new orthodoxy - the orthodoxy of the extreme left - and to silence and shame any and all dissenters," writes Linville.

He also reports that "on many college campuses the far left enjoys the power of the status quo, so conservative voices are either quite literally shouted down (as was the case with David Horowitz on a recent visit to Emory University) or shut out altogether." Several other examples are provided.

Linville cites a Washington Post piece by Alan Cooperman, "Is There Disdain For Evangelicals In the Classroom?" [7]. In it, David French, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, is quoted as saying that "On many campuses, if you're an evangelical Christian, you're going to have to go through classes in which you're told that much of what you believe religiously is not just wrong, but worthy of mockery."

A sidebar (page 15) notes a study by Daniel Kline of George Mason University that found liberals outnumbering conservative professors "by a margin of eight to one" at Stanford and the University of California "where some departments had no conservative professors at all."

Last, "Pick Your Poison" by Les Sillars and John Basie (pp26-35), provides "A guide to ten of the best colleges in the country and ten of the worst. Here's our list of the qualities of a great college: academically rigorous, intellectually stimulating, philosophically coherent, respectful of the Western tradition, pro-liberal arts, and sane in terms of campus atmosphere (not rife with drugs, sex, bizarre lifestyles, and the like). We also value genuine intellectual diversity, bounded by rational limits and community standards; a religious college, by its very nature, can and should hire faculty who support the institution's statements of faith and mission. Further, we value highly a campus that encourages the free exchange of ideas."

For Salvo, the "Best Elite College" is Princeton (worst is Amherst). Categories include Most Faithful to Religious Heritage (Biola; least - College of the Holy Cross), Best Value (Grove City College), Best Learning Environment (Hampden-Sydney College; worst - University of Florida), Worst Speech Code (Tufts University), Worst Core Curriculum (Brown University), Most Radicalized Faculty (Columbia University), Most Sexualized Campus (Oberlin College), and Most Oppressive Student-Life Indoctrination Program (University of Delaware). Explanations for each choice are included.

"Back to School, Turning Crimson" by Andrew Ferguson -- reviews Ahead of the Curve by Philip Delves Broughton [10], a "horrifying and very funny memoir" of the author's two years at Harvard Business School. Ferguson writes that "The jargon-choked faddishness and fatuous therapeutics of pop business books and the modern workplace have seeped into HBS.... Or maybe it's the other way around. In any case, no serious student, even a serious Harvard student, should have to suffer through New Age group bonding games, as Mr. Delves Broughton and his classmates are forced to do." One mandatory "personal development exercise" is called "My Reflected Best Self" (as in, "The Reflected Best-Self Feedback Exercise differs from other performance mechanisms in its explicit focus on understanding how key constituents experience individuals when they leverage their strength constructively"). Wall Street Journal, Aug 5 '08, pA17 <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789300686911807.html>

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NEW AGE MOVEMENT

"God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience. ....if God for you is still about a belief, then it's not truly God." Oprah Winfrey (Salvo, No. 5 - 2008, p9)

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UNIFICATION CHURCH

Bad Moon Rising, by John Gorenfeld [11] -- "Gorenfeld explains how [Sun Myung] Moon used his fortune to ingratiate himself with the Religious Right and influence the course of conservative politics in America." Gorenfeld describes his motivation for writing the book: "I couldn't believe the absurd relationship between conservatives and the Rev. Moon wasn't famous. Washington's guardians of moral virtue had found a way to team up with an iconic '70s megalomaniac. ...

"It's not that his theology is odd, but that he gives these mad speeches about installing himself as world leader." What Gorenfeld says he discovered in the process is that "it wasn't just a story of wretched Washington amorality, but a haunting, 40-year epic of corruption. ...

"There's no one else in U.S. history like Moon. First he was accused of tricking tens of thousands of young Americans into joining a cult; in the Carter years, congressmen from both parties issued dire warnings about his apocalyptic agenda, involving a 'Unification Crusade Army' that would topple democracy; and now he's publishing The Washington Times, as if nothing ever happened. ...

"Rev. Moon is an important member of the coalition that brought the movement to where it is today, though no one will admit it. ...

"Has any one figure ever spent $3 billion in Washington, as Moon has on The Times?" Moon "believes the U.S. has a special role to play in his destiny, claiming that 36 dead presidents have endorsed him from beyond the grave and that his travels with the Bush family portend spiritual victory."

The Times is a "a hugely important paper with a tiny circulation but an absurd degree of influence. It's quoted constantly on talk radio and Fox, as part of the right's alternative media universe, and it sets the tone." Church & State, May 2008, pp12-13 <http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=cs_&page=NewsArticle&id=9776>

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Sources, Digital:

1 - <http://tinyurl.com/6djms2>

2 - <http://tinyurl.com/6cjsk5>

3 - <http://tinyurl.com/5esuhs>

4 - <http://truthxchange.monkcms.net>

5 - <http://tinyurl.com/6awwcu>

6 - <http://tinyurl.com/6k9bko>

7 - <http://tinyurl.com/ypk383>

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Sources, Monographs:

8 - Against the Protestant Gnostics, by Philip J. Lee (Oxford Univ Prs, 1987, paperback: 368 pages) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195084365/apologiareport>

9 - The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (Doubleday, 2003, hardcover, 454 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385504209/apologiareport>

10 - Ahead of the Curve, by Philip Delves Broughton (Penguin Press, 283 pages

11 - Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created The Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom, by John Gorenfeld (PoliPointPress, 2008, hardcover, 329 pages) <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0979482232/apologiareport>

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