The Truth of Christian Gnosis

For more than thirty years, those zealous for a certain orthodoxy in Catholicism have denounced Jean Borella as a supporter of that most pernicious of Christian heresies: "gnosis." Here he responds to his detractors-not to refute their baseless accusations, but to set before the eyes of readers the intricacies of a very complex topic. To this end, he retrieves and contextualizes findings from the history of religious ideas that attest to the scriptural foundation and rigorous orthodoxy of what St. Paul himself calls gnosis-a gnosis, however, freed from the Gnosticism that usurped its name. He also distinguishes this truly Pauline gnosis from its various modern expressions, which latter are subjected to attentive critical examination. This book, which ultimately is about recapturing the conditions and nature of a truly sacred knowledge, comes at an opportune time, in the afterglow of Pope Benedict XVI's recent reminder that "authentic 'gnosis' is a development of faith inspired by Jesus Christ in the soul united with him."