Curious Christian

Matt Wilson has penned some useful comments on Gnosticism his blog Problem Attic which prompts me to make a few clarifications of my own.

There is a popular misconception that Gnosticism and inner Christianity are synonymous. To take a more personal line, maybe you are wondering if I am inclined towards Gnostic spirituality just because I am a meditative Christian? Not so.

As Matt rightly identifies, Gnosticism is quite negative toward our human bodies and the physical earth. In fact, ancient Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of Thomas imply they are inherently corrupt and irredeemable, to be treated as a corpse. Only the non-physical is sacred. This is diametrically opposite to inner Christianity, where true wisdom and gnosis is equated to the bodily self-sacrifice of Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 1:22-23) and hope for unity with God is firmly grounded in the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the coming renewal of the physical world. The body and the earth is valued in inner Christianity.

The true irony is what many take to be Christian meditation is actually Gnostic – body denying rather than body affirming. Meditation, if it is truely Christian, is not a call to escape the world but a call to prepare for action in the world as part of an integrated lifestyle. For as the apostle Peter said…

… prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. [1 Peter 1:13]