Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism

This is a worthwhile book, a good introduction to Gnosticism, a good introduction on the history of hermetic traditions after the Gnostics. Smoley attempts to discuss how the inner traditions generated from the Gnostic tradition. In this I would give him four out of five stars. He endeavors to show how inner traditions originate from Gnostic philosophy and doctrine. While discussing the traditions after the Gnostics, however, it was not altogether clear how some of these traditions started with the Gnostics. What SMoley perhaps inadvertently succeeded in doing was to show the much clearer conflict between the esoteric and external traditions in religion. In this regard Smoley quotes from Guenon, a noted French metaphysician, that Western Christianity succeeded in the Middle Ages in gutting the mystical, inner, tradition, while in the Eastern Church the mystical nature of religion was much more accepted. This, then, is the real, eternal conflict, that of a tradition emphasizing a mystical union with God, the Godhead, and a relgious tradition mired in ritual devoid of meaning. It seemed to me that this tie-in with Gnosticism and Godhead could have been more fully discussed.Further, when explaining the modern traditions of Gnosticism, Smoley fails to mention a book which played a large role in reviving interest in Gnosticism. That book is The Gnostics and their Remains, by Charles William King, written in the late 1800's. This book is readily available, even on this website, and follows, curiously, the same format as Smoley's book. There are differences between the two books, but that difference is superficial. King was a gemologist, and many of the references in his book deal with those found on gems or stones. However, as I indicated,King covers the same subject areas and doctines as does Smoley. Manichism, Eqyptian religion, the Rosicrusions, the Masons and others are all discussed in Kng's book. It is amazing that Smoley does not mention this book.

If you have an interest in the development of Christianity, the Western Mystery Tradition or heresiology, this book by Richard Smoley proves to be an interesting read.The book itself is written at a level where only a basic knowledge of Christian history and theology is required to get a grasp of the thesis of the book. Smoley takes the reader through nearly 2200 years of Gnostic thought and history, starting with Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism and running through modern times, including the popular perceived offshoots such as the Albigensian Cathars, the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, the Knights Templar all the way to Jung, Blavatsky, the DaVinci Code and the Matrix.While he tries to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short book, you get the flavor of Gnostic themes as an ever evolving, ever present element interweaving itself through Christian history. Smoley discusses not only the history, but the theology and the psychology of the various Gnostic themes, explores and discusses common information like the Nag Hammadi library and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as reviews basic mainstream Christian theology in a compare and contrast exercise including a look at "mainstream" Christian (both Western and Orthodox) mysticism and prayer practices.If you have an interest in this topic, this is a good read.

The book is well written and does a good job tying Gnostic thoughts to other historical spiritual movements and individuals. I held back from a five star rating only because I would have enjoyed more in-depth writing on the actual so-called gnostics themselves, perhaps more on the different gnostic writings like the Nag Hammadi library. I think the author, after publishing and reading so many books wrote this to "add to the pile" of existing literature. However, this may not line up with his audience (but maybe I'm a less familiar exception here). All in all, the author covers the scope of his purpose very well in a way that is accessible, fluid, and directional in what seems like a challenging and nebulous topic.

Richard Smoley's book is an excellent introduction to Gnosticism for two reasons.The first relates to content. His long experience with the magazine 'Gnosis'has enabled him to cover a very wide and varied field in a way that intoduces the reader to the various strands of Gnosticism, both ancient and modern,without bogging down in unnecessary detail. He does not attempt to avoid difficult issues nor ignore inconsistencies between the various traditions. The section on modern expressions of Gnosticism is particularly insightful. For me this book made for excellent reading.The second is a matter of style. HIs English expression is easy to read; he carefully explains unfamiliar terms and he leaves his personal prejudices aside.

Smoley does a fantastic job of narrating the history of Gnosticism while including his own insights. Every Christian regardless of bias should read this book to better understand stand their own faith as well as the challenges and changes presented to the Christian faith over the past 2000 years!

This book is easily the most comprehensive, easy to read, well researched book on esoteric spirituality. All of this in the space of 256 pages! The index is thorough (have you noticed that more and more non-fiction books are being published without indices?! Not this one, I am happy to report!)and the chapters are well organized. The book serves well either as an introduction to esoteric/gnostic spiritualities, as a historical survey of the history of those spiritualities, or as an up-to-date series on recent developments in this area of knowledge. Richard Smoley is an authority on these matters and has done a marvelous job with this book. I was especially interested in and appreciative of the section of the book that discusses A Course in Miracles. This one is a "must have" book! Highly recommended.

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As always with Richard Smoley, a very enjoyable text. Here he summarizes the development of various strains of Gnosticism and concludes with a powerful and compelling vision of the future of the Gnostic tradition. Thought provoking, illuminating and experientially satisfying I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in "knowing" more.

The book is wordy and has a lot of information about nothing of importance. It mentions the demiurge and then goes on to explain old religions without order or what i would consider structure. I liked the sample, but the rest of the book did not interest me.