Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt Slides for private use only! Ancient Gnosticism: Hans Jonas‘ Perspective Lecture at Sapienza Universitá Rome May 2015 Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt Freie Universität Berlin Michael. Bongardt@fu-berlin. de
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? II. Who was Hans Jonas? III. How did Hans Jonas interpret „Gnostic Religion“? IV. Hans Jonas revisited
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources 2. Gnostic schools and systems 3. Characteristic ideas and contents 4. Gnosticism within / against Christianity? 5. Gnostic Religion?
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources a. Writings of the Church Fathers „Gnosis“ – The aim of a Christian life - New Testament: Mark 6, 1 -3; 1 Cor 4 - Jesus Christ as teacher of truth - Christian theology as „very philosophia“ - Clement of Alexandria
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources a. Writings of the Church Fathers - true Gnosis against heresy - searching for truth under conditions of a „christological laboratory“ (Markschies)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources a. Writings of the Church Fathers quoting gnostic writings - Irenaeus of Lyons (135 -appr. 200) - Clement of Alexandria (150 -215) - Origen (184 -254) - et al.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources a. Writings of the Church Fathers Antignostic polemics - Justin martyr (100 -165) - Tertullian (150 -after 200) - et al.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources b. „Original“ gnostic writings Codices Askewianus and Brucianus (disc. 19 th cent. ) Nag Hammadi Library (disc. 1945/1946) Manichaean Texts from Turfan (disc. 1902 ff. )
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources b. „Original“ gnostic writings Most of them: - Translations from lost Greek documents into Coptic - Result of many revisions - Different genres: Gospels, Apocalypses (Revelations), Letters, Prayers, Biographies - Very different mythic ideas - Pseudonymous Christian Authors
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources 2. Gnostic schools and systems
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 2. Schools Marcion (2 nd. cent. ) - ca. 140 member of Roman christian community, some years later excluded - „two gods“: the alien God vs. the evil Demiourgos (craftsman/creator) - revelation of the alien God by Jesus Christ - division of the Bible - antijudaism
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 2. Schools Valentinus (2 nd. cent. ) - Human beings were made imperfectly by angels - they are saved by God / Jesus Christ - importance of an ascetic way of life Following Valentianism - myths about the history of God before creation (emanations, different eternities) - antagonistic elements fighting within creation
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 2. Schools Mani (216 -277 CE) and Manichaeism - strong dualism - two antagonistic principles from the very beginning (before creation!) - world created by an „evil“ god, but it is a mixture of good and evil elements - salvation as liberation of the good elements within human beings - Manichaeism as a syncretistic religion until the 15 th. century
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources 2. Gnostic schools and systems 3. Characteristic ideas and contents
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas (Following slides are quotations from Christoph Markschies, Gnosis, p. 16 f. ) 1. The experience of a completely otherworldly, distant, supreme God.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 2. The introduction, which among other things is conditioned by this, of further divine figures, or the splitting up of existing figures that are closer to human beings than the remote supreme God.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 3. The estimation of the world and matter as evil creation and an experience, conditioned by this, of the alienation of the gnostic in the world.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 4. The introduction of a distinct creator God or assistant: within the Platonic tradition he is called ‚craftsman‘ – Greek demiurgos – and is sometimes described as merely ignorant, but sometimes also as evil.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 5. The explanation of this state of affairs by a mythological drama in which a divine element that falls from its sphere into an evil world slumbers in human beings of one class as a divine spark and can be freed from this.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 6. Knowledge (‚gnosis‘) about this state, which, however can be gained only through a redeemer figure from the other world who descends from a higher sphere and ascends to it again.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 7. The redemption of human beings through the knowledge of ‚that God (or the spark) is in them‘.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 3. Ideas 8. And finally a tendency towards dualism in different types which can express itself in the concept of God, in the opposition of spirit and matter, and in anthropology. (End of quote)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources 2. Gnostic schools and systems 3. Characteristic ideas and contents 4. Gnosticism within / against Christianity?
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 4. Christianity? Indicators for a „Christian Gnosticism“ - Many pseudonymous authors of gnostic writings - Many references to the Bible in gnostic writings - The idea of a divine saviour, coming from and going back to God in heaven - Claims for an ascetic way of life
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 4. Christianity? Impossibility of a „Christian Gnosticism“ - Christians believe in God as the good creator of a very good world - Christians reject the idea by Mani and others that there is evil principal fighting against God on his divine level
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 4. Christianity? Common problems in Christianity and Gnosticism: - How to think about the relationship between the absolutely transcendent God and the limited world and the mortal human being? - How to think about the origin of the evil? - How to think about knowledge and salvation? Both refered to Platonism and Neoplatonism to find their answers.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 1. Sources 2. Gnostic schools and systems 3. Characteristic ideas and contents 4. Gnosticism within / against Christianity? 5. Gnostic Religion?
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? 5. Religion? There are gnostic ways of thinking in several religions – but there is no unique gnostic Religion.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? II. Who was Hans Jonas?
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 1. Short biography 2. The „Marburg Triangle“ 3. Jonas‘ approach to religion
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 1. Short biography 1903 1921 -28 1933 1934 1940 -45 1948 -49 1949 Hans Jonas was born in Mönchengladbach Studies in Freiburg, Berlin, Marburg Emigration to London Emigration to Jerusalem Soldier of the British Army Soldier of the Army of Israel Emigration to Canada (fellow at several universities) 1954 Emigration to USA 1954 -76 Professor at New School, New York 1993 Hans Jonas passed away in New York
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 1. Short biography Areas of Research - Religious Studies, Theology (Christianity, Gnosticism, Judaism) - Philosophical Biology (an ontological interpretation of evolution) - Ethics (The Principle of responsibility)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 1. Short biography 2. The „Marburg Triangle“
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 2. Marburg Triangel Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) in Marburg 1924 – 1927
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 2. Marburg Triangel Rudolf Bultmann (1884 – 1976) in Marburg 1905 – 1916 1921 – 1976
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 2. Marburg Triangle Hans Jonas (1903 – 1993) in Marburg 1923 - 1933
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 2. Marburg Triangle Keywords in the Marburg Triangle - „Sein und Dasein“ – the human being Existentialism Myth Demythologization
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 1. Short biography 2. The „Marburg Triangle“ 3. Jonas‘ approach to religion
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 3. Approach to religion - Human experience of world, man, and God as starting point of selfinterpretation - Selfinterpretation as starting point of religion - Myth and dogma as condensed and fixed Selfinterpretation
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt II. Who was Hans Jonas? 3. Approach to religion Demythologisation as interpretation of religious systems - Uncovering the selfinterpretation behind the Myths and dogmas - Contextualizing the selfinterpretation - Understanding the meaning of myths and dogmas - Critical investigation of past and presence
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? II. Who was Hans Jonas? III. How did Hans Jonas interpret „Gnostic Religion“?
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. The background of gnostic systems 2. The consequences of gnostic ideas
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background - Intensive historical and philological research on the sources about Gnosticism - 2 published Volumes: Gnosticism and the spirit of late antiquity But most important: - The existentialistic interpretation of Gnosticism: „Demythologization“
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Characteristics of gnostic systems: - a gapping abyss between - God and the world - human beings and God - no chaos but order - gnostic systems establish order - System of gods, angels, powers, matter etc. - the order of the world as order of a prison - the order of salvation
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Contradictions against Bible and ancient philosophy: - Bible - The transcendent God created the world well - He gave a good order to the world - The world should be the home of mankind and the object of ist responsibility
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Contradictions against Bible and ancient philosophy: - Ancient philosophy, partcularly Stoicism - „Logos“: the rational order of the whole being - human capacity to recognice and understand the order - freedom as accepting the rational order
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Feelings behind the Myths - Alienation Loneliness Worthlessness Desire for extramundan salvation
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Feelings behind the Myths „Greek thought had been a grand expression of man‘s belonging to the world (if not unreservedly to mere terrestrial life) […]: gnostic thought is inspired by the anguished discovery of man‘s cosmic solitude, of the utter otherness of his being to that of the universe at large. “ (Jonas, Gnostic Religion, p. 251)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. Background Social context: From „polis“ to „Imperium Romanum“: „But the new atomized masses of the Empire, who had never shared in that noble tradition of areté, might react very differently to a situation in which they found themselves passively involved: a situation in which the part was insignificant to the whole, and the whole alien to the parts. “ (Jonas, Gnostic Religion, p. 249)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 1. The background of gnostic systems 2. The consequences of gnostic ideas
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 2. Consequences - Nihilism: There is no value or worth of the human existence leads to: - Ascetism: Distance to the world or - Libertinism: Enjoy the meaningless life
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt III. Jonas‘ interpretation of Gnosticism 2. Consequences „Libertinism had its alternative in asceticism. Opposite as the two types of conduct are, they yet were in the gnostic case of the same root, and the same basic argument supports them both. The one repudiates allegiance to nature through excess, the other, through abstention. “ (Jonas, Gnostic Religion, p. 274)
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt I. What was and is Gnosticism? II. Who was Hans Jonas? III. How did Hans Jonas interpret „Gnostic Religion“? IV. Hans Jonas revisited
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt IV. Hans Jonas revisited Research on Gnosticism 50 years later - honours Jonas‘ interpretation as an important step in the research history - rejects philosophical interpretation due to pure historic methods - rejects existentialistic and religious thought due to the post-metaphysical era
Prof. Dr. Michael Bongardt IV. Hans Jonas revisited But: Scholars today cannot see what Hans Jonas could explain. Perhaps they are blind for a very important dimension of human beings.
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