By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-08-27T05:22:22-04:00September 2nd, 2026|Tags: Gnosticism, Noncanonical Texts, Plato, Secret Revelation of John|
"There will be things that will be seen that I never saw. I’m sure that always goes on. I think they’re going to be around for a while. I would hope increasingly there will be … some humility about the texts." An interview with Dr. Michael Williams.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-04-29T04:18:36-04:00May 6th, 2026|Tags: Apocryphal Texts, Christian Heresies, Gnosticism, Magic, Peter|
“On the basis of the Acts alone, we certainly cannot conclude that Simon is—as you mentioned—a scumbag, nor is he portrayed as an ally of evil, as he will be portrayed in later sources.” An interview with Dr. Benjamin DeVos.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-03-24T09:32:38-04:00April 1st, 2026|Tags: Christian Canon, Gnosticism, Gospel of Mary, Mary Magdalene, Women|
“When I use the word ‘gnostic’ or ‘gnosis’… I’m speaking about gnosis in its original sense… an inner awakening to the divine presence already dwelling within us.” An interview with Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-10-23T18:52:05-04:00October 24th, 2025|Tags: Christian Heresies, Christianity, Gnosticism, Religious Boundaries, Salvation|
One of the reasons I'm really interested in the diversity of early Christianity is because it helps us be more tolerant of the other when you start seeing how diverse it was originally. An interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-04-16T14:39:48-04:00April 23rd, 2025|Tags: Christian Heresies, Genesis, Gnosticism, Martyr, Plato, Revelation|
Since the discovery of a substantial trove of ancient texts—unfamiliar to the modern world until the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries—we’ve begun to hear a different side of the gnostic story, one that’s worth listening to.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2025-01-28T11:40:35-05:00February 5th, 2025|Tags: Gnosticism, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Nag Hammadi, Valentinus|
The Gospel of Truth is very psychologically penetrating, just basically talking about how we make our way in a world full of anxiety. Turning to religion or spirituality, it's a therapeutic kind of read. An interview with Dr. Dylan Burns
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2026-03-23T07:50:35-04:00December 3rd, 2024|Tags: Demons, Gnosticism, Healing, Love, Magic|
There's so much more out there in early Christianity, I would like to see the movement beyond the Bible read as important early Christian texts because it's all part of a common discourse in the ancient world. An interview with Dr. Andrew Crislip
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-11-06T07:31:29-05:00November 6th, 2024|Tags: Ancient Writings, Gnosticism, Religious Boundaries, Valentinus|
There’s a comfortable mix between Jewish and Christian ideas, definitely. We have a writing that's coming from a group of Jesus followers who had inherited the teachings and ideas of James, the brother of Jesus. An interview with Dr. Samuel Zinner
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-08-03T13:36:10-04:00August 7th, 2024|Tags: Christian Heresies, Concepts of God, Genesis, Gnosticism, Injustice, Religion|
So these guys weren't just intellectually thinking about this stuff. They were practicing. It put them in different states of consciousness in which they claim that they would experience that God. An interview with Dr. April DeConick.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-07-31T00:59:04-04:00July 31st, 2024|Tags: Christian Heresies, Concepts of God, Genesis, Gnosticism, Irenaeus, Material World|
Irenaeus may remain the champion of the God who made a difficult place for humans to grow, but the gnostic thinkers should be granted champions of the God who created the inherently good creation.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2024-06-07T03:51:52-04:00November 8th, 2023|Tags: Apocalypse of Adam, Eve, Gnosticism, Judaism, Justice, Savior, Social Justice|
If the religious leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were to acknowledge together their mutual mission, as “Seth’s seed”, to work toward the gradual perfection of the world, they would identify their enemy as revenge, fear, hatred, and arrogance.
By Dr. Marko Marina|2026-04-09T21:36:44-04:00October 18th, 2023|Tags: Christian Canon, Christian Heresies, Christianity, Gnosticism, Valentinus, Valentinus Series|
Modern scholarship has, therefore, painted a much more complex picture of early Christianity. It was a fluid world with different streams, communities, and leaders. And Valentinus was among them! (Part 1 of 4)
