Gnostic Return in Modernity - Paperback

by Cyril O'Regan (Author)

Looks at the influence of Gnosticism in modern intellectual history, philosophy, and theology.

Gnostic Return in Modernity demonstrates the possibility that Gnosticism haunts certain modern discourses. Studying Gnosticism of the first centuries of the common era and utilizing narrative analysis, the author shows how Gnosticism returns in a select band of narrative discourses that extends from the seventeenth century German mystic Jacob Boehme through Hegel and Blake down into the contemporary period. The key concept is that of narrative grammar. Unlike the hypothesis of an invariant narrative, a Gnostic narrative grammar allows room for the differences between modern and ancient forms of Gnosticism, and respects the dignity of both periods.

Author Biography

Cyril O'Regan is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Heterodox Hegel, also published by SUNY Press.