The 31st Annual Spiritual Life Institute

Gnosticism in Greco-Roman Egypt
June 24-28, 2013

Program

In the years following the crucifixion of Jesus, individuals who had taken it upon themselves to carry the story of the resurrected Christ to the ends of the Earth faced numerous challenges. Although many of these obstacles were external, such as the violent persecution of Christians at the hands of the Roman Empire, other challenges came from within the community of believers itself. Without the charismatic presence of Jesus to guide his followers, internal disagreements began to immerge as to whether or not gentile converts to Christianity needed to adopt the rituals and purity practices of Judaism. After all, Jesus was himself a Jew and, by his own admission, he had "not come to abolish the Law and the prophets ... but to fulfill them" (Matt, 5:17).

As the Christian community in Jerusalem wrestled with its origins and future, competing interpretations about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus began to take root in Egypt and other parts of the Greco-Roman world. Generically referred to as Gnosticism, this rather broad collection of teachings claimed, among other things, that Jesus did not die on the Cross and that the god who created the world in six days in the Book of Genesis was, in fact, a malevolent being; not the one true God of the universe. But with normative Christianity's eventual rejection of Gnosticism, this enigmatic tradition fell into decline and many of its writings were either destroyed or hidden away for safekeeping. In 1945, nearly two millenia after being braded a heresy by the fathers of the early Church, the discovery of over fifty Gnostic texts near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi has shed light on this secretive tradition and rekindled a discussion on its meaning and significance.

Over the last 30 years, the Spiritual Life Institute at Saint Martin's University has explored a wide range of topics that are meant to cultivate religions literacy, challenge preconceived notions, and shed light upon the spiritual journey. In this, the 31st annual meeting of the Spiritual Life Institute, an internationally recognized group of scholars will participate in a weeklong discussion on the history, beliefs, and writings of Gnostic Christianity. This course fulfills the University's General Education requirement for Religious Studies.

Fees

(Please note that fees and tuition are subject to change)