Beyond Gnosticism

List of TablesPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The School of Valentinus After GnosticismPart 1. Myth, Lifestyle, and the World in the Fragments of Valentinus2. Immortality as a Way of Life3. Adam's Frank Speech4. Cosmic Sympathy and the Origin of EvilPart 2. Valentinian Cosmogony, Lifestyle, and Other Christians5. Myth and Lifestyle for Beginners6. Myth and the Therapy of Emotions7. The Creator-God and the Cosmos8. Walk Like a Valentinian9. Two Classes of Christians in PracticePart 3. Myth, Society, and Non-Christians10. Myth, Society, and the Oppressed Church11. Myth and Ethnic BoundariesConclusion12. Valentinian Secretiveness ReconsideredAppendix: Remarks on the Sources of Irenaeus's and Hippolytus's Accounts of Valentinian TheologyAbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex of Ancient SourcesGeneral Index

"Ismo Dunderberg's superb study is one of the freshest winds in recent years in scholarship on Valentinian and related traditions. Dunderberg demonstrates in chapter after chapter how Valentinian myth was not at all merely about abstruse theological speculation but rather was closely interwoven with a fabric of discourse and practice not untypical for philosophical schools of the period, including concern with day-to-day social realities, political relationships, and expectations for moral progress. Not intended as a comprehensive survey of Valentinianism, the book nevertheless guides us on a lively discussion that visits virtually all of our major sources for this tradition, and no stop is without highly original and provocative insights. If we are to make real progress in understanding what Valentinian myth meant for the actual lives of men and women who created and reflected on these traditions, it will require just the sort of work that this groundbreaking, fertile analysis exemplifies." -- Michael A. Williams, professor of comparative religion and Near Eastern languages and civilization, University of Washington