I admire this guy's patience in handling some of these questioners.

This is excellent, I am a Christian - I believe in Jesus and I love him so much, but I accept that things are much more complex than what we are taught 2000 years later, completely out of the context of the time, language of the time, social situation, environment etc.

The gentleman conducting this particular presentation is exactly just that . A gentleman.

I really appreciated the way that the early pre-Nicean history of what we call "the church" was put into an historical perspective. It's something that has largely been ignored by mainstream religious historians and is critical in understanding how we got to the present. It was explained simply but not simplistically.

I am so glad I am no longer involved in religion. I can now study it with great interest from a distance.

Well I believe that I have officially determined my position on where I fit into the mind frame of the gospels. I have not fully been comfortable with the label as Christian. Only for the reasons of being raised in 3 different theology's- Church of Christ, Pentecostal and Southern Baptist. Then to non-denominational and now no denomination. Gnosticiscism seems to have more comort to me. I do believe in Jesus Christ, I have met Him, now making me a knower of Jesus and absolutely my hero. I am a simple man living in a camper, sometimes I have electricity and sometimes not. My earthly best friend is my awesome and handsome dog Bear. We both are rescues from a battered world. I am a recovered heroin dependent, labeled by the world. As a junkie! Bear labeled as a unwanted life, beaten as a puppy and marked for death in animal shelter. I've never been loved so much in my life, my Lord and savior and my dog. I wrote a book that most all Christian book have turned down. It is disturbing and I marveled and I have risen above it all. This physical world is toxic but the love it can create is priceless

Gnostics being esoteric thinkers within larger organized bodies makes perfect sense to me. The right-hand path vs the left-hand path is how human individuals and groups relate to the divine. In every age you will have the seekers that take individual paths to knowledge within a larger cultural frame while most will, and must, focus their attentions on community propagation and safety as they go about their lives in other expertise. But it is also the case that these two types don't really see eye to eye and may fear each other.

I got here by accident. I was reading something about Mary Magdalene , when my phone decided i should really listen to this. I was raised as Catholic and educted as a Catholic up through my senior year of college --Boston College, a Jesuit University. In my Freshman or Sophomore year I took a required course about religions of the world. It was taught by an esoteric Jesuit who frequently, without realizing it, spoke in other languages the modt common being Hebrew. We would not have known this were it not for the one Jewish students in the class . That course, which was indeed academic and esoteric extremely intellectual, seems now to be akin to painting by numbers in comparison to this brilliant, fascinating lecture. Can't wait to hear other lectures. This professor is a gift!

Great speaker, truly knowledgeable without arrogance, and delivers the information in an engaging way

Those two chicks are so aggravating! “Hey look at me! Look what I know!”

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. William Shakespeare This is the most precise summary of a complex web of the history and development of the Gnostic Gospels and that one could ever do. An excellent clarification of a complex history. While you have pulled things together, you have also opened doors for further study. Thank you.

"It is easier to fool a man, than to convince him, that he has been fooled" " Truth is stranger than fiction, Fiction is obliged to possibilities, Truth isn't" Mark Twain

Brilliantly illuminating. Thank-you for your work and for the clarity and deeper connections. We’re on the hunt for the golden thread in word art and design to redefine style and value in these sorely lacking “material post industrial” days… all things gold in balance.

Thank you for a great lecture, much appreciated and thanks to centre place for posting it. peace.

Thank you for your session. I have learned a lot about the topic. GBY

Fantastic lecture. The historical context, the excerpts from the tractates, the elaboration on the gnostic concepts, everything was awesome, specially in such a short time. Learned a lot and enjoy every minute. Thanks a lot for sharing here in KZfaq.

I love it when a topic is presented backed by research.

So information packed, unlike most KZfaq videos.

Very interesting. Hung on every word and saving to watch a few more times. For those interested, researcher Wes Penre talks LOTS about gnostic ideas, along with current events and the direction we are heading collectively as humanity,

Very very interesting! Thanks so much for posting this!

Thankyou. Today, your lecture deepened my knowledge of Gnostisim. Namaste 🙏

Such a pleasure to hear him speak about something he loves. He is eager to answer questions, speaks with enthusiasm, and gives a neutral bias feel at least for myself. Very enlightening

Thanks for putting this on KZfaq.

Excelent summary , i am highly interested in finding a more detailed Gnostic undemanding. The diverting belief system at that time has had such a major impact in our current state.

Extremely knowledgeable and well spoken lecture

Thank you, John Hamer. Great stuff.

This guy's brilliant. Well educated, and makes for a fantastic lecture. Enjoyable to listen to. Awesome. btw- Looks like an image of a young Ben Franklin! lol! ~JSV

I've only recently found this channel, and I have to say I've been thoroughly inspired by the academic and historical approach you've taken with these discussions. Thank you so much for sharing these talks.

The Gospel of Thomas has always been my Bible.❤

Got the nostic gospels myself to read!,rather read straight from Christ's teachings. Thanks!

44:30 - _Woman asks if Jesus had Eastern influence in his teachings. For this you will need to study the Upaniṣad and the Advaita Vedānta philosophy. There are total of nine schools of thought in Indian philosophy by the way. Each school is further divided into multiple branches._ _It is not certain that Jesus came to India or towards the East but his Gnostic teachings are literally the same with Jñāna Yoga (Path of Knowledge)._ *As a Hindu I see Jesus as a great master! Greetings from ancient India 🇮🇳.* EDIT: *There are many theories about him. But one theory that really makes sense to me is he did come to India and studied the Vedas, especially the Upanishads. Because his Gnostic teachings are literally the Vedantic teachings. From who else can Jesus be trained about the gnosis of the pure consciousness, the Self?* *In Tibet's Hemis Monastery his coming was recorded in a manuscript. It was later approved by three persons. One of them is Swami Abhedananda, the other two I couldn't recall.* *Bangalore Venkateshwara Raman, a Vedic Astrologer, also agrees by this theory of his coming to India as per his Kundali (birth chart).*

This guy always makes me feel smarter. I really admire his intellect ,humor and style. He reminds me of my sponser..

Mary followed our savior to the foot of the cross, disregarding her own life to be with him withersoever he went. And she was the 1st one looking for his resurrection. I think that I'll listen to her.

While back at didn't know I was Gnostic. Now I have Gnosis 24/7 forever

Absolutely fascinating, thank you so much. I have read a lot over the years but never found out who were the Gnostics, why did the Church hate them so much, why were they so persistent? What a sad waste of so much intellect. I like them. Might even have been one, if i''d had the guts.

Thank you - I found that highly informative. Great presentation

So much history presented in a totally unbiased manner. A TRUE TEACHER !!!! Wonderful lecture. THANK YOU.

Was captivated the whole time! Thanks!

Learned a lot. Thanks for sharing. 🙏🏽

A very interesting presentation. One has to keep in mind that the gnostics are not crackpots, even though for most of us it may be difficult to make any sense of what they are saying. Gnostics don't feed on other peoples ideas, but they are in a state of mind which allows them to simply know that which is not accessible to the 'normal' human mind. They don't make things up. They speak of the Divine. The Christian Church, on the other hand, is completely devoid of any spirituality because it absolutely lacks the connection with the Divine that the gnostics have.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. My understanding of Christianity has been expanded.

I love learning how there is unity in Christian, Jewish and Greek ideas. Thank you for this great information. I very much appreciate it!

When you mentioned the Ebionites being "poor," I was remined of the "Poor knights of the Temple of Solomon." Thank you for the Lecture. You have patience worthy of the almighty.

Nice job. Especially on Thomas, some interpretations recently are outlandish but I think you did it justice. Thank you!

I learned a lot. Thank you.

Gnosis is a Greek word for "intuition"... meaning to learn or be taught from within. It's the knowledge of the Heart, where as intellect is of the Brain. It's our intellect which manufactures this facade we call life, it's our intuition that sees what's behind the facade, otherwise known as "truth". You cannot use your intellect to search for truth when it's busy perpetuating the lie. Our intellect murders our intuition... Cain killing Abel. Our intuition lies buried in the Earth (Heart) until we fulfill the law (gravity) which governs our Fall into death and the decomposition process (Old Testament). It is our intuition (Holy Spirit) which guides us thru the process of changing the law the system operates under from gravity to levity, aka "love". Levity is the law that governs our Spring into Life and recomposition (Resurrection). This is all accomplished thru the daemonic hierarchy within our collective subconscious (the heads of the 7 churches aka chakras) as described in the Apocalypse/Revelation of John :)

Nice presentation. Cool to see this kind of discussion happening adjacent to the CoC movement. Greetings from an LDS "cousin."

Very good! I mean that, in my view, this is excellent teaching.

People often underestimate the degree to which ancient people traveled….

Excellent presentation.

Thank you this was a delightful lecture. Looking forward to exploring more of your videos.

Fascinating. I am very pleased to subscribe!

I am studying the Gospel of Thomas at the moment. Excited to find this. Thank you.

I really like this guy!! His videos are great💖

Lecture is brilliant! I couldn't skip some ideas from the Jewish mistical stream called Kabala which came to being many years later

The most accurate description of what religion is and how other cultures influenced, taken from different cultures and traditions. I would like to hear from the philosopher who taught this guy how to interpret the world religions and how they influenced people. To the victor goes the history course of which we are allowed to interpret. Egypt has a history of Jesus Christ two thousand years before the Christ we know. If you dig deep you can find the Christ child who was visiting other people’s.

Listened to this while making about 100 grissini breadsticks lol. Thanks for an enlightening lecture. Love the Q & A at the end, too. Such an informed audience.

I'm a member of the Old Apostolic Church of South Africa and we believe that God and Satan are two spirits that dwell within. One pulls us in the negative downward through our own desires and lusts and the apposing spirit is that of discernment and renewal of my daily actions. Scriptures for us although seen as God's word and acknowledge it as natural events that physically took place like to take all the history and nastiness out of the equation and prefer to see the whole Bible as parable and therefore speak in parables to remain as spiritual as possible. Every colour, material substance, day, political or social standing, Name, geological location etc etc mentioned in scripture all mean something to us or have "hidden meaning" and so when out in normal public will only recognize another member of the church through the parables which we speak. Anyways I really enjoyed this video it was blessedly informative yet light at the same time.😊

Makes me think about how Christian extremism is similar to the whole gnostics within other churches. huh, convergent evolution of religions. Whole presentation is amazing. Bravo!

Just found this! Thanks.

what a great lecture. thank you!!!

What Nag Hammadi translation(s) do you recommend? I am not interested in a modern religious lens nor pop culture American etc. who has been most scholarly and objective? Thanks for this great lecture!!

"Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed, When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and they will reign over all."

1 Peter 4:11 11If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

The constant interruptions with questions makes this frustrating to get through. Very interesting stuff when the lecture isn't being sidetracked.

I’ve been walked through an awakening to this knowledge by the unseen realm. I would love to have a conversation with this man

Thank you for this explanation and video

Excellent lecture.

👑 And I'm already back amongst you. I AM the living one. Told you id be back.

Your brain has so much in it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ May God richly bless u Sir

Nicely done and quite informative. Thank you.

Excellent lecturer, glad I am now subscribed here to maybe catch him more later.

While I am still not a Gnostic I thank you for making their beliefs and thoughts clearer for me. Even Orthodox Christians were lied about by their detractors. Unfortunately that is nothing new.

Thanks for the very fascinating and inspiring talk. I went through postgrad training in Eastern religions particularly Buddhism and found beyond a mere coincidence that certain Gnostic beliefs resemble those of Buddhism, especially in terms of finding the kingdom of God(s) or 'divine revelation' within one's own heart, and the spirits of awakening to the secret 'higher' divine knowledge through meditation, as it can hardly be 'communicated' clearly through words or concepts. Also, seeing the current sensual or sensory-dominated 'world' as evil controlled by the evil God can find parallel in the conception of sensuous deity 'Mara' in Buddhism.

WOW...THANK YOU FOR THIS !! GREAT EXPLANATION

Wow, great job. I am impressed with your delivery and now I have a much better understanding. Thank you so much.

It is a shame that we tend to define our churches as What-we-don’t-do. “They don’t take communion every week.” “They pray to statues.” “ We don’t dance.” “ They only sprinkle.” And so on.

Great lecture by John Hamer

How do we find out who this excellent lecturer is and where does he teach? This complex issue is made almost simplistic, which is a characteristic of great teaching.

Where can I find more information on this community "The Poor of Jerusalem" led by James the Just. Is this the same as "the poor" from the sermon on the mount? Thanks.

Your awesome. Great content and explanation or these religious group’s and history.

I resonate with the Gospel of Thomas the most. It sounds/feels that that there is more simple, fundamental wisdom.

Who is the artist that made the thumbnail with the egg? It reminds me of the photo portrait of the Afghan girl. Could you please link to his ot her's portfolio? :)

I usually cover all of the marcian doctrines with a quote from Peter ,,"beware of Paul's writings that are filled with hard sayings hard to be understood... With some have twisted to their own destruction"

Note to self for my own study: at 58 minutes, the slide with the Gnostic terms, is translated into the physics lingo of Blaney as follows: (abbreviated) Monad - void + potential energy Aeons - paired aetheric flows that emanate from void's 'soup-in-grid' and includes, for example, clockwise/counter clockwise spins, inward-outward or contract/expand, and other 'logos'. Sophia- if sophia is an aeon it must also have an opposite, so Sophia is 'wisdom-ignorance' in which a rather loose interpretation given here for fun: the demi-urge is the urge (wise or foolish?) to look within to 'know thyself' thus (sophia the light photon) desires to see self as follows: vortex's head approaches vortex's tail, and aetheric flow of the photon's head superimposes on aetheric flow of photon's tail (could say oroboros, head enters body, or tail enters mouth, to 'know self') continuing seriously: So the oroboros 'rings of light' birthed by sophia's 'light photon nature' are basically trapped light vortices in the form of a stable torroid (which is a photonic vortex traveling in a circular path superimposed upon its own backbone, --Blaney Theory of structure of electron from gamma ray building block) Said another way; The demiurge gives rise to the action of Sophia light-converting-to-mass (mass is the light ring oroboros, the condensed light, the trapped light, the light-to-darkness metaphor) point of note: This new form of light in the form of mass, gives rise to information storage and sharing capability, as well as associated time and relativity. and finally the archons, what are they and why is the gnostic explanation so unfulfilling? here is blaney interpretation, loosely for brevity : ARCHONS: evil angels who serve demiurge? sounds a bit vague. Blaney terminology would say archons are the mass entities arising from the [chemistry and physics that arises when mass and light are present together] -- (without mass, no such chemistry can exist). This mass, along with light and resultant chemistry, creates beings who think, share and store info, learn, develop systems to 'see' self. The archons-serving-demiurge is (blaney asserts) the natural tendency for the mass-light-'life' to self-sustain itself via procreation and eating food to survive etc. The 'man' of mass+light may serve self 100% (psychopath, evil serving of demiurge) or serve self and others in a ratio of 49/51 so that man survives as well as her fellow life forms (a more kind and loving serving of demiurge). e.g. These tendencies to survive could be thought of as serving the demiurge. Thus, "serving the Demiurge" is translated more clearly as serving life as we know it in our [material plus light] world. If secret (gnostic, buddhist, vedic, other) teachings claim to get my 'light body essence' out of my mass body (so it can exist as an aetheric flux pattern not bound by mass) then it would follow that I would have to somehow un-attach the aetheric flux which defines me ... from the mass body. this seems a bit of a challenging problem, unless perhaps a more intelligent being could instruct me how to do so, while assuring me it is itself not a self-serving entity. :D end of note to self. to any readers: I apologize for the lack of rigor of my notes.

Thank you for this!!

Thanks for the information and it my first time to here this and am going to keep researching To get the hidden truth. Thanks Soo Much

I would love to know how much written material exists that originated during this period in our history.

i became an early athiest a 12 "preacher said my mom was hell-bound because she was a divorced woman.

Loads of good information here.

When are you holding a lecture on "hermeticism"?

These lectures are fantastic. Thank you

This is very interesting content. (Gasp)-(as if about to chuckle)

Phenomenal presentation! Thank you... 🙏

Thank you so much for this rare information

You didn't say like. I had to come back and give this video a thumb up. In response to what you said in the Q&A section @ 01:28:45 , I thought there were manuscripts found in India about Jesus being there. It was a KZfaq video I watched called: Jesus in India, Tibet and Persia - An Account Missing from the Bible

The Greek word for " gnostic" is "gnostic-γνωστικός" though as regards the gnostic heretics (or Christians, depends on one's point of view) it is usually used in the plural "γνωστικοί"

Really enjoyed your lecture!:))

Great speech, very instructive, I will review part of it

Love the info- hate the questions during the presentation. In my opinion, questions should be held off until the end. Anyway, my $.02.