{"product_id":"9781350137691","title":"Gnosticism and the History of Religions","description":"\u003ch3\u003eScientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003eGnosticism and the History of Religions\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch3\u003eDavid G. Robertson | Donald Wiebe | Luther H. Martin | Radek Kundt | Dimitris Xygalatas\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eReligion \/ Gnosticism\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003eBuilding on critical work in biblical studies, which shows how a historically-bounded heretical tradition called Gnosticism was 'invented', this work focuses on the following stage in which it was “essentialised” into a \u003ci\u003esui generis\u003c\/i\u003e, universal category of religion. At the same time, it shows how Gnosticism became a religious self-identifier, with a number of sizable contemporary groups identifying as Gnostics today, drawing on the same discourses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This book provides a history of this problematic category, and its relationship with scholarly and popular discourse on religion in the twentieth century. It uses a critical-historical method to show how and why Gnosis, Gnostic and Gnosticism were taken up by specific groups and individuals – practitioners and scholars – at different times. It shows how ideas about Gnosticism developed in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship, drawing from continental phenomenology, Jungian psychology and post-Holocaust theology, to be constructed as a perennial religious current based on special knowledge of the divine in a corrupt world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid G. Robertson challenges how scholars interact with the category Gnosticism, and contributes to our understanding of the complex relationship between primary sources, academics and practitioners in category formation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDavid G. Robertson\u003c\/b\u003e is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, UK. He is co-founder of the Religious Studies Project, and co-editor of the journal \u003ci\u003eImplicit Religion\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eUFOs, the New Age and Conspiracy Theories\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloomsbury, 2016) and co-editor of \u003ci\u003eAfter World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies\u003c\/i\u003e (2016) and the \u003ci\u003eHandbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion\u003c\/i\u003e (2018).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e09 September 2021\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781350137691\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e240\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e18.24\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51332902191244,"sku":"9781350137691","price":121.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_72c4f55f-7b5f-44a0-a04d-9c8819e14d62.jpg?v=1783607208","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9781350137691","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}