Determinism & Apocolypse: the Grim Irony of Our Fortunate Fall

[David Morris]

Ignorant questions are pardonable as long as they're sincere.

>From my slim knowledge of Gnosticism, its essence isn't a vague
something called "mysticism."  I assume by your usage of the word
"mysticism" you mean a direct personal supernatural experience, and,
yes, many religions/cults promise that experience.  But the essence of
Gnosticism and its relation to Calvinism is in both of their
theologies, and specifically their understanding of the spiritual
origins of the cosmos in relation to its present state, and how to
escape it.  But you should get a better overview of both Gnosticism
and Calvinism before you read Eddins.  Then you might not even need to
read Eddins to see Pynchon's gnosticism.

David Morris

On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Michael Bailey
<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> alice wellintown  wrote:
>>
>> >From 'The Gnostic Pynchon' Dwight Eddins, (1990)
>>
>> Pynchon specifically identifies Calvinism, and in particular the Puritanism of Slothrop's New England forebears, as the precursor of this modern religion of death--an identification echoed by Voegelin's analysis of Puritanism as a form of gnosticism.
>
> apologies if this is an ignorant question, but I have various good excuses for not reading TGP... my curiosity is, Gnosticism as opposed to, or compared to, what?
>
> Gnosticism to me is Dead-Sea-Scrolls-there-can-be-some-direct-knowledge-of- God-achieved-by-discipline-(possibly-esoteric)
>
> If the Calvinists and Hobbesists embodied a mystical tradition in a polis in a way that is a cognate of the Essenes,
>
> what other tradition or directive or impulse was there that they ignored to do this?
>
> is there not a substantial mystical basis behind orthodox Papism and Judaism, and maybe even British "common law", to such an extent that these schools could also fulfill the definition of gnostical teachings?