St Thomas Aquinas Christian education has equaled enculturation and indoctrination over the past millennium of our religious tradition in the West.
But things have changed.
Heretics are not hunted down by the Inquisition and burned at the stake anymore. The Gnostic concept of spirituality and personal responsibility in the world are left to the private discernment of the individual. We have the ability for the esoteric, catholic experience and organisation to thrive openly, and so the need to revisit the esoteric approach to Christian education becomes all the more important.
Most Gnostics shy away from the idea of a catechism for obvious reasons. Images of being swatted by angry nuns tingle on those parts of our hands that remember the price of questioning Original Sin, or the Immaculate Conception. Over the past 1,500 years, Christians have evolved a complex religious culture in which beautiful, even seductive liturgies and traditions have flourished, and yet by contrast the core of Christian education has become increasingly dogmatic and unable to adapt to the changing moral and physical conditions that are overwhelming young people.
As we sit down to think about the future of Christian culture and how it relates to its historical and actual Gnostic currents, we must ponder how we experience the life of the spirit as people. Bishop +Shaun McCann of my own Johannite church delineated the spiritual life very well in some remarks that he made a few years ago regarding the primordial, experiential and organisational aspects of our existence.
This spiritual ménage-à-trois is a highly organic synergy that reflects us as bodies, minds and spirits, not to mention the Holy Trinity. In more mundane areas, the idea of Social Threefolding is one that places very high value on the independence of the economy, polity and culture, dividing human enterprise yet again into three major components.
As we map possible ways to provide non-dogmatic, esoteric Christian education for children and adults it might be good to draft a curriculum that mirrors this threefold dynamic -the human physical, mental and spiritual being and the primordial, experiential and organisational bits of our spiritual motion.
Foremost, a new esoteric Christian education should start by fostering favourable conditions for individuals to feel the primordial and to realise their unity with the essence of the divine. That said, a new esoteric, catholic catechism should also manoeuvre new seekers and children clear of breaking down into a messiah complex and outright megalomania, which are not uncommon experiences. When taken with a healthy dose of personal responsibility, the primordial being gives us the mandate and imperative of human dignity. Our primordial existence should therefore be brought to the attention of young people and adult seekers as the basis for human rights.
The second element in need of discussion is the experiential learning curve of the student. We need to develop best practices, and disseminate them widely to people at varying levels of spiritual development. Obviously for children it is not appropriate to begin heavy meditations or other ritualistic practices, and so we need to look to examples from the world of pedagogy for tips that can help children find inner value and discover the life of the spirit.
Third, but not least important within the context of a new esoteric, Christian education is the organisational form of the Church, and of religious practice. This is an area where radical ecumenism might fit well. The reinforcement of the apostolic values and traditions of our liturgies is a positive place for young people to experience the life of the Church as the mystical body of Christ. To date and to my knowledge, there is no introduction to Gnostic catholic sacramental and liturgical tradition. We need an instructional guide to the shared traditions and symbolism of greater Christianity.
So these are some projects that might be interesting to flesh out. Please feel free to leave your comments and ideas.
But things have changed.
Heretics are not hunted down by the Inquisition and burned at the stake anymore. The Gnostic concept of spirituality and personal responsibility in the world are left to the private discernment of the individual. We have the ability for the esoteric, catholic experience and organisation to thrive openly, and so the need to revisit the esoteric approach to Christian education becomes all the more important.
Most Gnostics shy away from the idea of a catechism for obvious reasons. Images of being swatted by angry nuns tingle on those parts of our hands that remember the price of questioning Original Sin, or the Immaculate Conception. Over the past 1,500 years, Christians have evolved a complex religious culture in which beautiful, even seductive liturgies and traditions have flourished, and yet by contrast the core of Christian education has become increasingly dogmatic and unable to adapt to the changing moral and physical conditions that are overwhelming young people.
As we sit down to think about the future of Christian culture and how it relates to its historical and actual Gnostic currents, we must ponder how we experience the life of the spirit as people. Bishop +Shaun McCann of my own Johannite church delineated the spiritual life very well in some remarks that he made a few years ago regarding the primordial, experiential and organisational aspects of our existence.
This spiritual ménage-à-trois is a highly organic synergy that reflects us as bodies, minds and spirits, not to mention the Holy Trinity. In more mundane areas, the idea of Social Threefolding is one that places very high value on the independence of the economy, polity and culture, dividing human enterprise yet again into three major components.
As we map possible ways to provide non-dogmatic, esoteric Christian education for children and adults it might be good to draft a curriculum that mirrors this threefold dynamic -the human physical, mental and spiritual being and the primordial, experiential and organisational bits of our spiritual motion.
Foremost, a new esoteric Christian education should start by fostering favourable conditions for individuals to feel the primordial and to realise their unity with the essence of the divine. That said, a new esoteric, catholic catechism should also manoeuvre new seekers and children clear of breaking down into a messiah complex and outright megalomania, which are not uncommon experiences. When taken with a healthy dose of personal responsibility, the primordial being gives us the mandate and imperative of human dignity. Our primordial existence should therefore be brought to the attention of young people and adult seekers as the basis for human rights.
The second element in need of discussion is the experiential learning curve of the student. We need to develop best practices, and disseminate them widely to people at varying levels of spiritual development. Obviously for children it is not appropriate to begin heavy meditations or other ritualistic practices, and so we need to look to examples from the world of pedagogy for tips that can help children find inner value and discover the life of the spirit.
Third, but not least important within the context of a new esoteric, Christian education is the organisational form of the Church, and of religious practice. This is an area where radical ecumenism might fit well. The reinforcement of the apostolic values and traditions of our liturgies is a positive place for young people to experience the life of the Church as the mystical body of Christ. To date and to my knowledge, there is no introduction to Gnostic catholic sacramental and liturgical tradition. We need an instructional guide to the shared traditions and symbolism of greater Christianity.
So these are some projects that might be interesting to flesh out. Please feel free to leave your comments and ideas.
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4 comments:
This is a subject that is very important to me. I like you ideas and they should be developed further. When will you be back? We'll grab coffee.
Thanks, Anthony. Glad to know that you are interested in developing this further. Not sure when I return, but we can certainly chat about it.
Beautiful, just beautiful. Keep me up to date on the discussions you guys have, as this is a subject close to my heart as well.
One quibble: +Mar Iohannes' given name is +Shaun McCann
I like what you're saying here Donald. The fact that most Gnostic communities are so small seem to be a big challenge. I know there are a lot of interested people out there.
Isn't Rev Troy Pierce doing something along these lines?
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