Wrestling with Archons: Gnosticism as a Critical Theory of Culture

(Hardback)

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This book demonstrates that ancient Christian Gnosticism was an ancient form of cultural criticism in a mythological garb. It establishes that, much like modern forms of critical theory, ancient Gnosticism was set on deconstructing mainstream discourses and cultural premises. Strains of critical theory dealt with include the Frankfurt School, queer theory, and poststructural philosophy. The book documents how in both ancient Gnosticism and modern critical theories issues that used to serve as premises for discussion or as concepts relegated to the realms of the natural and the given in their respective historical contexts, are transformed into objects of contention. The main aim of this book is to salvage the historical category of Gnosticism from its present scholarly disavowal, if only because Gnosticism, when read as a cultural, and not only a religious phenomenon, presents us an ancient form of culture criticism which would be hard to parallel until (post) modernity. While Hans Jonas remarked many years ago that something in Gnosticism knocks at the door of our Being and of our twentieth-century Being in particular, by the 21st century global world this something has already entered and lives with us. We can thus still benefit from another perspective, even if it comes from Mediterranean people who lived almost 2,000 years ago.

Reviews

Wrestling with Archons is a book for both scholars of religion and scholars skeptical of religion. Portraying a Gnosticism deeply engaged in its world, Wrestling with Archons offers intriguing possibilities for our own cultural criticism, recasting categories from matter and nature to religion and sex, and showing us the contemporary importance of these ancient texts. -- Karmen MacKendrick, Le Moyne College
Wrestling with Archons is like a bumblebee. It should not be able to fly, but it isand it flies well. Who could imagine that the branch of early Christianity, which we label Gnosticism, can be fruitfully approached from the perspective of radical modern cultural criticism Cahana shows that this approach is not only possible but also very productive. Gnosticism like modern cultural criticism is questioning the unquestionable and deconstructing the givens of a respective culture, instead of arguing on their basis. Cahana is a talented guide through these complicated matters. -- Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Aarhus University
Offering a creative and challenging intervention in the ongoing debates about the viability of Gnosticism as a historical and analytical category, Jonathan Cahana builds in unexpected ways on the legacy of Hans Jonas to reposition gnostic literature as a distinctively ancient mode of radical cultural critique.Through rereadings of ancient textual evidence and provocative comparisons to contemporary critical thinkers,Wrestling with Archonsadvances a bold thesis worthy of serious engagement. -- Benjamin H. Dunning, Fordham University

Author Bio

Jonathan Cahana-Blum conducted postdoctoral research as a Fulbright Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and held a Sapere Aude fellowship from the Danish Council for Independent Research at Aarhus University. He has published in such venues as Numen, Journal of Religion, and Journal of the American Academy of Religion.