Occult Christianity

Earlier we made the distinction between the social, the occult, and the transcendent as ways to live a spiritual life, or as representing different spiritual understandings. In this section we look at how occult or esoteric Christianity lays claim to Christ, against the equally plausible claims that he taught a social or transcendent spirituality. Because the historical evidence surrounding Jesus is so slight, no conclusions are intended here, merely some landmarks in the debate. While the New Testament has received endless revision and commentary, the Gospel of St Thomas is relatively uncluttered by historical interpretation, and is also a document that can be read as a jnani teaching. The canonical Gospels are open to wider interpretation, perhaps epitomised by the two possible translations of Luke 17:21. The Revised English Bible has Jesus say that the kingdom of God is among you, while the King James Bible has Jesus say that the kingdom of God is within you. The first interpretation is one of a social spirituality, while the second is of a transcendent spirituality (using the definitions here). While the various church traditions prefer the first interpretation, the esoteric or occult tradition within Christianity has taken yet a third interpretation, of Christ as an esoteric Master.

'Christ's teachings can be taken as either a social, occult, or transcendent spirituality, using the definitions here. Esoteric Christianity is a tradition of occult teachings, but the point is not to discover which one is correct, but rather to further delineate the boundaries between the occult and the transcendent.'

The esoteric or occult traditions within Christianity are many and various, though none are sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, or any mainstream church. Some, like Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry are traditions with many influences, while others such as the Swedenborg New Church or Steiner's Anthroposophy are modelled on the teachings of a single influential founder. Like mainstream Christianity, the esoteric traditions also owe a lot to Judaism, though in the esoteric case it is to the Qabalah.

If esoteric Christianity is largely hidden from public view, then even more so transcendent Christianity. While the bhakti mystics of Christianity have lived on the fringes of orthodox approval, the jnani mystics of Christianity, such as Eckhart, encountered even greater difficulties. In the section 'jnani and the West' we shall look at these issues, and also at the major non-Christian jnani tradition in the West: neo-Platonism.

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