{"id":1502,"date":"2007-11-29T16:00:30","date_gmt":"2007-11-29T16:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2007\/11\/gnostically-naughty-and-nice-g.html"},"modified":"2007-11-29T16:00:30","modified_gmt":"2007-11-29T16:00:30","slug":"gnostically-naughty-and-nice-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/11\/gnostically-naughty-and-nice-g.html","title":{"rendered":"Gnostically Naughty and Nice: Gospel of the Second Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gospel.jpg\"To read a Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy book is to tease your intellect with the idea that all the literal religious history and dogma you have learned, believed and followed may be…well, how do I say this politely…does \u201ca pile of mythological hooey\u201d sound too harsh?
\nTheir latest work, The Gospel of the Second Coming<\/a><\/em>, \u201cthe fourth book in their trilogy,\u201d is an intelligent, self-deprecating and decidedly post-modern poke at the idea of a literal, physical return of Jesus Christ. This (fictional) gospel takes the form of a Socratic dialogue between Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Peter who represent self-realization (or enlightenment), the human soul (ever torn between the physical and the spiritual) and the externally-fixated mind, respectively.
\nIf my description sounds a bit dry, the reader need fear not for, as the subtitle foreshadows, \u201cJesus is back…and this time he\u2019s funny.\u201d And funny He is, since the King of Kings found within these pages is total mystical Monty Python, the antithesis to any pious Savior in the Mel Gibson \u201cThank you, Sir, may I have another?\u201d sense.<\/p>\n


\nThese British authors, experts on world mysticism, are not members of the current zeitgeist of in-your-face atheism, however; they are Gnostics through and through. Their vernacular and humor are modern, but their spiritual perspective dates back to the birth of Christianity itself. They believe, like the original Gnostic Christians, that the New Testament is a metaphysical (inner) roadmap to enlightenment or gnosis <\/em>(the Greek word for \u201cdeep knowledge gained via experience\u201d). We can all become like Jesus the Christ, they say. In fact, it is our spiritual destiny for the kingdom of heaven\/God is within (Luke 17:21).
\nTrue to form, Freke and Gandy do push buttons racing across such a religious minefield, but the book ultimately comes off as a playful, good-natured spiritual exercise, probably shocking only to those who have never heard of the parallels between the more fantastical elements of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and those of the surrounding Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Persian gods of the time.
\nIs the book blasphemous? That depends on if you seek God in the literal heavens above or if you know of His existence via the quiet whispers of your own heart. To this more subtle, omnipresent version of God found within…to the poetic notion that \u201cGod is the perfection which absorbs\u201d from the wonderful Beliefnet interview with Elizabeth Gilbert, Freke and Gandy would agree. (Look at me speaking on their behalf!) Everything else, to them, is historical embellishment and mythological Oesterizing.
\nAs for religious heresy in general, they, and all mystics, seem to ask, \u201cWhy buy into any sacred cow when the metaphysical milk is free?\u201d
\nTo be clear, Freke and Gandy are preaching to the choir with me. I have had my own experiences with gnosis which revealed to me a God too great to be confined by words…and a God to which we all belong. Therefore, \u201cGod\u201d can\u2019t be upset because God is all there is.
\nMy only critique of the book is that some of the jokes flew over my noggin since I wasn\u2019t raised with any formal Christian indoctrination outside of Christmas carols and what I\u2019ve read and picked up from the culture at large.
\nIn terms of the ideas these authors espouse, you can find a more academic, footnoted turn in their bestselling The Jesus Mysteries: Was the \u201cOriginal Jesus\u201d a Pagan God?<\/em> or explore similar ideas in Freke\u2019s \u00fcber-compact Lucid Living<\/em> and, my personal favorite, In the Light of Death<\/em>.
\n–written by Todd Havens<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To read a Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy book is to tease your intellect with the idea that all the literal religious history and dogma you have learned, believed and followed may be…well, how do I say this politely…does \u201ca pile of mythological hooey\u201d sound too harsh? Their latest work, The Gospel of the Second…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nGnostically Naughty and Nice: Gospel of the Second Coming<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/11\/gnostically-naughty-and-nice-g.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gnostically Naughty and Nice: Gospel of the Second Coming\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To read a Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy book is to tease your intellect with the idea that all the literal religious history and dogma you have learned, believed and followed may be…well, how do I say this politely…does \u201ca pile of mythological hooey\u201d sound too harsh? 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