Abstract
This volume in celebration of the significant and extensive work of John Turner is arranged into two sections that reflect his research interests. The first part, entitled ‘Gnosticism and other Religious Movements of Antiquity’ contains seventeen essays. The main focus in this section is upon aspects of ‘Sethian, Valentinian, and other early Christian, Jewish and Manichaean thought’ (p. xv). It is difficult to single out individual essays in this rich and multifaceted collection, but in the first section Karen King’s opening essay on The Secret Revelation of John, which looks at the role of both Genesis and Platonizing philosophy, is particularly instructive. King’s overall argument is that the intertextual links with the Genesis story ‘within the framework of Platonizing ontology’ serves to universalize the Christian perspective of reading pagan and Jewish sources in the light of Christ’s revelation (p. 18). Similarly, the last essay in this section, ‘Crafting Gnosis: Gnostic Spirituality in the Ancient New Age’, is written with DeConick’s typical verve and insight. She notes the pluriformity of the types of influence that Gnostic spirituality had on various groups. She comments that ‘[s]ome Gnostics form supplemental or lodge movements whose members remain affiliated with a traditional Catholic church. Others form reform movements and hope to convince the Catholic church to alter its ways. Other Gnostics form separatist movements … Some Gnostics do not affiliate with the Catholic church at all’ (p. 302).
The second part of the volume, ‘Crossing Boundaries: Gnosticism and Platonism’, follows up on Turner’s study of Platonism and its wider cultural influences. There are sixteen essays in this section. Corrigan probes the role of the Symposium and the Republic in the mystical thought of both Plotinus and Sethian Gnostics (pp. 309-327). The relationship between Plotinus and Gnosticism is also the focus of the second essay in part two, Z. Mazur ‘“Those who Ascend to the Sanctuaries of the Temples”: The Gnostic Context of Plotinus’ First Treatise 1.6 [1], On Beauty’ (pp. 329-367).
This is a fitting tribute to John Turner on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday. Many essays in this collection make significant contributions to the discipline – and, as is appropriate, they build on Turner’s own insights.