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Reviews / Vigiliae Christianae 66 (2012) 213-224 217 David Brakke, The Gnostics. Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christian- ity , Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press 2010; xii + 164 pp.; ISBN 978-0-674-04684-9; US$ 29.95 (hardback with jacket). David Brakke argues for a new approach to the study of ancient Gnosti- cism. He wants to counter the more traditional view of Gnosticism as a multiform religious movement from the first two centuries CE. Instead of accepting the increasingly current view that ‘Gnosticism’ cannot be stud- ied as a single religious movement and that therefore the category itself should be discarded, the author defends the idea that there was in fact a distinct ‘Gnostic school of thought’. In the first chapter Brakke explores two distinct but interdependent scholarly debates: the one on the emergence of orthodoxy in the first cen- turies CE and the other on the use of the term ‘Gnostics’. This chapter acknowledges the fruitful perspective of focusing on identity formation in the former, but warns for the reification of categories and the rigidity of boundaries between them. Ancient identities were, just like they are today, quite fluid. Since the term ‘Gnostic’ is modern invention,
Vigiliae Christianae – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2012
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