Valentinian Gnosticism - The Earliest Systematic Philosophy & Theology of Christianity 

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I had to skip back to make sure I really HAD heard you say "Joy Division is gnostic scripture, sometimes."

As an undergrad I was taught by Alastair Logan for this topic, a world expert on Valentinian gnosticism... so while I should be very keyed up on this, I was usually hungover at that time of day when I was 19 so this is all new learning. Thanks, Dr Sledge!

I was a long time Athiest, after i got sober i started to delve into Christianity and found myself in Gnosticism. I found a home in the Valentinian school, and then i was having a conversation with a catholic and it was the first time i was called a heretic, so thats kinda cool.

I studied for a spell at the Jung Institute in San Francisco at the time when the Gnostic material was becoming more and more prominent. I took seminars with Elaine Pagels and with Gilles Quispel, who, brokered the deal to acquire the Nag Hamadi texts from some pretty shady characters. Both of them emphasized the concept that the creation was a tragedy -- meaning a cosmic play -- and that the apple had to be eaten, and that Judas was operating on instructions, not out of any monetary motive. This was decades before the Gospel of Judas thing.

Intense! I wish more attention was focused on the Christianities in history. Western history addresses the Constantine conversion and sometimes the Council of Nicaea, but mostly that's it. Gnosticism in too much detail is a raging headache (for me at least), but if Christianity, and it's more practical father, Judaism, has come to form so much of our modern reality, historical curriculum should at least be taught in a historical context, emphasizing the influence passed along to our modern society. Esoterica has been a real joy. There is so much wisdom in the ancient voices presented here. They are very accessible and more understandable than they'd ever be without the wonderful work done here. Thank you for your research, time, effort and extensive knowledge!

You know, if you ever want to make a video exploring the platonic influence on the creation of the inner and outer planes in dungeons & dragons I'd be here for it.

Finally,someone who understands that a commercial every five min. or less while im trying to sleep and learn will get them not listend to ,i love it commercials are meant to keep us in rage not receptive to learning so yt will make you pay for it ,thank you for your work and time

"Totality of the Fatherly Abyss" is an amazing band name, but I find it really shines as a pet name. Imagine hearing that in a dog park. Or betting on that name at horse races.

Dr. Sledge, thank you for this summary of Valentinian Christian history and thought. The symbolic and philosophical history of the Christianities have been a lifelong interest of mine. I will take a pass on diving into this rabbit hole, but I am glad you have pointed out the entrance. Perhaps I will need to locate it in the future. Cheers, BR

You Sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for delivering such wonderful content.

I wouldn't be a mystic if I didn't like being confused by divine mysteries :D Great episode!

What a dazzling Theological journey you took us on! TY

I am an orthodox Catholic, but I have to say that when I was in graduate school with the Dominican Friars, I was assigned a Valentinian commentary on the Gospel of John from a collection, and I went in without reading the introduction to get my first impression, and...it took me a while to notice that it was a non-standard Christianity. Valentinianism is pretty high on the orthodox-O-meter compared to some "Gnoatic" schools of thought.

Been getting channeled more and more into Gnosticism in the last year through your content and others. Got “the gnostic jung” this last week and just learned about Valentinian. Then you release this. And this is far from the first time this has happened in the process of turning gnostic for me. Not saying I’m buying into synchronicity yet. But my weird coincidences are stacking up to absurd levels at this point.

I love re-listening to your podcasts Dr Sledge👍

...loving the last comment on the slide at 13.03, totally agree! Btw, I love your non confirmation bias presentation - documenting facts and possibilities with no conclusions. Great work. I hope I can keep watching and learning such amazing scholarship from your channel. Toda raba!

I love how precisely you have dialed in your format and your viewer reactions to it. Self-knowledge goes a long way in this business.

i stumbled across valentinian and sethianist faiths in a crusader kings mod, and my friend who im playing with send me this channel. i think i devoured all your videos on gnosticism and some more over the course of the last 3 days. i'm really about to dive in the rabbit hole like you said. i like your commentary, thank you so much for your work.

Thank you again Dr. Sledge. Beautiful work.

I love this channel. I will return to many of these episodes...so much information to absorb and grow into. Thank you.

Dr. Justine, for this video alone I will send you a donation because this video is the most complete and orderly intro to Gnosticism and early Christianity that I found on youtube for the past 3 years. And your sence of humor mixed with constant references to the sources makes it so much easier to proccess it and research it farther. 👍

Thank you so much for your work! The sense of "joy" you share in these videos, primarily via hilarious sarcastic asides, helps propel the material. Please keep it up. For me, your treatment of esoterica accomplishes something like Jung, demystifying and reinvigorating simultaneously. I keep making associative leaps between mystical thought, as conveyed by people like yourself, and emergent theoretical physics / mathematics ( Penrose, Cohl Furey ).

Thank you. As a note, I see similar patterns, outside of Christianity, in Asia. More specifically in advaita vaishnavism, or dual systems. I've noticed that both Krishna and Jesus are similar. Both are the love avatars of the Godhead, both approach salvation through a bhakti system, salvation through the love of God. Thank you. You've helped me sort this out.

I just have to compliment the rhetorical interplay connecting the Dead Sea Scroll discovery to the debates over the Incarnation in the intro. Masterfully written.

This is the best channel ive ever come across. Amazing. Thank you very much.

thank you so much for your dulcet tones as i get home from my big union first year anniversary. been looking forward to this tiouc

This pleases my Valentinian heart.

Its really good to find content to learn about this not so well-known side of Christianity and Western esotericism in a comprehensive yet easy to understand format...But let me be the dumbest one and the room and say the Wardruna reference was what took the cake for me. Thank you Dr. Sledge!

Wow to look back on this older video (even though only two years) and compare it to your new videos! You were already a fantastic speaker but you have now honed these skills to perfection!

First, thank you for doing this channel. It is profoundly refreshing to watch sophisticated academia personified Covering “esoteric” topics. I like your teaching style. Please keep up your topical variety. I have a little to no subject knowledge on these things. Second, I particularly enjoyed this session/topic. You looked as if you were having fun doing it. Of course the material was, as always, very interesting but on this one I really appreciated the presentation as well. As a fellow college professor, different discipline, It is easy to see the work you put into this and it is appreciated. Well done. Be safe be well. -KevinJ

Ur Preamble vis a vis discoveries is captivating brilliant! Thankyou!

This is a great video - really clear information providing context for key developments.

Excellent.... so glad this popped up on my Recommended. Thank you, Dr. S.

I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do; absolutely beautiful work!

Your channel is perhaps the happiest discovery I've made in the past year. Dare I say of 'great importance'?

This is super helpful/informative, thank you. Discovered the channel recently and been working my way through the back log. :) Fascinating stuff.

Thanks for doing all this work for us. We enjoy it!

Nice little reference to Wardruna there at the end...

Dr.Sledge , you hammered this topic down to something ican understand !

Great video, Id love to hear a video about the modern pop culture strains regarding Valentian Christianity; Philip K Dick, Matrix, etc. Thanks and keep up the great work!

A very well done explanation of an obscure and impenetrable subject!

Literally my favourite channel

Another fantastic, informative video.

Once again, impeccable. Thankyou.

I greatly enjoy your use of William Blake's artwork in videos. Blake is my favorite poet and his artwork is really good too.

This is a great channel

Another awesome video! I just can’t get over how much I like your sense of humor, especially after you eloquently deliver the information on each topic. I’m not sure what it is ,but I feel like I just connected with your words and your online persona. In my opinion you give off “ have a beer with guy vibes” so to speak. Even though I don’t really drink. Lol. Thanks again for the work you. I appreciate it. My apologies if I was a little to bombastic in this comment

“Matter..😝🤢” you’re so funny. I love your work, insight, momentum and specially timing for little humorous clever parentheses. I’ve learnt so much with you!!

Great work again.

Thanks, that was a very informing lecture. I was trying to understand in simple terms what the Gnostic belief was. I have ordered the book you recommended Gnostic Religion in Antiquity. The reason I am interested in this is because I came to understand that Hegelianism and Marxism are build on Gnostic ideas.

And what a rabbit hole ✨ Hey Justin, to chime in from an experiential angle, just discovered that the bridal chamber sacrament (nymphōn sacrament) is a spiritual initiation that can very much still be received (ask your guardian angel, or god, or your higher self to facilitate your reception of it) - and does indeed bring about a very tangible unification with one’s guardian angel. No need for fanciful Abramelin stuff with this treasure that the Gnostics had. This is direct fusion. What a tragedy that Christianity lost sight of this vertical “marriage” with the guardian angel as its central mystery! But one that’s evidently still very much accessible to anyone who asks. Definitely worthy of orienting a whole religious tradition around. What a pity Valentinus didn’t become Bishop.

What an accurate, learned, and fair overview of Valentinus. If someone, today, would perform in-depth interviews of the followers of ANY religion, they would discover that no two people have EXACTLY the same religious beliefs. Despite all the labels we put on people, they stubbornly remain individuals and their beliefs will differ in some way. 7.5 billion people means 7.5 billion different conceptions of reality. That's why I truly respect the Jewish tradition of "let's talk" in these matters. That is, "we seem to disagree in this particular matter. Let's discuss why that is by exploring each other's conceptions of human life, the Creation and the Creator, and how those conceptions have led us to come to different positions regarding this particular situation. Just so we know." Instead of the, unfortunately, more popular approach of "we disagree on this particular matter so you must be stupid or evil and I don't want to talk with you."

Thank you so much for the Examples in Scholarly-ship Valentinus summary of the Pleroma and the Gospel of Truth Dr Sledge!

I think l'm going to have "Succumbed to his own Inherent Finitude" written on my gravestone.

You had me at the Joy Division reference.

Valentinian Gnosticism is a new one for me. Great job. TY.

This is excellent! This channel is currently my escape from my thesis work. I'd love to see you tackle the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, and the mangled Germanized-then-Anglicized Hebrew, its claims to connection to rabbinic input, and various other weirdness. I'm oddly fascinated with texts like it (also, the Hygromanteia, Petit Albert, Grimoire of Armadel, the Arbatel, etc.). So, I look forward to seeing what unfolds on your channel. Sidenote: Shown your channel to a few of my friends and they wondered how you were not an alternate-reality version of me, or at least already a part of their tabletop gaming group. Lol

As always, your alembic still is gorgeous! (Also your insight and analysis)

lmao your comments made this video so much better. Awesome and informative! subscribed

Thanks for this. You are the Dr. Dee of the internet xx

You have beaten me to many subjects I wanted to make videos about :) I was particularly interested in making a video about the Valentinian exegesis of scriptures since I dealth with that in "The Gospel of Lie"

thank you so much for your lecture

The Joy Division reference gave me a much needed chuckle.Have you ever read any of Nick Cave's writing that explores spirtuality and faith? His performances are really moving for me.

As a Christian that practices kabbalah going on 20 years I respect this Doctor because he doesn't put down christianity even though he's Jewish

Scholarly of high quality, and needed knowledge.

Thank you for translating/ explaining all these concepts and showing how complex Christianity really is. So many think that Christians are just what the evangelists tell us to believe. I actually have felt that I was more "Gnostic" than the American Baptist I was raised as. Even bought a "Gnostic Bible" 40 years ago but couldn't understand any of it. A couple years ago, I found a book explaining the metaphors in the Book of Thomas. More recently, I am seeing videos presenting more of the books that the "Church" calls heretical. I didn't even know what Hermeticism was until a couple months ago. All point to concepts that Dolores Cannon and quantum physics describe. This all must be what some refer to as "the thinning of the veil." It's good to see how complex even the Gnostic beliefs were, and how they argued about fine points that nobody will ever be able to "prove". The arguments themselves are worth thinking about. As I get older, I learn that certain things resonate in my heart and these are what I need to embrace. You're doing a great job of presenting such deep information that people like me would never know existed. Keep up the wonderful work!

A Joy Division reference in a video about Gnosticism. Yes!

That was class. Thanks,

Very interesting! This is my new favorite channel. I’m halfway through reading an old book called The Gospel In The Stars and it interprets the 12 zodiac signs with all their decans or side-piece constellations as being symbolic of the Godspell (gospel). This is very interesting to an occult nerd like me. It hasn’t mentioned Enoch or Zoroaster or Hermes Trismegistus at all yet but I recently came to the conclusion that they’re all the same dude and there are sources to support my claim even though there can never be any concrete consensus among scholars about these 3 mysterious ancients

👍 :) it is challenging, that s what makes it interesting. Thkx

I rate your work ethic highly

Dear Justin, I love your channel, I am currently a doctoral candidate working on the German philosopher F.W.J. Schelling, I would love to speak to you or maybe collaborate with you on the history of the occult and mystical traditions in German Idealism. Schelling's 1809 Freiheitsschrift was deeply inspired by both the Spiritual pietism of Oetinger, Hahn and Bengel; and also forms of Christian Kabbalah particularly Jakob Boehme. The Freedom essay is an eclectic text that contains a mythic and mystical exegesis of the creation of the world and the meaning behind the essence of Freedom. Schelling also employs Meister Eckhart's imagery of taming the eternal fire. The text is a masterpiece. Would you be doing any videos on Jakob Boehme in the near future? Best!

Always the trusted source as usual. There's hundreds of videos falsely describing Gnosticism. "Gnosticism is ...." My first comment is always to ask which one...

Love it 😍

Oh Meye, Mahalo Nui Loa, synchronicity and sacred Intuition is everything, we are each the deciphered of code, it is our birthright! Ty for this on this day scholar

Hi Doctor, I wanted to say I really enjoy your work, especially your scholarly perspective. I was wondering if you could make a video on the cult of Isis in the Greco-Roman world. I’m not sure if you’ve come across any mentions to the teachings/rituals of that strain of the cult, but it’s difficult to find information about how they practiced their religion and what the cosmology/metaphysics were. I assume it was blended with the cult of Serapis. Thanks again for the great videos!

That piano intro is haunting man!

Mysticalmatteroffactism, I love it! Sign me up. Ascension 101, I'm in, you? I love your work Doctor Sledge, thank you once again for another great tutorial.

It would be really cool if you could do a video on Fr. Richard Rohr and the Franciscan "Alternate Orthodoxy"'s roots

Thank you for a great story!

These subjects are some of the most interesting and intriguing things I have ever seen, thanks

Flipping through wiki article after wiki article about greek gnostic terms and valentinian stuff and suddenly go "damn I wonder if I could find a video about this" instant sub

Great video. When you talk about Paul wrestling with ideas, could you point me to an example? Just curious

Thank you very much sir

Fantastic!!

I never knew there were so many Gnostic sects. I love it!

Good job

Gnosi Valentiniana: Centuries I was waiting for u to deal with this: Pistis Sophia, my first gnostic text. The Gospel Of Truth. Goosebumps. 🙏🦉 😁

The "matter, blergh, matter" 18:25 thing made me laugh so much thank u sir

Thanks!

Good to see we have a Joy Division fan amongst the YT Religious Studies figureheads. Closer is probably the most gnostic album of the 20th century. It's pretty much Allogenes the Stranger if it was made by a post-punk band. Gary Numan's early work is pretty close too- he's basically Marcion with a synthesizer.

I'm around the 18 minute mark and by the time you mentioned Sophia creating Chaos, all I could think of was Paradise Lost with the creation of Sin and Death.

I read something interesting recently where a person explaining the Vedas connected the concept of the AUM with the idea of the Logos. And is that section of scripture " he was the word or the word was with him" (don't have a bible within arm's reach) a surviving thread of Gnostic teaching?

As a physical scientist and an atheist, I really have no skin in the game. So I'm hard pressed to explain why religion, especially early Christianity, is so damned fascinating to me. But it is. Maybe it's because religion says more about us humans than it does about God.

I still just want to hang out sometime and listen to you talk. lol

Do I sense in all these Blake works an upcoming video on the poet? Just handed in my diss on his theory of time and eternity as represented through the interrelationship (or rivalry) between line, colour and word in The Book of Thel.

Man, I was about to ask a bunch of armchair occultists for advice on this subject, but you knocked it out of the park.

Will you do something on Meister Eckhart ? Greetings from Serbia 🇷🇸

Here for the Joy Division reference!