Free Inner Christianity: A Guide To The Esoteric Tradition Ebooks Online
InnerChristianityis the first introduction to mystical and esoteric Christianity for the generalreader. It speaks from a nonsectarian point of view, unearthing insights fromthe whole of the Christian tradition, orthodox and heretical, famous andobscure. The esoteric tradition has traditionally searched for meanings thatwould yield a deeper inner knowledge of the divine. While traditionalChristianity draws a timeline from Adam's Fall to the Day of Judgment, theesoteric often sees time as folding in on itself, bringing every point to thehere and now. While the Church fought bitterly over dogma, the esotericborrowed freely from other traditions—Kabbalah, astrology, and alchemy—intheir search for metaphors of inner truth.Ratherthan basing his book around exponents of esoteric doctrine, scholar RichardSmoley concentrates on the questions that are of interest to every searchingChristian. How can one attain direct spiritual experience? What does "theFall" really tell us about coming to terms with the world we live in? Canwe find salvation in everyday life? How can we ascend, spiritually, through thevarious levels of existence? What was Christ's true message to humankind? Fromthe Gospel of Thomas to ACourse in Miracles,from the Jesus Prayer to alchemy and Tarot, from Origen to Dante to Jung,Richard Smoley sheds the light of an alternative Christianity on these issuesand more.
File Size: 1277 KB
Print Length: 305 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1570628106
Publisher: Shambhala Publications; 1st edition (January 8, 2013)
Publication Date: January 8, 2013
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00AYKPKZG
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #461,957 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #211 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts > Ritual #278 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts > Mysticism #431 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Prayer
To appreciate my comments it is perhaps necessary to tell you a itlle bit of where I am coming from. I was raised in an essentially non-practicing Eastern Orthodox family, where the church was more of a cultural and identity institution. Combine this with the innate belief in the supremacy of rationality, and I was at a point where I believed that Christianity was nothing more than a social institution with rituals to just perpetuate itself.Theologically, I felt that the doctrine of original sin was something I could not believe. I also became convinced of the reality of re-incarnation, that Karma is not a "punishment" meted out by a "judge", but a universal principle of justice flowing from the fact that we create our destiny because of what we will into our lives. I thought the "faith only" formula was a socially useful convention, but that it did not answer our needs as intellectually curious human beings. So overall, one can see that by this point, it was hard for me to say I was a Christian according to the orthodox definition.This led me to read a lot of New Age, Buddhist, Hindu, Gnostic and even some channelled literature. If there was a thread combining these, it was that we are spiritual beings, who can realize our true nature through internal contemplation.I found this book, curiously enough, in the metaphysical section at a Borders shop, and not among the other Christian literature.To my mind, the esoteric tradition described in this book starts by acknowledging the gnostic path. That is, inner knowledge of God is possible. It extends this by stating the inner journey is a journey back to our oneness with God and with our true nature.
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