Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy from the Gospels to the Da Vinci Code

Having read Smoley's previous books and the magazine (Gnosis) he edited for many years, I was pleased to see him take up the history of Gnosticism. His background in philosophy and religion and his fluid, accessible style of presenting complicated material make this book a great intro to the subject.

What a great book! Gnosticism can be difficult to understand but Mr. Smoley makes it very easy to read and comprehend the Legacy. Richard Smolely did an excellent job of researching the tenets of Gnosis throughout "known" history. It got a little boring and it was a stretch during the Medeival Church era but it was worth it to find out where he was going with it at the end of the book. For example he analyzes the movie "The Matrix". It really is not a Gnostic movie. I never considered this but when "Thomas" Anderson discovers he is not in the real world, their reality is "worse" than the Matrix. This is NOT Gnosticism. What is Gnostic is what follows: "The only character who expresses anything close to true Gnosticism is, ironically, Agent Smith----the truly disembodied mind who is forced to take on physical form and interact in the simulated physical world within the Matrix. As he says to Morpheus: 'I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it.' He is desperate to return to a pure state of disembodied existence, just as any true Gnostic would. Yet he is the embodiment of the enemy." And then he further gathers the following from Meister Echardt "I put detachment higher than love." For Echart, it is detachment from the world and its experiences that leads on toward God. "Experience must always be an experience of something, but detachment comes so close to zero that nothing but God is rarefied enough to get into it, to enter the detached heart." This statement is practically a one sentence summary of the path of Gnosis......... This is exactly what happens during meditation if done correctly....when one looks......inward! This book is loaded with "Secret Knowledge" or Gnosis! Richard Smoley is clearly a Gnostic Scholar. I shall keep this book in my library for future reference. Jesus said "Become of Passers-by".......Gospel of "Thomas" (Nag Hammadi Library).

A wonderful introduction to the labrythine history of this fascinating religious group. Smoley, a Harvard and Oxford educated scholar, writes in an accessible way that really draws you in to the subject. Read it along with Elaine Pagels, "The Gnostic Gospels."

This book is easily the most comprehensive, easy to read, well researched book on esoteric spirituality. All of this in the space of 256 pages! The index is thorough (have you noticed that more and more non-fiction books are being published without indices?! Not this one, I am happy to report!)and the chapters are well organized. The book serves well either as an introduction to esoteric/gnostic spiritualities, as a historical survey of the history of those spiritualities, or as an up-to-date series on recent developments in this area of knowledge. Richard Smoley is an authority on these matters and has done a marvelous job with this book. I was especially interested in and appreciative of the section of the book that discusses A Course in Miracles. This one is a "must have" book! Highly recommended.