St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Recently someone asked me about Gnosticism and Buddhism. I offered this quick response.

Gnosticism is a general term like "humanism" or "mysticism." Many different religions have had gnostic sensibilities - a radical dualism, a suspicion of the body, an interest in secret knowledge. The church rejected gnosticism for several reasons. Gnosticism is anti materialistic and devolved into tight-knit, secretive communities.

That said, the Gospel of John and a couple of the letters are probably "gnostic" texts (lots of commentators don't like this idea, but I think any objective reading would have to admit this). The church has generally been wary of gnosticism, so the Gospel of John was placed between Luke and Acts. This put gnostic ideas in the context of social justice.

There are many interesting parallels between Buddhism and Christianity that are provocative and intriguing. I've found some buddhist writings illuminating in my own path (I'm a big fan of Thich Nhat Hahn - the Vietnamese Buddhist). The techniques of praying in Buddhism I find useful, and I like the general ethical content.

Christianity, however, differs on a few fronts: it has an implicit rejection of perfectionism that I sometimes find in a the path toward enlightenment (although lots of Christians might disagree with this, for lots of Christians believe in perfectionism. I think perfectionism is a heresy); Buddhism tries to escape desire, whereas Christians prioritize desire; and Christianity has revealed something about the scapegoating nature of the human community, in time. As someone half-Indian, I was especially moved, however, by Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism. It provided a road map for my own conversion to Christianity.