Gnosticism

A Note on the Philosophical SchoolBy Pons Malleus
Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices
Length3h 4m

About this audiobook

In an age flooded with information and noise, where the material and measurable often overshadow the inner and ineffable, a rediscovery of Gnosticism offers a strikingly modern relevance. This book is an invitation to journey into a philosophical worldview that defied the orthodoxies of its time—and perhaps still defies those of our own. Gnosticism, often misunderstood or dismissed as a heretical fragment of early Christian history, is far more than a set of outlawed scriptures or esoteric rituals. It is a mode of thought, a way of being, and a profound challenge to the prevailing paradigms of existence, knowledge, and salvation. At its heart, Gnosticism confronts a perennial human condition: the deep sense that the world, as we experience it, is somehow not as it should be—that we are exiles in a cosmos that conceals more than it reveals. Gnostics dared to name this unease, to mythologize it, and to systematize it into a metaphysical framework that combined ancient mythology, Platonic philosophy, and radical introspection. For the Gnostics, the material world was not merely flawed but fundamentally alien—a creation of lesser powers, a prison of the soul. Salvation, they claimed, comes not from belief or obedience, but through gnōsis: direct, transformative knowledge of the divine spark within. This book does not aim to romanticize Gnosticism, nor to reduce it to a single, unified doctrine. It is neither a defense of Gnosticism nor an attack on its critics. Rather, it is an attempt to understand it as a living, breathing philosophical tradition—complex, diverse, and internally contested. The reader will encounter the major themes of Gnostic thought: the demiurge and the pleroma, the fall of Sophia, the cosmic drama of entrapment and awakening, and the radical anthropology that sees the human being not as a sinner to be redeemed but as a divine fragment to be remembered. We will examine Gnosticism in its historical context—arising in the melting pot of Hellenistic religious ferment, drawing from Jewish mysticism, Persian dualism, and Greek metaphysics. We will explore the writings of key Gnostic texts, from the Apocryphon of John to the Gospel of Thomas, and consider the philosophical implications of their often cryptic and poetic insights. At the same time, we will trace the influence of Gnostic ideas through the centuries: in the mystics of medieval Europe, the dissenting sects of the Renaissance, and even in modern existential and psychological thought. Why does Gnosticism endure? Perhaps because it speaks to a timeless intuition: that the path to truth lies not in submission to external authority, but in awakening to something buried within. In a world increasingly dominated by systems that reduce human beings to data points and citizens to consumers, the Gnostic refusal to accept appearances at face value is not just subversive—it is necessary. I invite you to suspend your assumptions, to read not only with your intellect but with your inner ear. Gnosticism may not offer clear answers, but it poses questions that remain uncannily alive. It calls us to remember, to seek, and above all, to know.

Audiobook details

GenreSpirituality and Religion, Philosophy
Length3 hrs 4 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 18, 2025
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1GNOSTICISM
2Introduction to Gnosticism
3Key Gnostic Scriptures
4Core Philosophical Concepts
5Dualism in Gnostic Thought
Show all chapters
6The Role of Knowledge and Enlightenment
7Prominent Figures in Gnosticism
8Creation Myths and the Nature of the Divine
9Critiques of Gnostic Philosophy
10Gnosticism and Other Philosophical Traditions

Series

The Way of RoninTu Lam12h 9m4.9 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Proud Police WifeRebecca Lynn4h 52m4.8 (14K)$10 · $0.00
I Hear His Whisper 365 Daily Devotions (Gift Edition)Brian Simmons, Gretchen Rodriguez9h 23m4.8 (2K)$10 · $0.00
A Little God Time for Women Morning & Evening DevotionalBroadStreet Publishing Group LLC15h 15m4.9 (1.2K)$10 · $0.00
The Chosen Presents: A Blended Harmony of the GospelsSteve Laube, Amanda Jenkins, Dallas Jenkins7h 8m4.9 (823)$10 · $0.00
Prayers from the Throne RoomBrian Simmons8h 55m4.9 (256)$10 · $0.00
31 Decrees of Blessing for Your LifePatricia King2h 38m4.8 (1.4K)$10 · $0.00
Loved BabySarah Philpott4h 51m4.8 (1.4K)$10 · $0.00
The QuranAllah23h 7m4.7 (136.1K)$1 · $0.00
The Secret of the RosaryLouis de Montfort6h 1m4.7 (16K)$2 · $0.00
The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and CommentaryAbdullah Yusuf Ali22h 16m4.7 (133K)$1 · $0.00
All of Grace (Annotated)Charles Spurgeon5h 1m4.7 (1.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Steps to ChristEllen G. White3h 12m4.7 (13.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Doctrine and Selected CovenantsJoseph Smith13h 53m4.7 (10.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God & Other Sermons (Annotated)Jonathan Edwards7h 51m4.7 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Swayam Ki AwaazPrem Rawat8h 34m4.7 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
Behind the BadgeAdam Davis10h 18m4.7 (2.7K)$10 · $0.00
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1Daisaku Ikeda7h 46m4.7 (669)$12 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
Praying GraceDavid A. Holland3h 2m4.7 (658)$10 · $0.00
The Tao of Joy Every DayDerek Lin10h 24m4.6 (762)$20 · $0.00
Metaphysics (Annotated)Aristotle13h 30m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
Sceptical Essays (Annotated)Bertrand Russell9h 16m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
WitnessAriel Burger8h 1m4.6 (1.3K)$20 · $0.00
The Magic PresenceGodfré Ray King10h 21m4.6 (307)$1.20 · $0.00
The Art of LivingThich Nhat Hanh5h 1m4.5 (14.2K)$24 · $0.00
Moral Letters to LuciliusLucius Annaeus Seneca24h 26m4.5 (71.7K)$1.99 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie Cady3h 50m4.5 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
Letters from a StoicSeneca6h 5m4.4 (80.4K)$6 · $0.00
The Discourses of EpictetusP. E. MATHESOM12h 47m4.4 (17.7K)$1.20 · $0.00
IlluminationsWalter Benjamin10h 12m4.4 (16.2K)$20 · $0.00
That Bird Has My WingsJarvis Jay Masters9h 49m4.4 (13.7K)$29 · $0.00
Tâo Teh KingLaozi2h 34m4.4 (230.9K)$2 · $0.00
SymposiumPlato3h 26m4.4 (97.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Buddhist Boot CampTimber Hawkeye2h 39m4.4 (8.4K)$18 · $0.00
Enchiridion & The Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated)Arrian Epictetus18h 9m4.4 (3.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius AntoninusEmperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius5h 41m4.4 (1.8M)$1 · $0.00
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky23h 11m4.4 (1.3M)$12 · $0.00
MeditationsMarcus Aurelius5h 52m4.4 (433.7K)$1 · $0.00
Everyday DharmaSuneel Gupta5h 2m4.5 (761)$20 · $0.00

You may also like

Forbidden FaithRichard Smoley8h 59m4.1 (914)$29 · $0.00
Why Science Does Not Disprove GodAmir Aczel6h 52m3.9 (1.2K)$24 · $0.00
Esoteric Christianity - The Search for the True KnowledgeAnnie Besant7h 1m4.3 (284)$1.99 · $0.00
BandersnatchErika Morrison6h 11m4.1 (303)$17 · $0.00
Pandora's JarNatalie Haynes9h 25m4.3 (32.9K)$29 · $0.00
The Collected WorksDionysius the Areopagite11h 32m4.4 (2K)$1.99 · $0.00
Love WinsRob Bell3h 39m3.8 (82.7K)$18 · $0.00
Five Stages of Greek Religion (Annotated)Gilbert Murray8h 35m4.2 (317)$2 · $0.00
The Great DivorceC. S. Lewis3h 23m4.4 (230.4K)$18 · $0.00
The Essence of ChristianityLudwig Feuerbach14h 20m3.9 (2.2K)$12 · $0.00
Systematic Theology (Vol. 1-3) (Annotated)Augustus Hopkins Strong93h 3m4.5 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Interior Castle (Complete Edition)St. Teresa of Ávila10h 33m4.4 (25.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
God Is Not OneStephen Prothero14h 38m4.0 (4.9K)$33 · $0.00
The Everlasting Man (Annotated)G. K. Chesterton12h 46m4.3 (14.3K)$2 · $0.00
Fragments of a Faith ForgottenGeorge Robert Stow Mead18h 11m4.4 (149)$21 · $0.00
From the Caves and Jungles of HindostanH. P. Blavatsky10h 27m4.1 (247)$2.30
Archetype Of The Awakened SoulViolet Ross/ Luiz Santos5h 22m$7 · $0.00
The Greatest Books of Spiritual WisdomSaint Augustine, Pope Gregory I, Martin Luther, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Paine, Leo Tolstoy, Athanasius of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, John of Damascus, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Thomas à Kempis, St. Teresa of Ávila, Brother Lawrence, David Hume, Ludwig Feuerbach, Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, G. K. Chesterton, Arthur Pink, John Stuart Mill, Ralph Waldo Emerson, H. Emilie Cady, James Allen, Prentice Mulford, Florence Scovel Shinn, Wallace D. Wattles476h 59m4.5 (120)$1.99 · $0.00
The Origin of Paul's ReligionJohn Gresham Machen9h 35m4.2 (97)$2 · $0.00
The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil From the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Annotated)Paul Carus12h 42m3.9 (724)$1.99 · $0.00