A NEW GNOSTICISM

An old threat to the church

November 2, 2004

Published in the 2004-11-05 issue:

Luke Timothy Johnson is emeritus Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and a frequent Commonweal contributor. Among his many books are Among the Gentiles: Greco-Roman Religion and Christianity (Yale) and Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church (Eerdmans).

Also by this author

'The Catholic Enlightenment'

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org and join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Must Reads

Politics

Civil Conflict in the Age of Trump

How should democracies deal with irreconcilable differences? How should we weigh the value of deliberation against its costs?

By James T. Kloppenberg

September 4, 2019

Religion

My Two Abortions

The need for abortion is evidence of our broken humanity, but our current response also shows our church’s inability to respond fully to the female experience.

By Anonymous

August 27, 2019

Culture

No Man Is an Island

Thomas Merton taught me to value self-denial, but a bout of depression forced me to question whether asceticism was the healthiest response to my life.

By Nick Scrimenti

August 24, 2019

Culture

That Was Freedom

Easy Rider is a lasting work of art not only because it reflects the “spirit of the Sixties,” but because it depicts a bona fide tragedy that transcends its time.

By Santiago Ramos

August 22, 2019

Books

Out of Touch

George Weigel resurrects an antiquated and narrow form of Catholicism at a historical moment when the future of the church is in crisis.

By James Chappel

September 5, 2019

Books

Boot Camp for Nuns

I’m nineteen years old, the year is 1958, and I’ve already made it through the first nine months of probation. More than anything in the world I want to be a saint.

By Sr. Helen Prejean

September 3, 2019

Collections

Fiction in Commonweal

To celebrate the publication our summer fiction issue, a new collection of short stories from our archives.

By The Editors

July 30, 2019

Collections

Labor & the Catholic Church

Commonweal writers have long engaged with the church’s stance on labor rights, worker justice, and income inequality. Here are the best pieces from our archives.

By The Editors

July 10, 2019

Search form