THE GNOSTIC PHILOSOPHY Tobias Churton, Signal Publishing, Lichfield, 2003. Paperback, xxii and 394 pages, £19.95. ISBN 0-9543309-1-9. Available from Watkins Bookshop, Cecil Court, London

Gnosticism – from the Greek gnosis, meaning ‘knowledge’, is the approach to reality which seeks to know rather than to remain content with mere belief. Gnosticism cannot avoid being a radical perspective since it looks through all human structures – including religions - to the divine source shining beyond. Gnosticism took many forms: some Gnostics hated the earth and all it represented and sought to flee ‘upwards’. Others saw the body and the world as expressions of divinity and sought to sanctify their reality rather than to escape it. For the last two thousand years or more, Gnosticism has been persecuted and wilfully misunderstood by those who prefer to control human freedom. In this magisterial work Churton explores the origins of Gnosticism, its growth and development and along the way setting right not a few myths which have developed.
    This is not really a book to be read through in one sitting, it is rather a work to be dipped into in order to elucidate some important episode in our history which has hitherto been ignored or misused. The section on Jesus and the relationship of his words with the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls is particularly important. Churton writes: ‘Had Jesus visited the supposed "Qumran Sect" he would I think have looked at the community, with their hopes for changing the nature of the world from without, with pity.’
    Churton bravely seeks to rescue the eighteenth century Illuminati and the later Aleister Crowley from the hell to which they have been consigned by historians. He sees the rise of the radical Illuminati as the consequence of the replacement of pro-masonic and benevolent enlightenment rulers with narrow-minded successors. The section on Crowley is less successful: the latter’s relentless self-importance must surely have kept the vital door to Persephone’s kingdom closed; one searches in vain for humility in the face of the One from Crowley. Nevertheless, he was certainly a Gnostic. This exploration of Crowley’s thought is fascinating and, one assumes, seminal.
    There are annoyances with this book - too many parentheses, too few footnotes – but it must be included in the collection of any reader interested in the continued vitality of Gnosticism.
    Michael Baigent