i don't believe in Gnosticism or Christianity but i find it interesting to see what fringe religion was doing around the inception of early Christianity, and the syncretism that impacted how and what Christianity took from other belief systems.

some reading recs:

"The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity" by Hans Jonas

"Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait" by Paul Verhoeven

If you want to bounce any recs for religious history (incl. early Christianity) or whatever else leave me a comment :)

Been reading a lot of stuff about witches lately, specifically the trials of witches in medieval Europe. Also been reading 'dissenting', i guess you'd call it, religious opinions from around that time. There's a guy, Jakob Boehme, who wrote a bunch of stuff on what he believes about Christianity. i'm going through it by his chronological publishing, and so far it seems fairly close to all the normal protestant/catholic stuff of the time. Although he has some funny parts about angels not having genitals and orifices and guts, even though they essentially look like humans in his words. And some standard, easily debunkable stuff about the "seven planets" and how the Sun is the center of the universe and from which all other stars derive their power. Stuff science has since disproved. It's pretty interesting, but i'm looking forward to getting to the parts that ended up making him a heretic and drove him out of his hometown/country. Just haven't gotten that far yet. Something about God being a fractal or something? Sounds interesting! :)