Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians [Paperback]

Freke and Gandy hinted at the secret teachings of the original Christians in their previous book, "The Jesus Mysteries." Wisely, they chose only to give a glimmer of these secrets there, as a full-blown examination of gnosis would've been outside of that book's boundaries. However, Jesus and the Lost Goddess is devoted to nothing but, and the authors are to be congratulated on their skillful presentation of gnosis for the modern reader.

In particular, I am indebted to them for finally making me see the positive side of gnosticism. In fact, their clear-cut view made me kick myself for never having noticed it before. After reading several other books about the gnostics, I was turned off by what seemed to be their total hatred for life. For example, the followers of Mani didn't marry, lived the lives of celibates, and basically waited for death. A horrible life-view, and to me seemingly a waste of the gift of life.

Freke and Gandy turn this view around; of course the gnostics believed that the body and the world were at heart a tomb, but at the same time, just as they practiced and preached docetism (that everything is composed of conflicting natures), they believed that, just as life can be bad, it can also be good. A simple view, but so much better than that presented by Literalist Christians. When asked how a "just God" could allow all of the human suffering that has been witnessed in human history, the fundamentalist can only offer vapid excuses. The gnostic, however, can say that of course life is bad, this world is hell; but good can happen just as easily, and everything, both good and bad, is just a test on our character. More importantly, it's just a movie we're watching; like the Platonists, the gnostics deemed Consciousness immortal: though our frail bodies might suffer and die, our soul is merely a spectator of events. So smile, even though you suffer, for nothing can truly harm you. And the "All is One" concept has never been advanced as breezily and believably.

In short, this is the type of book I've been searching for. It can give one a new lease on life. It wisely doesn't preach a return to gnosticism; Freke and Gandy explain why this would be absurd in their final chapter, "The New Improved Testament." This part of the book is especially affecting, as the authors point out several "bad ideas" that have corrupted our minds, and offer "good ideas" to combat them. Their response to the "bad idea" that God is a male is both hilarious and enlightening.

I would love to give a copy of this book to those people I know who are fundamentalist Christians. I think it could reveal to them how they've been mislead by two thousand years of "Christian" oppression and suppression. That it's time to grow up and leave the old cultural prejudices behind. But I don't think they could handle it. They'd probably end up stoning me to death.

The truth hurts.

In any case, Jesus and the Lost Goddess does a good job explaining precisely how Gnosticism works and how the Jesus story might be interpreted in the light of Gnostic mythology. In this, it presents a thought-provoking and fascinating look at a movement who's time has come and gone and, perhaps, come again. And, it manages to do this in a considerably more user friendly manner than most books on the subject, including Elaine Pagel's excellent work The Gnostics (which, while it does an admirable job explaining the history of the movement, does not do as well explaining it) and herein lies its greatest strength: it manages to bring the very complex and often confusing concepts within Gnosticism down to a laymen's level. While it can be on occasion a tedious read (Freke and Gandy sometimes slip in a few $25 words) and a bit obtuse at points, anyone who makes it all the way through should have a pretty good working knowledge of this ancient belief system that manages to seem both ancient and modern at the same time. I also found many parallels between the Gnostic's theology and that expressed in Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations With God trilogy, making me wonder if the three men ever read each other's work.

There are a few negatives however. First, the buyer should be aware that fully half of this book is composed of endnotes, making it a less substantial read than it might first appear. I also found the first appendix to be an unnecessary (and less concise) reiteration of information contained earlier in the book, and the second appendix on Islamic Gnosticism to be misplaced and not particularly useful (I also question their premise that Mohammed was a mystic. Historically speaking, he appears much more a conquering warrior/king than a closet Gnostic, but-oh well.)

But for anyone who is looking for an all encompassing and intellectually satisfying belief system that can stand up to the scientific and philosophical scrutiny of the twenty-first century and beyond, Jesus and the Lost Goddess is a good place to start. It sure beats anything else I've come across recently.