This volume takes a multi-disciplinary approach to continental philosophy of religion, engaging with philosophy, theology, religious studies, anthropology, cultural studies, and new religious movements, to explore patterns of mind and mortality, existence and ecstasy, creativity and expression, political possibility and religious matrix.

The concluding essay of the book gives an account of the critical reflections of Karl Jaspers on what he judged to be the obscure, seductive and, in the final analysis, gnostic speculation of Martin Heidegger.

Originally presented as five lectures at Union Theological Seminary in New York, this volume by F. Crawford Burkitt considers the origins of Gnosticism within the context of early Christianity and apocalypticism. Burkitt thinks that Gnosticism was an expression of ordinary Christianity in terms and categories that suited the science and philosophy of the day. He holds that if we can make our way through the unfamiliar imagery to the ideas that they attempt to express, some of these forms will appear thoughtful to us and will show kinship with some modern philosophical and psychological conceptions. To him Gnosticism was a Christian product, albeit a heretical one. Nevertheless, he views Gnosticism as a serious attempt to fill the void left by the failure of apocalypticism and the eschatological hope

One of the most exciting names in contemporary French philosophy explores the lessons of heresy to construct a new understanding of "belief."

Gnostic America is a reading of current American culture, politics, and religious life according to the ancient movement known as Gnosticism. In it, Peter M Burfeind builds off the foundations of Hans Jonas, Denis de Rougement, Norman Cohn, William Voegelin, Carl Jung, and Harold Bloom, each of whom saw the effects of Gnosticism in contemporary American (and Western) life. He explores the spiritual mechanisms going on behind everything from transgenderism to so-called "contemporary worship," from the deconstructionist movement to the role pop music and media have in our culture, from progressive politics to the Emergent Church. Particularly challenging is Burfeind's claim that both progressivism and Neo-evangelicalism -- seemingly at odds in the "culture wars" -- actually share the same Gnostic roots. Burfeind's book is a tour de force through contemporary rock, pop, movies, television, politics, and religion showing how many of the values driving these cultural elements are informed by the ancient esoteric teachings of Gnosticism. Burfeind marshals a ton of surprising evidence to make his case, taking us through ancient and Medieval history, through the Enlightenment and Romantic periods, to today. Those willing to grapple with the philosophical and spiritual positions of the fathers of contemporary American life will be rewarded. Gnostic America is a must read for those who sense a new "spiritual but not religious" religion has arisen in America, but who can't put their finger on what exactly this religion is. Burfeind commits the sacrilege of defining a religion that claims to be "beyond" definition. More importantly, he poses the question, if the spiritual trends of contemporary culture are indeed a religion, what First Amendment safeguards remain for those who haven't "evolved" with the emerging new consciousness, but choose to remain stuck in supposedly retrograde paradigms of thought?

This special issue of Labyrinth is the second part of a diptych dedicated to the eminent French philosopher François Laruelle in honor of his 80th Anniversary. The included essays deal with the Origins of Laruelle's Non-Philosophy in Ravaisson's Understanding of Metaphysics, the question of Religious Pluralism, the non-philosophical mystique and the rehabilitation of heresis, the analogies and differences of Laruelle's non philosophy to Iamblichus or Martin Heidegger. The contributors to this issue are Vincent Le, John M. Allison, Eleni Lorandou, Stanimir Panayotov, Ameen Mettawa, David Bremner, and Yvanka B. Raynova.