A nossa cultura é pagã?

by Peter R. Jones

Embora o pós-modernismo, politeísmo e a antiga heresia do gnosticismo não pareçam se relacionar, Peter Jones mostra que eles são parte de uma antiga cosmovisão religiosa que busca impor elementos significativos de uma civilização pagã à cultura ocidental outrora “cristã”. Jones nos ajuda a entender esse sistema espiritual inimigo para podermos combatê-lo com o evangelho bíblico.

A nossa cultura é pagã? merece a atenção de todo pastor, professor, pai e estudante.
— Sinclair B. Ferguson

Aos poucos os detalhes entram em foco e o leitor percebe o verdadeiro cerne desses movimentos e a urgência da fé no verdadeiro evangelho de Jesus Cristo.
— John M. Frame

Genres: Theology

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Peter Jones (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the author of many books, including One or Two: Seeing a World of Difference, The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines Your Sexuality, and The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back: An Old Heresy for the New Age. He is the executive director of truthXchange and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America.

Reviews

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a short book, this one packs a punch. Full and dense, but certainly better than the alternative. Jones looks at three "isms" that have intertwined themselves in an allied manner to be the monster they are today. Gnosticism, polytheism, and postmodernism are the three headed dragon that has enveloped our culture. Jones explicates each of these and provides some necessary antidotes along the way.

[C.S. Wachter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Standing up to cancel culture and its influence on the Church is not easy these days, especially when it is inherent in movies and television, and dominates Social Media. We are experiencing a plague of atheism, postmodernism, and wokeism wrapped within a resurgence of Gnosticism. Taken together they promote the worship of “self”. As Ecclesiastes reminds us there is nothing new under the sun. Satan’s attacks always wear a veneer of religiosity but underneath, a core of corruption will be found. This brief booklet should be on every Christian’s To Be Read pile. It explains in simple language the crisis we face today. The Gates of Hell will not prevail against the onslaught of the true believing Church of Christ. But we must know what we believe and understand the lies of the enemy. It is time we Christians stopped resting in our comfortable, insipid faith and stepped out with the courage and strength our forebearers showed when facing pagan myths and heresies.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book about a weighty topic! Totally makes me wanna jump into it more deeply!!!

[Morgana Mendonça dos Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gostei, gostei!

[Felipe Sabino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muito bom!

[Saul W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a theological conspiracy theory, in the best way possible.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

P&R continues to release great booklets to equip the Church. In the latest release renowned cultural critic Peter Jones has been enlisted to help explain the evolving worldview of a postChristian, postsecular Western world. Jones sets out to display “the heart of our culture through a prism of isms”, specifically: postmodernism, Gnosticism, and polytheism. Jones shows how these three “isms” are “strangely connected” and “help to explain the nature of today’s pagan worldview and its opposition to the truth of the Gospel.”

Jones begins by giving brief and clear definitions of “modern” and “postmodern” and why he, and others, see our society as moving or even being beyond postmodernism and having moved into a “postsecular” age where metanarratives and absolute truths will once again begin to become prominent. Jones sees growing discontent with the skeptical empiricism that voices itself in atheistic terminology and argues that atheism will soon be replaced with pantheism. When the intolerant atheistic argument is replaced by the tolerance of pantheism, “this postsecular mystical search for meaning in the nonrational is to be observed in the return to the modern world of the ancient religious system known as Gnosticism.” Jones gives a detailed (for a booklet) look at Gnosticism and leads into a basic discussion of Oneism and Twoism, the topics for which he is well known. He gives a taste of his arguments in this booklet but the reader is definitely left wanting more. Jones cites frequently from a wide range of sources so the endnotes section turns into a pretty extensive “To Be Read” list for anyone who finds this work compelling, which should be anyone who reads it!

The new spirituality of our Western world is actually an old spirituality being repackaged and reintroduced. Gnostic polytheism that seeks to destroy the Creator-creature divide by arguing that all is one is not the least bit new. It does allow for the ignoring of a being that is Other (and thus anything he might say or require) and encourages a bowing of the knee to the Lord Tolerance—both of which any surface observation of our current culture would recognize as current and growing.

The postmodern destruction of secular rationalism has become the breeding ground of a renewed Gnosticism (seen in everything from academic philosophy to Jungian psychology to nominal Christianity) and the promulgation of Oneism, the worship of the creature. Jones makes a compelling case as to why he sees this becoming the prevailing view and why the Christian needs to be prepared to address “the pagan heart of today’s culture.” This is an alarm that needs to be sounded and Jones does it in a manner urgency and confidence befitting a worshiper of a sovereign God. This is 50 pages worth reading and following up with some more of Jones’ work. This is another great booklet from a great series.

*I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do you think atheism, postmodernism and gnosticism have in common? On the surface they might seem to be poles apart but Peter Jones thinks otherwise, and attempts to shows it in this booklet.

First Jones goes through each of the terms, stating the definition, explanation and a brief history into each of them. Then Jones introduces the term ‘perennial philosophy’ which binds all of them together. Briefly it is a system of Oneism, where everything shares the same nature and are essentially one, as compared to Twoism, where the creator-creature distinction is apparent and distinct.

Jones then argues how atheism, postmodernism and gnosticism all belong to the Oneism sphere, and then responded with the christian Twoism claims and how these 2 systems will always be at odds with each other. Finally Jones ends why showing that although these 3 worldview (postmodern, gnosticism and atheism) looks really different, they are not really ‘new’ in the sense that they are really bring us back to the garden of eden, where these two are clashing against each other yet again.

Those who would really gain from this booklet are those who are willing to put in the hardwork to think. Intersperse within the booklet are numerous discussion questions that encourage the readers to digest each small section and think about what they have read. Do not aim to look to the booklet for answers, it’s not meant to do that, it will guide you in the right direction through.

One weakness for this booklet is that I found the arguments not very convincing, however, the grouping of the three worldview under Oneism certainly is something very new and ought to be further explored to strengthen the claims. Recommended for those who would like to explore within this area, and likes/hopes to think deeply over what he has read.

Rating: 3.25/5

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating booklet and a new addition to the Christian Answers to Hard Questions series this is the result of the partnership between the faculty of the Westminister Theological Seminary and P&R Publishing. Early in the booklet Peter Jones argues that the three “isms” of Postmodernism, Gnosticism and Polytheism provides “the lens through which we can understand what is sometimes called the New Spirituality” (7). The booklet defines Postmodernism, Paganism and Gnosticism and then argues that the transition from Modernity with its atheism and emphasis on logos is now being replaced by the spirit of postmodernity, pantheism and mythos. Paganism attempts to join opposites (good and evil, male and female, Creator and creature, etc) which Gnosticism also does too. The irony that Jones note is that modernism’s skepticism and atheistic outlook in attacking Christianity gave rise to polytheism instead in its wake. This is because man is incurably religious, though they suppress the truth and make idols instead according to Romans 1. Jones make the argument that atheism and paganism has more in common with each other (“cousins”) because they both shared in the belief that all reality is ultimately one (Jones calls this “Oneism”); at the end of the day there is really two worldviews competing, that of the Christian worldview’s “Two-ism” and that of Monism. This book is an excellent summary of Jones’ life work in the area of Paganism and our culture. It is well researched and for a small booklet it has 121 footnotes. I only wished he employed Van Til’s argument of the one and the many to refute “Oneism.” I do recommend the book.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

[Jenni Schell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm honestly not sure how I felt about this book. As a Pagan, I was hoping for much more than I received. It was an interesting take but nothing more for me.