Secret Book of John

The Secret Book of John has a detail that’s easy to read past. After the rulers of this world fail to control humanity by force, they meet again and try something cleverer. In Marvin Meyer’s translation, “They created a contemptible spirit similar to the spirit that had descended, in order to adulterate souls through this spirit.” Similar to the spirit that had descended. The rulers didn’t build a monster. They built a copy of the good thing, close enough that people would take it in without a fight. ...

“Demiurge” sounds like the name of a monster. In Greek it was an ordinary word for a craftsman, somebody who made things for the public, like a potter or a carpenter. Plato picked that humble word for the maker of the world, and he meant it kindly. Five or six centuries later, Gnostic teachers used the same word for a blind and jealous ruler who had trapped the soul in a body. They didn’t get the idea from nowhere. They had read Plato closely, and they kept almost everything he said except his opinion of the craftsman. That one change is the most useful key I know for reading Gnostic myth, so let’s follow it through Plato’s two most famous images. ...