Clement of Alexandria who wrote about the secret Gospel of Mark. Lived 150 - 215 ADRead Chapter One, Threads of a Hidden Teaching in the book, Inner Christianity

Copy and paste the questions below to a new e-mail, insert your answers and send to the Mystery School with the following subject line:  InnerChris 1 from ___________ (Your name).

1.  Whose letter did Morton Smith find in 1958?

2.  Give some examples of the use of secret teachings in the Gospels.

3.  T/F Gnosticism may hark back to Christ himself.

4.  What was the most important aspect of spirituality for the Gnostics?

5.  How many "veils" hide the truth?

6.  How many planets did the ancients recognize?

7.  What are the archons?

8.  Why did Gnosticism fail?

9.  What are the four levels of existence in Origen's system?

10.  What is the central goal of monasticism?

11.  What philosophies helped create artistic consistency over centuries of cathedral construction?

12.  Dante's celestial vision transforms the ___________ ___________ of Gnosticism into a terrace of ____________.

13.  According to Thomism, what is the highest form of human knowledge and truest way of knowing God?

14.  T/F  Esoteric knowledge has more of a home in Eastern Orthodoxy than in Catholicism.

15.  What two interconnected movements helped fuel and inspire the Italian Renaissance?

16.  What is the goal of Rosicrucianism?

Moses speaking to Hermes Trismegistus - they were thought to be contemporaries17.  For what two main trends did the Rosicrucians set the stage?

18.  T/F There are no esoteric movements in Catholicism.

19.  According to Levi, why does one do ritual magic?

20.  T/F The Golden Dawn uses no Christian imagery.

21.  What psychologist had strong affinities with inner Christianity?

22.  What is possibly the most powerful connection between the New Age and esoteric Christianity?

Exercise:  Do any of the authors and spiritual founders mentioned in this chapter appeal to you? Have you investigated any of these groups? Comment briefly. If you haven't checked any of them out yet, do you have a "wish list"?

[Mouse over images on this page to see who they are]

Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin French Mystic who influenced Theosophy and of course Martinism, lived 1743-1803. Blavatsky was very into his writings.

Inner Christianity Lesson Index

Questions by Deborah Presvytera