4 frims out of 5 possible!
Lorem Ipsum
Elizabeth Clare Prophet has made a name for herself over the last 28 years as an extremely esoteric New Age writer and leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant. CUT and its sister association, The Summit Lighthouse, are known for some of the most bizarre weirdness being trumpeted in contemporary religion. (I.e., St. Germain was the reincarnation of Samuel the Prophet, Christopher Columbus, and Merlin, and he likes to hang out in Transylvania and Wyoming. I'm not making this up!)
But in recent years, Prophet's writings have taken a turn away from the fringe, and toward writing about valid questions of early Christianity: Did Jesus travel to the East in his youth, as some legends suggest? What were the "secret teachings" of Jesus claimed in the Nag Hammadi codices, alluded to in the Church Fathers, and occasionally mentioned in the New Testament? Did Jesus show us how to become one with God? Was reincarnation a part of early Christian belief? Excellent questions all. But is Ms. Prophet capable of shedding light on the matter?
The answer is a surprising, though qualified, Yes. The title is somewhat misleading; this isn't strictly about reincarnation per se, but rather, reincarnation and theosis or divinization, the union of the soul with God. The author is coming from an a priori belief in karma-that multiple lifetimes are necessary for most souls to obtain union with God, so to her, reincarnation and theosis aren't two separate subjects, but a single matter. In contrast, I had come to believe in purgatory as the realm where the soul's divinization can be realized, so for years, reincarnation seemed completely unnecessary to me. Hence this book felt like it was lurching back and forth between two subjects-the essential matter of theosis, and the peripheral one of reincarnation.
No matter. Prophet has produced an extensively-researched, sympathetic look at the wilder schools of Judeo-Christian mysticism through the ages (now known as heretics), and the sad history of their suppression by the Apostolic Church throughout its history. Unfortunately, it's an unbalanced look, and totally neglects the positive points of how the Church preserved the truth of theosis, later Christian mystical traditions and the numerous writings of Christian mystics about union with God. Prophet's bias is consistent to the point of obstinacy. How is it possible, I wondered, for someone to research mysticism so thoroughly, yet miss the continuity of theosis in Catholic thought, and the centrality of theosis in Orthodox Christianity?
Her question back to us seems to be how could we miss the teaching of reincarnation-theosis in Merkabah mysticism, Philo's philosophy, Jesus' probable teachings, possible allusions in Paul, Gnostic writings, and Origen's theology? This is the story which Prophet wants to tell, and a fascinating story it is, in spite of a bland writing style. While I can't quite assume everything was as rosy with the heretical sects as she does, she casts a great deal of doubt on the conventional explanations of why Gnostics, Arian Christians, and Origenists were condemned. With the tenacity of a bloodhound on the trail of a fugitive, she traces the persecutions of all groups which taught reincarnation. And one conclusion is beyond dispute: since Constantinople II in 553 effectively quashed Christian belief in reincarnation until recently. For someone interested in early Church history like myself, no matter how one-sided Prophet's history is, it presents an intriguing perspective, and its very one-sidedness may help balance the big picture, for we know that the winners wrote the histories which we've come to accept as truth. Just as interesting are her insights on the meaning of persistent phrases used by Jesus and Paul, with good expositions on how they might have been understood in Greco-Jewish mysticism.
For someone not already familiar with theosis, this book may well be a life-changer, since learning the truth of theosis will change the life of anyone who comes to deeply embrace it. Regarding the subject of reincarnation, Prophet's book is interesting, but not convincing. It makes an compelling case for reincarnation being widely believed in Jesus' world, but by itself not a convincing case for it being truth. (There are other books which do that much better, such as Carol Bowman's astounding Return from Heaven.)
Nevertheless, the research is impressive. There are 65 pages of notes, and 14 pages of bibliographic sources. With so much effort made for good documentation, it is truly a shame there is no index to help the reader refer back to any of the numerous topics of interest. Prophet "throws out the baby with the bath water" when it comes to conventional Christianity, but conversely, she shows how conventional Christianity may well have done the same with beliefs once commonly held by everyday Christians, but which are now condemned as heresy.