It’s been two weeks since Trump lost the election to Biden. But he and his followers are still claiming victory. Jeff Sharlet, who has been covering the election for Vanity Fair, credits two Christian-adjacent ideas for these claims. The first is the so-called “prosperity gospel”: the notion that, among other things, positive thinking can manifest positive consequences. Even electoral victory in the face of electoral loss. But the problem with prosperity gospel, like day-and-date rapture prophecies, is that when its bets don’t pay off, it’s glaringly obvious.
As prosperity thinking loses its edge for Trump, another strain of fringe Christianity — dating back nearly two millennia — is flourishing. Jeff Sharlet says an ancient heresy, Gnosticism, can help us understand the unifying force of pseudo-intellectualism on the right. Sharlet explains how a gnostic emphasis on "hidden" truths has animated QAnon conspiracies and Trump’s base."
This is a segment from our November 20th, 2020 program, Believe It Or Not.
Gnostic America
The postmodern move away from “logo-centric” communication toward phantasy, characteristic of the media revolution, fulfills the vision of Christianity’s oldest anti-Logos foes, the Gnostics. Modern progressivism, rooted in Social Gospel theology, “Religion of Humanity” ideas, and Hegel are direct descendants of a Medieval-Gnostic perversion of Christian theology.
Neo-evangelicalism, or “non-denominationalism,” has become the Christian wing of the New Age movement, finding more in common with ancient Gnosticism than orthodox Christianity. America is far from secular! Like Rome c. 325 AD, it is undergoing a spiritual revolution toward Gnosticism.
– Peter Burfeind
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