This chapter delves into the historical context of Alexandria, focusing on the varied philosophical and spiritual movements that emerged during the first and second centuries. It discusses the Hermetists, Gnostics, and Neoplatonists, as well as the influence of individuals like Ammonia Saccus and Origin in blending Christian theology with philosophical ideas. The exploration extends to the historical influences of shamanism and Hermeticism, linking ancient practices to modern scientific rationality and the development of modern chemistry.
Caleb Wait, Sola Media’s Director of Content, interviews Michael Horton on his new book, “Shaman and Sage: The Roots of “Spiritual but Not Religious” in Antiquity. Many preachers today appeal to headlines that announce a surge in spirituality as if this news offers the church encouragement. We tend to think of modern secular culture as hostile to spirituality—an atheistic world of soulless materialism. So if modern people now want spirituality, Christians often think, that must mean people will find their way toward Christianity. This thesis, among many others, is challenged by Horton in the first volume of his new series on the Divine-Self.
Listen in as Horton shares how this new intellectual history of “spiritual but not religious” as a phenomenon in Western culture is the biggest project he’s ever undertaken. Horton shows how ancient shamanist practices and philosophies appear in Plato, schools in Alexandria, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and more, revealing to us that modern practices and beliefs are far more ancient than we think.
SHAMAN AND SAGE: THE ROOTS OF “SPIRITUAL NOT RELIGIOUS” IN ANTIQUITY: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802877116/shaman-and-sage/
CHECK OUT THIS MONTH’S OFFERS:
For more information, visit us at whitehorseinn.org or email us at info@whitehorseinn.org.
Featuring: Michael Horton, Bob Hiller, Walter Strickland, and Justin Holcomb