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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 2, 2026

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In a lot of Gnostic cosmologies the big G God doesn't act very much in the universe. Other entities do to show his grace such as Sophia and Jesus.

Yes but those are emanations of the One. And there are more than that like Adamas, cosmic Seth, who is mysteriously identified with the moniker the Son of Man, which I did not bring up.

I'm curious if you've read the Nag Hammadi texts or the gospel of Thomas?

Yes, there are alluring lines. Thomas 114:

Simon Peter said to them, “Mary should leave us, because women aren’t worthy of life.”

Jesus said, “Look, am I to make her a man? So that she may become a living spirit too, she’s equal to you men, because every woman who makes herself manly will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

From Apocrypha of John:

The chief ruler, Yaldabaoth, knew that because the light-filled Epinoia within Adam made his mental abilities greater than his own, Adam had been disobedient. In order to recover the Power that he had put into Adam Yaldabaoth made Adam completely forgetful.

Adam had intercourse with the image of his foreknowledge (prognosis). He begot a son like the Son of Man, and he called that son Seth, modeling him on the heavenly race in the higher realms.

In the same way the mother sent down her spirit the image of herself, a model of the full higher realm, In order to prepare a place for the descent of the realms.

The Chief Ruler, though, forced the humans to drink from waters of forgetfulness so that they might not know their true place of origin.

The children (of Seth) remained in this condition for a while in order that when the Spirit descends from the holy realms the Spirit can raise up the children and heal them from all defects, and thus restore complete holiness to the fullness of God.