The Medieval Gnostic Theology of the Cathars - The Book of the Two Principles
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- The medieval Gnostic Cathars have become the stuff of legend - but what exactly was their philosophy and theology? Surviving in a single manuscript, the Book of the Two Principles (Liber de Duobus Principiis) is the most sustained work of Cathar theology to have survived all attempts to exterminate this dualist form of Christianity. This volume argues in support of radical metaphysical dualism and against the freedom of the will for the truly righteous, even polemizing against other Cathar factions. Surviving the fires of the Inquisition, the text is a fascinating glimpse into Catharism!
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#cathars #inquisition #heresy #gnosticism
Recommended Readings:
Cathar Texts online - gnosis.org/library/cathtx.htm
Summa Catharis - archive.org/details/Thesaurus...
David Zbíral - Heretical Hands at Work: Reconsidering the Genesis of a Cathar Manuscript (Ms. Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Conv. soppr. J.II.44) - www.academia.edu/32864862/Her...
Primary Sources:
Wakefield - Heresies of the High Middle Ages - 978-0231096324
Léglu, Catherine, Rebecca Rist and Claire Taylor (eds.) The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade: a Sourcebook (London: Routledge, 2014)
Charlesworth - The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Volume 2 - 978-1598564907
Traditionalists:
Barber, Malcolm, The Cathars: Dualist heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages, Second edition (Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson, 2013)
Lambert, Malcolm, The Cathars (Oxford; Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1998)
Lansing, Carol, Power and purity: Cathar heresy in Medieval Italy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Taylor, Claire, Heresy in medieval France: Dualism in Aquitaine and the Agenais, 1000-1249 (Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, NY: Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press, 2005)
Skeptics:
Moore, R. I., The War on Heresy (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012) clio.columbia.edu/catalog/141...
Pegg, Mark Gregory, A Most Holy War: the Albigensian Crusade and the battle for Christendom (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) clio.columbia.edu/catalog/141...
Sennis, Antonio (ed.), Cathars in Question (York: York Medieval Press, 2016)
Make Sure to Subscribe & Consider supporting Esoterica by
becoming a monthly Patron - www.patreon.com/esotericachannel
a one time donation - www.paypal.me/esotericachannel
or the Super Thanks - Your support is profoundly appreciated!
🙃
Your command of language is impeccable
The cathars had these books that they considered "scripture" that were totally different from the books of the new Testament, they were written much-much later as well. so basically they made up a religion with made-up books.
They stood against everything medieval society stood for. They denied Jesus' divinity, they thought the body was made by the devil, and starving to death is a good thing. they were the communists of their time.
It is good that they were eradicated.
@@voxpopuli8132 your comment was censored i wonder why it deemed it unworthy i agree
The Cathars had more right than the Catholics but they both, either accidently or intentionally presented conclusions that are incorrect, however the only way to fundamentally change what is, you have to dwell in what isn't.
I met a cathar once and asked them if they were a brother. They shook their head and said “gnosis”
Hah! Your a funny guy
And the dad joke award goes to....
😂 one of the nerdiest jokes I've seen in a while
Lol
Clever.
I found this video very cathartic... I'll show myself out.
Nah, you're in good company. Think that joke has already been made a few times so far ;)
When I was younger I went nearby MontSegur in the south of France 🇫🇷 it is a beautiful place full of magic and Keynes. Yea the catars are amazing good men and look for equality between men and woman it is amazing!
This channel is good at restoring my faith in both the internet and humanity, something about seeing doctor of magic in a yamaka earnestly talking about dualist theology alongside a meme about Thomas and Cathar Jesus
The world might be ending but the stuff we have is amazing
And some stuff about descending into a chariot 😂great.
Jesus was not a cathar but the cathar formed their thoughts from Jesus.
@@mtr65 Insightful point - thanks. The 'Cathar' (Good Christian) Bishop Guilabert of Castres said, "Gold and silver I no longer carry in my purse. I am satisfied with each day’s food and am not anxious whether tomorrow I shall have enough to be clothed and fed. You see me in the teachings which Jesus Christ preached and in which His Gospel consists.”
I think finding/seeing similar spiritual ideas in more than one religion hints that there may be some truth to them, way to many examples out there of religious thoughts being mangled over time by people in power editing/twerking to support their own agenda on older material.
Peaceful people living thoughtfully based on faith?
Let's get em!
Sad but not uncommon.
I think I know what you likely mean, but please know that Gnostic Christians live by facts and not the faith of the supernatural believing other. No real talkin serpents and donkeys please. Such thinking produces poor moral side. Remember that the best ideologies and duality, calls even peaceniks to make war when required by morals.
@@terriblefez Some of us like to evolve to our best end, while idol worshipers stagnate and show less fitness and moral thought.
Yes , faith in Spirit not Church!
'On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jail break.' - a clever philosopher.
The author of this quote is Robert Anton Wilson. He was an American author, philosopher, and futurist who is best known for his book "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" and for his writings on topics such as conspiracy theories, counterculture, and quantum physics
Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia! Principia Discordia
Understandable Logic
@Checobeep
I love philosophy, but never heard of/read of this quote.
Really interesteing.
Hello esoterica, I enjoy your videos from time to time. I am a student of religion philosophy and ancient history. Would you mind sharing your name and background? Seeing your Yamaha, are you Jewish? Can you give a little bit of background about yourself and your personal religious/philosophical practice? Thanks very much.
Gnosticism and the Cathars are a great source for worldbuilding.
'Elder Scollls' video game, High Elf worldview is very similar to Cathar
The pope left the chat!
Particularly if they just spread organically
Dr. Sledge. Thank you for your unfailing scholarship and presentation. You never fail to impress.
And if you look closely you can see a sense of humor shining through.
I apologize for the simple minded comments. Apparently ignorance is a bliss.
Cathars basically thought that we all live in a Matrix
they realized we live on a hellish planet full of lies and deception 🤯 they stated the obvious
I absolutely love these videos my friend!
Super fun stuff, these 'heresies' ;)
Thanks! This is the clearest and most informative explanation of the Cathars and who they were I have ever heard. I have known and read about them but until now nobody ever explained who they were and what their beliefs were. Great channel.
Books by Johnny Bineham. Older books come from the Catholic point of view, with all the bias and hostility.
Thanks for continuing to produce these videos. I learn so much!
Gotta love those Cathars
really appreciate your videos on the intricacies of gnosticism, they're my favorite of yours. I always enjoy the historical art you choose, medieval christian paintings are so bizarre and engrossing
Long lineage (Roman Catholicism gave us great records) of clerics in the church shows that often those who were forced back into the church to save their lives ( those who didn't walk into the fires) simply donned the cloak, not the mantle. So there were pockets and sects and family teachings. Quebecois Marions on my side who came to North America very very early (1600 or earlier) almost had a feral ferocity to the dual meanings of teachings and the "We keep this among family."
Wow
Sounds like Jews in Spain who were forced to convert to Catholicism.
Very well manipulated information.
@@tanistealife do pontificate
Googled quebecoise Marion's briefly out of curiosity, didn't find anything though.
Thank you for this and all your videos! I have learned so much from your sharing your work.
So much food for thought. Really appreciate this channel.
Your videos are fascinating and you have a good style of calm delivery
I suspect that the mention of the region of Lake Garda as a hotbed of Cathar practice may be the result of toponomastic mistaken identity. I will explain: at the southern tip of Lake Garda lies the town of DESENZANO, a very prosperous and well known town, very easily accessible and close to major cities.
A very small village named DESENZANO also exists near the town of ALBINO, north of Bergamo, in the Valle Seriana. Apparently this small village was the main seat of the Cathar sect of the ALBINENSES, according to the Enciclopedia Treccani (similar in scope to the Encyclopedia Britannica).
Albinenses, of course, must refer to Albino itself, the main center of the lower Valle Seriana.
The town of Albino is the location where the small river LUIO (also LUJO) flows into the Serio river. The river Luio/Lujo comes from the homonymous Valle del Lujo.
Now, the author of the treatise is presented here as John of Lugio, translation of Italian "Giovanni da Lujo. You can see where I am going with this.
Everything converges to support the hypothesis that Lake Garda has little to do with this particular chapter of the Cathars' history, and that this is the result of a mistake caused by the reference to the name of Desenzano.
I also heard Dr. Sledge mention very quickly a name that sounded like GAMBINO. Could it be that it was GANDINO? Gandino is another town in a valley that departs from Valle Seriana, a few kilometers north of Albino. Gandino, now a very small charming village, was an extremely rich town during the Middle Ages, known for the high quality wool that was exported all over Europe. This has nothing to do directly with the Cathars themselves, but it is at least intriguing that toponomy seems to point all to a very small area in this region.
Interestingly, Chinese Manichaeans described their beliefs with the set phrase "doctrine of the two principles and three times"
Problem with all this philosophical discussions that they dont go far enough into history. Therefore the reasoning , although solid within it's keyhole context , is narrowed to the keyhole. 😂 It's ancient Sanskrit teaching that the common man has no free will..... Even perhaps as an adept....one has to accept that the programmes.tun things, or the higher self.... The reincarnation I can see as a stumbling block for the ever so power hungry Catholics..... 🤣 .
I enjoy this channels ability to take a pragmatic view of accepted history , and change tack when new info comes to light 🙏
Another juicy one. Again, thank you for the amazing work and pristine delivery. Have a terrific weekend dear Justin!
Thanks, brother!
Thank you Dr, whilst i do not understand everything I certainly have a much broader knowledge than I did before. You are much appreciated. Mark/New Zealand
I really appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into these videos, Dr. Sledge! Likewise, I appreciate you being so up-front about your own biases and your efforts to put them aside for the sake of education. (Although, it does come off as a bit cat-and-scratching-post meme. "This is what part of the Cathar orthodoxy would've believed... IF THERE WAS ONE!")
Nefarious? Probably misheard? ... or!?
Love the channel! You help bring the hidden and difficult ancient text to the masses with great presentation and with a hint of humor! 🧐 Excellent!
Excellent! Please cover the Bogomils as well!
Thank you Dr. J. Sledge for being a rare ✨💎✨on YT and on Philosophy regarding “distinct deep” knowledge on a myriad of topics, and taking the time and effort with sharing it all with us X 😁😎☺️😌🙌🏻👍🏻👌🏻❤️❤️❤️
Always great uploads....thank you.
Wow! That was great info. I will listen to this again.
Thank you for the explanation of Cathar theology. We can only imagine their eternal bliss as we wallow in the burden of the physical world
"How grateful, are even the heretics, when they see that rain has come to nourish the dry land. And I have never heard one of them thank Satan for it." St. Dominic
@@bromisovalum8417 How convenient that they killed all the cathars and burned their books so we can't ask them for their reply to that.
Excellent analysis, as always!! 👏🏽
I think the first time I've learned about the Cathar's was through a song that was in my rec's on yt.
Lo Boier.
It's a really beautiful song.
Something that came up for me while listening was the yoga sutras. There is a sutra that discusses the causes of suffering such as mistaking the unreal for the real and pain for pleasure. I love making connections to the various wisdom traditions.
Dido, underlines likelyhood of truth if found multiple times/places/cultures.
Thank you for bringing this frustratingly difficult to research belief system to light. I've long wondered what exactly made the Cathars so threatening to Orthodox Catholicism. There are some aspects of Cathar philosophy that are intriguing considering the very muddy genesis (pun intended) of the identity of "the one true god". Your episode 'Who is Yahweh' provides compelling historical context for why the identity of 'the one true god" was so passionately "debated".
Cathartic as always.
zing
You have a vast knowledge and I am very grateful to you for your willingness to share thank you.God bless you.
Another glorious episode.
We are lucky to have you good sir
I'm reading a book on Cathars and this wasna great companion. Thanx, Dr. Sledge!!!
Thank you, I so enjoyed this ❤
Thanks so much for posting
It's a power move to denounce your persecution as influenced by the devil and as sign of your holiness. Good for them.
so neat I watched it twice thanks for the info!
Thanks. Fascinating program again. Just an artistic idea...I wouldn't mind if you played your theme music at the end of each show.
Thank you fascinating as always!
I've forgotten over time what drew me to you but I love your presentations
The way you introduced this video was so familiar it gave me deja vu and made me think I was watching the same episode twice... just goes to show your consistency 🤣
I will never get enough of this man and his channel's work. The great maestro and doctor here is light 🕯️ one needs to carry on searching the catacombs of everything occult and esoteric. Bravo Maestro!
speculations of unwise men are certainly interesting in philosophical nd historical terms, but it becomes a dangerous and presumptious erudition when you give them the importance for your life...
Amazing! Thank you!
great info! thanks!
This is great. Thank you.
This rarefied air is making me woozy. Thanks for the upload!
Thankyou so much for the link, I've downloaded a whole heap so I can run it through calibre to change the font. While I truly appreciate the work of Dr Attrell and Altrusian Grace Media, it will great to be able to read this stuff again.
Enjoy it!
Cathars were a fun go-to in Crusader Kings II
Lovely video as always! May I ask if you could provide sources for the art you display in video? Just a small caption would suffice, because I love esoteric and religious art❤. It would be greatly appreciated
It’s all on their patreon
I heard the sceptical position about Cathars from you. I’m quite inclined now towards this idea. Maybe even the Bogomils themselves were something like Waldensians or Friar Minors. Maybe! Good luck with your work! 👍
Wonderful. I'm about 200 pages into Labyrinth by Kate Mosse and really needed this background!
@@DonHavjuan I know that. I read and enjoy a lot of historical fiction and like to pair it with material on the historical fact to compare.
@@samanthablackbird3780 there’s a movie as well, but I liked it less than a book. Enjoy your reading
HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear Dr. Sledge! L’Chaim! 🤘🏻🙏🏻
No pressure but in case it helps I was interested in finding a talk by you on the book you mention. (Book of the two principles was it?) Then I noticed I'm right up to date and you only made this last week. I also went to the more general video about the texts and the one about whether they existed. Great series. Cathars are now in my awareness.
Great video thanks
Thanks!
The Cathar theological debate still needs to happen --most desperately in the USA. And is still suppressed by the very same people .
Mucho appreciado.
Very interesting. Also, did anyone else notice those mushrooms in the artwork at 17:00?
Fantastic video Dr. Sledge! I'm fascinated by the nature of the heretical and esoteric movements that you discuss. Is it fair to say that many esoteric and "heretical" movements lack a monolithic dogma but are effervescences of religious thought and feeling move along in the same general direction. It seems like the Cathars are very similar to the original Gnostics in this regard.
@@spacemanonearth The original "Gnostics" would be that outpouring of largely, but not exclusively, Christian thought in late Antiquity. We now call them Gnostics, but they probably thought of themselves simply as "Christians." It was the drive toward a strict Orthodoxy that must have seemed strange to them.
I think you and I could hang out and have some enlightening discussions, Dr. Sledge.
Some Cathar ideas and practices coalesce with Vedic Hindu and Buddhist ones. The parallels with some Asian spiritual realms are interesting.
Perfectly good creates and decipher cause and effect.
Dr. Justin well on his game today. I laughed out loud a couple times. 😀
Montaillout by Emanuel Ladurie is well worth a read. Its about life in a Cathar Village in France.
Thank you so much.
extreem interessant.die katharen hadden zeer fascinerende ideeen over de realiteit in spiritueel-filosofische zin en hun geesteshouding tegenover hun vervolging was erg bijzonder!
Thank you! Hope your furnace is working! I hate winter
Thank you very much
Is there actually a merch link? I never see it anywhere, almost like it's a running joke lol. I'll definitely buy some merch if I can ever actually find the store link
Shabbat shalom 💕...will watch later 🙂
In accordance to the Law of One, a Wanderer can become karmicly bound to the 3D if he engages in 'bad behavior'. He will remain in this incarnation cycle unless he completes a full lifetime 'without sin',or, 'service to others' let's say.
Living in a social society where all are goal oriented to ascend, may very well get them through the veil. Lessons can still be learned, as per soul contract, even though you've minimized your opportunities with a smaller population.
Thanks Dr, for your information.
I find this correlation VERY interesting.
And love, love will tear us apart again. 🎉
Fascinating topic. I recommend "The Perfect Heresy" by O'Shea.
Thank you.
Really awesome video as usual!
Unrelated question: is it possible to see your perspective on Neolemurean magic (aka CCRU, Nick Land and their more recent followers) in the future?
Your videos on Bataille are ones of the best out here and imo there isn't enough coverage of those who expanded on his //base materialist// paradigm , so it would be really great
Land is mostly reactionary nonsense. The people who ape him are worse.
@@TheEsotericaChannel for his late works it's definetely true, though the 90-s stuff is so much different.. I'm talking about the period of xenofeminism, virtual futures and numogrammatics, not the alt-right trash he's promoting since the mid 2000-s
Could be the case that Menocchio, from the famous Ginzberg book "the Cheese and the Worms" was maybe a residual Catar from mountain northern Italy?
Thanks
I like Dr. Sledge's sense of humor.
Seamless segue in the introduction, there
i love this channel.
Some might say that TH-cam is dead. Not if you're watching the great Dr. Sledge!
Tons of great content on the tubes!
Thank you
Oh, wow! Thanks for the side ache from the laughter brought about by this episode... What a wonderful conundrum the Cathars wrought!
That old chestnut, "you are mistreating me because I am right and you are the servants of the Devil."
Dr.Sledge did the gathars have a symbol. If so were can i find it. Can you please help me with this thnxs for your good work 🙏 is it the occitan cross which is yellow or the Cathar Dove
Amazing
Any plans for a video on otto Rahn? This skeptical take just makes his story all the more otherworldly.
Greetings. Just bumped into this channel today, and am beginning to read the book. My philosophy schoolteacher was from Southern France and he mentioned the Cathars in class with praise, admiration, and nostalgia. I had no idea a philosophical text from them had sur until today. Thank you for that. Now w the most obvious question in my mind is why can't God be both good and evil, or in a greater understanding neither, without qualities, but with the potential for all qualities. To put it simply God = 0 (neutral, unbiased) = +( good) and - (evil) in equal amounts. Why was this posibility excluded? It seems the simplest (Occam's razor) and most logical explanation. Is it because a Grey God is not worthy or worship, or is there a philosophical argument against a grey god (not black or white but an equal mixture).
Very nice! I had to stop and start again at 15:00-18:00 being reminded of Meister Eckhart's Sermon on Detachment, and God's Detachment itself.
The main issue is the whole Good-Evil problem, which goes back to the Vedas IMO, except a close reading of those seems to suggest the necessity of the Devas & Asuras and isn't so black and white (IMHO).
You know... you've said you don't have a "mystic practice" yet it's amazing how you have a really deep foundational knowledge. Much respect for you!
ADDENDUM: I thought I needed to make a clearer attempt at tying my comment ideas.
Does "God" actually know good or evil in the sense we believe and think? IMO the issue seems related to the whole idea of emanation which most people TODAY tend to think of in a more"logical/linear" manner, as if there is some pure good that eventually degenerates into evil (or error if you will). Similar to some views on the Tree of Life descending from Kether to Malkuth. I also suspect that the issue also relates to the concept of Person & the Trinity. Ananda Coomaraswamy, in his A NEW APPROACH TO THE VEDAS suggests that there is likely a connascence of the Persons in Catholic Theology when looking at Vedic correspondences. Really fascinating metaphysical stuff!
Just my 2 cents...
@@benvinar2876 that was pretty clear! Thanks for sharing!
@@benvinar2876 if you haven’t, look into the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Aryeh Kaplan, Leonora Leet, Israel Regardie, and Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi books are all recommended. Halevi and Regardie are best if you’re just beginning. Good luck with your studies!
The Vedas and the Vedantic-Celtic link contain more accurate forms of belief structures that existed prior to the steam roller that Roman Catholicism was to Europe and the world.
The non-dual principles within brahmanist and vedantic culture is far less problematic than the fervour of the judeo-Christian belief structures.
The dualism of the last 2000 years (age of Pisces) has just bedn part of the wider kulpa and part of the Kali yuga.
The notion of Asuras, Devas, Pretas, and Human Realms makes sense. Even dimensionally. The golden age where all inter-dimensional beings were in closer in communion is something that aleays intrigues me. How did we build the pyramids? What was the Arch of the Covenant? How were our life spans shortened after the tower of babel was torn down?
Hinduism goes a long stretch back into history, and survives as the legacy of belief structures that existed long before Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, and the judeo-christian beliefs.
Aiming to derive any sense from medieval manuscripts is like trying to understand shakespere by looking at internet memes. Sure the two are connected historically, and both use humour and the invention of new parlence to convey information, but the distillary of time leaves them as distinct extremes.
I sincerely doubt that much remains within any variant of belief structure and method from the last 2000 years of esoteric literature.
It seems that only the base metaphors, merisms, and symbology exist within the judeo-christian texts.
The vedantic-celtic connection contains far more authentic material imo, and when you listen to Hindu Kirtan, you feel the love and joy of life within it.
Very interesting that you're seeing a similar observation!
@@angryherbalgerbil Thanks for your comments. I think there are more of us out there who know these links. You might enjoy Coomaraswamy especially ANEW APPROACH TO THE VEDAS, although any of his writings including the Art History ones on Indian Art are great. A bit of a dense read on some, but part of the fun in reading him is that one gets productively lost in his footnotes! Lol
🌚🖤🖤🖤 thank you! very interesting explanation;
Cathars were located in the present Ukraine and Russian regions above the Black and Caspian Seas. The Cathars were in-between the Christians to the West and South , and the Muslims to the East and South. To maintain unity in their territory, the leadership declared that they would be different; gnostic and Jewish.
OMG! Ur at 308k! Whoa 🤓🌈 u go Dr.Sledge👊😎
Have you done one or/ore thought about doing one on inanna and her sister?
"Based Thomas" was not a phrase I was ready to see pop up on screen today XD