Theos-Talk Archives (April 2009 Message tt00478)

"In Search of the Primordial Tradition and the Cosmic Christ:
Uniting World Religious Experience With a Lost Esoteric Christianity"
by John Rossner

In this book the reader will be presented with the case for the
existence - throughout the ancient world - of a widespread belief in
(1) a Primordial Tradition of primal wisdom derived from the higher
forms of human mystical and psychical experience, and (2) the cult of
a universal "God-Man" or pre-existent "Cosmic Christ," based upon
visionary and intuitive experiences which helped to stimulate the
very birth of Christianity as a world-religion.

The Primordial Tradition is like the "Sanatana Dharma" of the Hindus,
the "Living Torah" of the mystical Jews, the "Tao" of the Chinese,
the "Path" of the Sufis, or the "Way, Truth and Life" of Jesus in the
Christian gospels. It is found in every religion and can be owned
exclusively by none. It has left its traces as "sparks among the
stubble" in varied forms and in various degrees of luminosity in all
human cultures. Its scattered fragments of primal insight and
intuitive wisdom may be found by those who have eyes to see and ears
to hear.

There is evidence that a now-lost esoteric Christianity, complete
with belief in a pre-existent, archetypical "God-Man" or "Cosmic
Christ," was once understood by its founder (Jesus) and earliest
fashioner (Paul) as a particular synthesis of the larger Primordial
Tradition, which had already long entered the mainstream of sectarian
Jewish mystical consciousness. Jesus might thus be viewed as an heir
of the mystery traditions of Egypt, Persia and Greece, and of the
wisdom traditions of India, as well as an heir of the "Law and the
Prophets" of Israel.

The Primordial Tradition is not merely an ancient system of belief
and practice to be found in its entirety in any one or several
historical cultures. It is, rather, a whole set of archetypical
realities waiting to be discovered, at the highest reaches of the
human consciousness, by all people. Similarly the lost esoteric
Christianity, which often seems to elude ordinary modern
practitioners of organized, "exoteric" forms of the Christian
religion, is to be found - like Jesus' description of the Kingdom of
God itself - deep within the psyche (soul) of the seeker.

For a picture of the cover plus ordering information, see:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/jesuschrist.htm#rossner

See other titles at:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/jesuschrist.htm

See also:

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We
Never Knew by Bart D. Ehrman
http://blavatskyarchives.com/Ehrmanbibliography.htm#Lost

And other recommended readings on Christianity at:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/Ehrmanbibliography.htm

I am currently working on a list of other books that deal
specifically with Esoteric Christianity.

Daniel
http://hpb.cc