This compelling guide uncovers the origins, beliefs, and modern revival of the provocative and transformative Gnostic tradition.

Long before there was a system of belief called Gnosticism there were those who reached for a special intimate knowledge of God and His mysterious ways. The possession of such knowledge, they believed, would bring salvation from suffering.

In The Essence of the Gnostics Bernard Simon offers a fascinating insight into this ancient and yet in many ways surprisingly contemporary faith, and explores the reasons for its current renaissance.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Mystic Wisdom introduces four of the world's most influential mystical traditions - Gnosticism, Sufism, Kabbalah, and Buddhism - tracing the history of these movements and their exploration of personal and spiritual transformation.