A Different Christianity: Early Christian Esotericism and Modern Thought Book

	Preface. The Forgotten Christian Inner Tradition
	An Accident of History
	The Modern Situation
	Acknowledgments
	Introduction. Searching in the Ruins	1
	A Research Report	4
	A Method of Therapy	9
	Saints Are Always Somewhere Else	11
	From Investigation of the Past, a New Vision	13
Ch. 1	The Royal Road of the Early Church	19
	The Path of Heart	20
	Pray for Help	23
	The General Resurrection	25
	Unchanging Truth	26
	Loss of Ancient Knowledge	27
	The Sources of My Investigation	30
Ch. 2	The Burning Bush	41
	A Hermit Speaks	43
	Trial by Fire	44
	Symeon the New Theologian on Inner Experience	47
	Saint Maximos on the Fall	48
	Our Nature Is Fundamentally Good, but Has Been Distorted	51
	Modern Man's Inability to Remember Inner Experience	54
	A Theory of Knowledge Is a Barrier to Faith	55
	Gregory of Nyssa's View	58
Ch. 3	The Rediscovery of Spirit	61
	The Christian Overcomes the Fall	63
	The Life of Moses	64
	Philosophy in the Early Church	65
	Saint Isaac's Prayer for Gnosis	69
	Two Very Different Kinds of Knowledge	70
	The Inner World as a Window onto the Invisible World	71
	The Role of Knowledge in Spirituality	75
	Saint Maximos on Contemplation	77
Ch. 4	The Wise and Foolish Virgins	79
	The Quest for Energies	80
	The Wedding Garment	82
	Shining Faces	85
	"Ask, and it shall be given you."	89
	Christianity as a State of Being	90
	The Startsi	91
	The Prayer of Joseph the Visionary	92
	The Control of the Senses	93
	The Five Virgins as the Senses	94
	Koinonia as Communion	96
Ch. 5	Gnosis Is Not Gnosticism	101
	An Experiential Gnosis	102
	Different Worldviews	103
	False Gnosis	105
	The Alexandrian Tradition	107
	Knowledge of God's Omnipotence	111
	A World Without Gnosis	114
	The Question of Education	115
	Paideia and Catechism	116
Ch. 6	The Work of God	119
	The Working of the Word	120
	Surrender into the Hands of God	121
	Doing the Will of God	123
	Gregory of Nyssa and the Chariot Parable	126
	Work on Oneself	130
	Modern Solutions	131
	The Biblical Paradox of the Knowledge of God	134
	Ascesis as Work on Oneself	137
Ch. 7	Three Renunciations	141
	Three Renunciations Defined	143
	The First Renunciation: "Dying to the World"	145
	The Turn Toward Reality	145
	The Two Nights	147
	Bitter Waters	150
	The Second Renunciation	154
	"Transcending Knowledge with My Thought"	157
	The Third Renunciation	158
	The Parting of the Ways	164
	A Fourth Stage	165
	Theosis: Deification	165
	A Modern Understanding of the Three Renunciations	167
	Saint Silouan of Mount Athos	169
Ch. 8	Faith and Assent	171
	The Philosophy of Assent	172
	The Psychology of Assent	175
	Two Stages of Faith	176
	Faith Without Works	178
	Faith of Consciousness	179
	The Common Ground of Faith	181
Ch. 9	The Eye of the Soul	183
	Transformation of the Heart	184
	The New Man as the Prodigal Son	186
	Mneme Theou	189
	The Struggle for Metanoia	191
	"The love of the soul is its salvation"	193
	Recognition	198