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Library | Bookstore | Search | Web Lectures | Ecclesia Gnostica | Gnostic Society
In Memoriam
The Most Reverend Stephan A. Hoeller (1931-2026)
Presiding Bishop of the Ecclesia GnosticaStephan A. Hoeller, an influential voice in modern spirituality and one of the foremost interpreters of Gnostic thought in the contemporary world, passed away May 3rd at the age of 94.
Born Stephan Baron von Hoeller-Bertram in Budapest, Hungary, in 1931, he carried with him the intellectual and cultural inheritance of Central Europe, shaped by war, displacement, and exile. After immigrating to the United States in the early 1950s, he went on to become a central figure in the revival and reinterpretation of ancient Gnostic traditions for modern seekers.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1958 and consecrated bishop in 1967 by Richard Duc de Palatine, Bishop Hoeller became a principal bearer of the English Gnostic transmission in America. He served for decades as the Presiding Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, a Los Angeles-based church devoted to the exploration of inner spiritual knowledge, or gnosis. In this role, he preserved a sacramental tradition oriented toward spiritual transformation, guiding the church as both a liturgical body and a place of inquiry, one that welcomed those drawn to the hidden dimensions of religious experience.
A gifted lecturer, Bishop Hoeller spoke widely across the United States and internationally, bringing together strands of Gnosticism, Jungian psychology, and Western esotericism. He was closely associated with the Theosophical Society in America, serving as President of the Besant Lodge in Los Angeles, and with the Philosophical Research Society, where his talks drew audiences seeking a depth of meaning beyond conventional religious frameworks.
Through books such as The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead, Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing, Jung and the Lost Gospels, and Freedom: Alchemy for a Voluntary Society, Bishop Hoeller offered a vision of spirituality rooted not in dogma but in direct insight. He believed that the sacred was not distant, but discoverable within the depths of the human psyche, a perspective that resonated with generations navigating the uncertainties of modern life.
For many, Bishop Hoeller's enduring legacy lies not only in his scholarship, but in his approach, marked by directness and clarity, and ordered toward inner illumination. He approached ancient teachings not as relics, but as living symbols, maps pointing inward toward spiritual awakening and freedom. His work discerned a truth common to all spiritual traditions: that wisdom is not simply a possession, but a transformative path; that attentive inward seeing opens deeper realities; and that, beyond doctrinal boundaries, humanity is joined in a sacred search for meaning rooted in the mystery that sustains all life.
He is remembered by students, readers, and spiritual communities around the world who found in his words a welcoming blend of insight and reverence, delivered with a wit and humor uncommon among his contemporaries, a uniquely engaging voice that resonated across audiences and traditions.
He is survived by his wife, Roberta Tropp, and sister-in-law, Dale Joan Tropp-Weprin. The spiritual legacy of Bishop Hoeller will continue under the leadership of the Most Reverend Steven Marshall, Presiding Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, with the Very Reverend Gerry Szeman presiding over the Los Angeles parish.
What is Gnosticism?Many visitors have requested some basic introductory material explaining Gnosticism. To meet this need we offer these "places to start": two short articles, The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism and What is a Gnostic?; and an audio lectures (mp3 format) on the Gnostic concept of Christ: The Misunderstood Redeemer. A reading of the Overview of the Gnostic Society Library collection will also give a useful brief introduction to the history and textual legacy of the Gnostic tradition.
For more in-depth reading suggestions visit the Gnostic Society Bookstore—you will find offered there a selection of the best introductory and advanced books on Gnosticism, along with brief reviews of recommended books. And of course just "surfing" The Gnosis Archive will lead to a wealth of information. Blessings on your journey!
Meditations
Take a moment to reflect on a brief meditation and reading from the Gnostic scriptures, selected from this week's Gnostic liturgy. Consider the Sophianic aspect of divinity expressed in the meditation and readings from this month's Sophia liturgy.
The Gnostic Society Library
Visit the Gnostic Society Library, a comprehensive library of Gnostic scriptures, which includies the complete Nag Hammadi library of Gnostic texts and other ancient writings and documents relating to Gnostic tradition. Since 1995 the Gnostic Society Library has been the principal internet resource on Gnosticism and Gnostic traditions.
Simply reading our Overview of the Library Collection will give one both a fair introduction to the nature and history of Gnostic tradition and to the breadth of this library collection. Also visit the Gnostic Society Bookstore, which features the best current publications on Gnosis and Gnosticism.
Documentary films:The Lost Gospels—a ninety minute long BBC documentary (first released in 2008). This is an entertaining and educational— even if somewhat superficial—introduction to the Gnostic Gospels; it is both well researched and nicely produced, with extensive location filming in Egypt. The story centers on the personal quest of Anglican priest Pete Owen Jones to understand the many ancient Christian texts that didn't make it into the New Testament. The focus is principally on the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi.
Two additional fine documentaries are also presented: The Secrets of Mary Magdalene, produced for the Discovery Channel; and the Gnostics, produced by Border TV (UK) and first broadcast 1987.
Nag Hammadi Library collection updated:
The Nag Hammadi Library collection received a major update in May 2015. Several prominent scholars have contributed editions of their authoritative translations to our library collection. Over twenty of these new translations have now been added to the online collection. We are especially grateful for the assistance and contributions of Dr. Willis Barnstone, Dr. John Turner, Dr. Stevan Davies, and the late Dr. Marvin Meyer. This resource in the Gnostic Society library receives a few million unique visits each year and is referenced by many academic courses which survey the Gnostic tradition, as well as by readers from all over the world. In supplement to the above work, the Gospel of Thomas Collection has been expanded and updated. Further additions and updates are ongoing.
Gnosis and C. G. Jung:
"C.G. Jung and the Red Book," a collection of eighteen lectures by Dr. Lance Owens, is available free online. Now also available online are Dr. Owens' seminar series on "Sophia, Gnosis and Psychology", and the lectures he delivered at the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich on "C.G. Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis."
A catalog of other online presentations by Dr. Lance Owens is available here.
The Gnosis of C. G. Jung: This is an extended excerpt from Stephan Hoeller's classic study of Jung and Gnosticism, The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead
Recommendations from the Bookstore
The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus edited by Marvin Meyer.This is our top recommendation for readers beginning their exploration of the Gnostic scriptures. Over the last three decades the late Dr. Marvin Meyer distinguished himself as a singularly talented translator and commentator on Gnostic traditions. In this collection—the best of several that he has now published—Meyer presents twelve key Gnostic "gospels" in succinct, accurate and highly readable new translations. The book's subtitle claims it to be: "The definitive collection of mystical gospels and secret books about Jesus of Nazareth." Though perhaps not "definitive", we agree this is the best introductory collection available.
Meyer states his goal in these translations is to be "as accurate as possible" while still presenting the texts in "felicitous English." At this he succeeds beautifully. Readers who have labored with the sometimes tortured translations and editorial conventions presented in the original editions of the Nag Hammadi Library published thirty years ago will be amazed at the graceful intelligibility of Meyer's translations. Meyer adds to the collection an overview of our evolving understanding of Christian Gnosticism, and prefaces each of the selected text with an excellent introductory essay. Get the book
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene is one the most surprising and delightful of the rediscovered Gnostic texts.
This excellent new print edition of the Gospel of Mary of Magdala by the widely respected scholar Karen King is the best authoritative edition available. It incorporates translations of the ancient Coptic Gospel of Mary discovered in 1896, along with the two small third-century Greek fragments of the text found at Oxyrhynchus. Included is a superb introduction along with extensive commentary on the text and its implications for modern understandings of early Christianity. Highly Recommended. Visit the Gnostic Society Bookstore for more information. Also visit our Gospel of Mary Magdalene page, where we have more information on the Gospel of Mary and a preview excerpt from Dr. King's introduction to her book.
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures edited by Marvin Meyer, introduction by Elaine Pagels.
This is the epochal 2007 edition of the entire Nag Hammadi library. Dr. Marvin Meyer has done a masterful job in producing a volume that will serve for many decades as the standard source. Scholarly understanding of the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi has vastly matured since their original publication as the Nag Hammadi Library in 1977. This new edition fully reflects that refinement in "the scholarly ear" for both the forgotten ancient tongue and the spiritual tradition preserved in the Gnostic Coptic texts. In every possible way, publication of The Nag Hammadi Scriptures represents a milestone in modern understanding of Gnostic tradition. Elaine Pagels, the author and professor who introduced a generation of readers to the Gnostic Gospels, appropriately pens the introduction to this landmark edition. Every student of Gnosticism will want to own this book, but before jumping into the big volume, we still highly recommend a study of some of the briefer introductory readings listed in the Bookstore. Get the book
Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, And Politics In The Book Of Revelation by Elaine Pagels.
Dr. Pagels gives us another fine study of early Christianity, focusing on the most controversial New Testament text, the Book of Revelation. In her critique of the Book of Revelation, she opens a discussion of the other revelatory texts, the Gnostic texts, that were excluded from the Christian canon. Dr. Pagels looks at the sociology and politics and dogmatics of the age, but it is her discussion of the message of the many alternative Christian texts - the Gnostic texts - that we find most valuable. Listen to the interview with Dr. Pagels on NPR for a fine discussion of what Dr. Pagels was trying to explore in her new work. Get the book
Jung in Love: The Mysterium in Liber Novus by Lance S. OwensLove was the great mystery in C. G. Jung's life. His confrontation with love for a woman and a feminine soul animated the composition of Jung's great Red Book, the book he formally titled Liber Novus.
C. G. Jung's relationships with women during these central years of life have generated several commentaries and critiques. But the power and depth of love has figured little in most of the romances about this period patched together by biographers, dramatists, and psychoanalysts. In consequence, a crux experience of Jung's life has been miscast and little understood.
Three decades after the events chronicled in his Red Book, C. G. Jung turned to writing a commentary on the still hidden records. In Jung in Love, Lance Owens illustrates how Jung's four last books—his "last quartet" of major works published after 1945—are summary statements about his experiences during the years he labored with Liber Novus.
Owens illustrates how in the first volume of this "last quartet"—The Psychology of the Transference, published in 1946—Jung employed a sixteenth-century alchemical text to provide context for what is in fact a statement about his own experience with love recounted both in his private journals and in Liber Novus.
Based on long-sequestered documentary sources, Jung in Love offers a balanced and historically contextualized account of Jung's relationships with four women during the years that led him into the visionary experiences recorded in the Red Book: Emma Jung-Rauschenbach, Sabina Spielrein, Maria Moltzer and Toni Wolff.
Jung in Love - The Mysterium in Liber Novus was originally published as a chapter in Das Rote Buch – C. G. Jungs Reise zum anderen Pol der Welt, ed. Thomas Arzt (Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2015). This German edition is available at amazon.co.uk and amazon.de
The monograph English edition of Jung in Love is now also available at amazon.com.
Tolkien, Jung and the Hermeneutics of Vision – A Lecture by Dr. Lance Owens
Beginning in the years around the First World War, two extraordinary men were called to take an exceedingly difficult journey of exploration. It was a voyage of discovery, a passage into the world of imagination. For the rest of their lives both men – J. R. R. Tolkien and C. G. Jung – affirmed that their mythopoetic fantasies had led them to something intrinsically real. The figures they encountered in vision spoke with autonomous voices, and the tales they told were entwined with history and human destiny at the perilous threshold of a new age.
Jung and Tolkien each struggled in solitude with the hermeneutic challenge of recording their experiences. How does one recount in word and image the tale of a venture into vision? And how does one then interpret this record of an imaginal fact?
In this lecture delivered at the California Institute of Integral studies, Dr. Owens examines the private accounts that both Jung and Tolkien scribed about their imaginative experiences – personal writings that remained mostly hidden for several decades after their deaths. What did they "think" they were doing? How did they understand “vision”? What was their “hermeneutics of vision?” And what interpretive approach will we now take to the strange tales of wayfarers who wander in the imaginal world? (Click here for additional information on this lecture, and Dr. Owens' lecture series on Tolkien.)
C. G. Jung: The Red Book, Gnosis and the Gnostic Traditions
With publication of the Red Book, irrefutable evidence is presented of Jung's deep relationship to the visionary and experiential tradition of Gnosis. Throughout his life, Jung publicly and privately affirmed his affinity to Gnostic tradition. We consider it
quite possible that future generations will understand Jung as a seminal, prophetic figure heralding a new Sophianic age and a resurgent understanding the timeless traditions of the Gnosis.
Gnosis is not a "dead ancient philosophy", but instead a lived and living fact of human experience with ancient roots and a transformative potential for the future development of human consciousness. Jung provides signal evidence of this fact.
We have added a section to the Gnosis Archive dedicated to C. G. Jung and Gnostic Tradition: Gnosis, Gnosticism and Jungian Psychology. You will find here a wide range of material to help center your understanding of C. G. Jung and Gnosis.
Recently Added -- Photographs of Jung's "Gnostic Ring" – From the late-1920s until the end of his life, C. G. Jung wore on his left hand a ring with a large engraved gem stone with a coiled serpent. This was commonly referred to as Jung's "Gnostic ring." When he acquired the stone and had it mounted into a ring is not clear. However, most photos taken after 1930 show the ring on Jung's hand. Two rare photographs of the ring, front and back, are included. See Jung's Gnostic Ring.
We also several audio collections of lectures on the Red Book and Jungian subjects by Dr. Lance Owen. Visit the C.G. Jung and the Red Book collection for information on these lectures and publications.
Dr. Owens' lectures delivered at the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich on "C.G. Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis" are also now online.
The Gnostic Viewpoint: Essays on Contemporary Gnosticism
The Gnostic Viewpoint section offers a series of short articles examining Gnosis from a modern perspective selected from past volumes of Gnosis: A Journal of Western Inner Experience. These essays offer an excellent introduction to the wide scope of modern Gnostic interests. A sample of some of the titles: Valentinus: A Gnostic for All Seasons -- What is a Gnostic? -- The Gnosis of the Eucharist -- Hermes and Hermeticism Throughout the Ages -- and many others.
Lectures from the Gnostic SocietyLectures by Dr. Stephan Hoeller
For over thirty-five years Bryan Campbell (a professional Hollywood recording engineer) has been archiving recordings of Dr. Hoeller's weekly lectures. A huge selection from this collection is available by for immediate download (or for shipping) at bcrecordings.net. Please visit that site for a full overview, including many free lectures.
Gnosis Archive Books - Publishing Works in Jungian Psychology and Consciousness Studies
Gnosis Archive Books was established in 2012 to publish and promote scholarly works that enhance the dialogue between Jungian, Gnostic, and humane studies. The writings of C. G. Jung—notably including his extraordinary Red Book—provide critical insights into the experiential tradition of Gnosis. The historian of religion, Giovanni Filoramo, explained: “Jung’s reflections had long been immersed in the thought of the ancient Gnostics to such an extent that he considered them the virtual discoverers of depth psychology ... ancient Gnosis, albeit in its form of universal religion, in a certain sense prefigured, and at the same time helped to clarify, the nature of Jungian spiritual therapy.”
More information is available on the Gnosis Archive Books page.
Search the Gnosis Archive
You can search the entire Gnosis Archive for keywords, scriptural phrases, and subjects using our advanced search functions. The Archive contains well over a thousand documents specific to Gnostic studies, including translations all the classical Gnostic scriptures and patristic documents relevant to early Gnostic movements. The search function on the Archive is a major resource for students and researchers.
