Basilides
The Oldest Gnostic
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to Cart failed.
Please try again later
Add to Wish List failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Please try again
Unfollow podcast failed
Please try again
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Basilides
Narrated by:
Virtual Voice
Buy for $14.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
-
Narrated by:
-
Virtual Voice
-
By:
-
M. David Litwa
This title uses virtual voice narration
Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks.
About this listen
Did Jesus really perform a switcheroo with Simon of Cyrene on Golgotha? Is God really a Non-existent being? Are there actually 365 heavens and did angels make the material world? In this book, Dr Litwa teaches how to distinguish the authentic Basilides (in his fragments) from the Basilides depicted by the heresy hunters (mainly Irenaeus). Dr Litwa discusses all 19 of the authentic fragments of Basilides and Isidore, and uses these fragments to understand and critique other reports on Basilides and his heirs. He closes the book with a final, authoritative profile showing what we can and cannot know about this very first (widely acknowledged and historical) Christian Gnostic.
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup
The Reading: “This title uses virtual voice narration. Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks. I’m impressed at how this works for general text, with a pleasant male voice and a fair amount of variation in tone. It’s come a long way but it’s completely inadequate for a book about people with Greek names. Is it “BA-si-LYD-es” or “ba-SIL-a-des”? Virtual Voice doesn’t know, and uses both, and some other pronunciations, apparently at random. Given a citation like “Ref. 7.26.8”, referring to a passage in The Refutation Of All Heresies, it says “Ref dot 26th of July dot 8”…usually, but quite always. It doesn’t know that “Matt.” is short for Matthew, or that “1 Peter” is First Peter, not “One Peter”. And on and on. I finished the book out of morbid curiosity, but can only say that this is not technology ready for use in this fashion. Maybe with extensive review and re-recording. Maybe not. But not like this.
The Book: Another fascinating book from Dr. Litwa, this one focusing on one of the earliest Christian philosophers, who flourished in the middle of the 2nd century AD. Less than two dozen passages of his work survive, all in books by people criticizing his doctrines. Litwa provides new translations of them, and a great deal of context to see what they add up to and suggest. Part of his outlook is similar to later thinkers often described as Gnostic, other parts pretty like what became mainstream doctrine. Some show a reliance on texts that aren’t quite from the New Testament as we have it - perhaps drawing on earlier versions from before their contents stabilized. If you’re interested in the Christian world before there was an orthodoxy, this is really worth your time.
Just…get it in print or as an ebook.
Great book, awful narration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.