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Marriage and Gnosticism

Sacred Union Ceremonies: How Gnostics mimic marriage (Note: Published in the April 2012 edition of ACCatalyst: Full Magazine available here)

The following extract is the introduction. For the full pdf of this paper (5 pages) please download here.

The Sacred Union Ceremony

On 12 June 2010 a sacred union ceremony, organised by Uniting Network Australia, was held at Brunswick Uniting Church in Melbourne to bless same-sex couples in committed relationships. Robed clergy officiated, a sermon was preached, vows were exchanged, certificates signed and a wedding cake provided. The following day President Alistair Macrae received a copy of the liturgy used in the ceremony and advised UNA leaders that ‘if they want clarity in this matter they should consider the usual church processes for introducing it through the Councils of the Church for discussion, discernment and debate.' (Correspondence 20/7/10, ACCatalyst August 2010, Vol 4, No 4, p13)

In the light of decisions at the 2003 and 2006 Assemblies that implicitly accepted same-sex relations among ordained ministers as a legitimate form of diversity in the UCA, it is not surprising that formal recognition of same-sex relationships is now sought. UNA is highly likely to bring a recommendation on this matter to the Thirteenth Assembly, 15-21 July 2012.

As the UCA has never given theological reasons for these seismic changes to the Reformed doctrine of sexuality and marriage, it is necessary to try to understand why something so recently regarded as inimical to human flourishing is now strongly supported and promoted as a positive good and an inalienable right.

From Christian Orthodoxy to Gnostic Spirituality

The answer is to be found in the shift from Christian patterns of thought to those based on new forms of Gnostic spirituality - an abstract, other worldly philosophy that was parasitic on orthodox Christian belief and focussed on esoteric knowledge (gnosis) of the spiritual world that is accessible to people when they look deep within themselves.

Until recently considered to be a relic of a bygone age, and an escape from a robust secular faith, the resurgence of Gnostic spirituality within and beyond the churches is remarkable. Bookshops testify to this explosion of interest. Churches create ‘sacred spaces' in which to meditate. The simultaneous collapse of Christianity and modernity - which had competed with, and complemented, each other in shaping Western patterns of reality - has led to interest in older spiritual resources found deep within the self.

A new paradigm, centred on spiritual self-knowledge and impatient with Christian and humanist claims to know the truth, began to evolve. The deconstructionists, looking for other sources to provide a framework for meaning, found inspiration in reappraising Gnostic spirituality. There they discovered what they hated in their oppressive, patriarchal, heterosexist, credal and institutionalized beliefs and practices. They sought special spiritual knowledge not bound by restrictions, immediately accessible and connected to the ‘divine.'

(An extract from the paper by Rev Dr Max Champion)