At the Men’s Bible Study on Wednesday, Dan made a reference to the Gnosticism of the second century. He then recommended getting a copy of Philip Schaff’s eight-volume History of the Christian Church as the best resource to learn about it. CBD happens to have an unbelievable price on that set at $49.99 (compare to $249.95 at Amazon).

But Alan mentioned an even better deal. How would you like to get the entire eight volume set and about a gazillion other classic works for free (with no shipping cost)? The only catch is… you get no ink or dead trees. Check out the Christian Classics Ethereal Library created by Calvin College. You will have to register, but that is free.

Once you are registered, to learn about second century Gnosticism, you would go here, where you will find these choices…

Title: History of the Christian Church, Volume II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 100-325.
Author: Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)
Print Basis: Third edition, revised
Language: English
Rights: Public Domain
CCEL Subjects: All; History;
LC Call no: BR145.S3
LC Subjects: Christianity

History

Formats: Read Online
Adobe Acrobat PDF – 3.2 MB
Microsoft Word htm w/markup – 4.0 MB
Plain text (UTF-8) – 2.5 MB
Theological Markup Language (XML) – 3.2 MB

Resources like these are particularly well-suited to this sort of resource because they are almost pure reference works. I’m not likely to look for a cosy spot next to the fire and open up Volume 1, page 1 of Schaff’s looking for a little diversionary reading (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I’ll usually have a very specific thing in mind, go find it, maybe print a few pages, and read it. CCEL is perfect for that.

The electronic format has one other advantage over ink and dead trees–copy and paste. For example, here is just a taste of what Schaff offers on Gnosticism…

§ 116. Meaning, Origin and Character of Gnosticism.

The Judaistic form of heresy was substantially conquered in the apostolic age. More important and more widely spread in the second period was the paganizing heresy, known by the name of Gnosticism. It was the Rationalism of the ancient church; it pervaded the intellectual atmosphere, and stimulated the development of catholic theology by opposition.

The Greek word gnosis may denote all schools of philosophical or religious knowledge, in distinction from superficial opinion or blind belief. The New Testament makes a plain distinction between true and false gnosis. The true consists in a deep insight into the essence and structure of the Christian truth, springs from faith, is accompanied by the cardinal virtues of love and humility, serves to edify the church, and belongs among the gifts of grace wrought by the Holy Spirit….

You are only going to find books in the public domain there (i.e., old, classic). So, for “How to Maximize Ministry through Instant Messenger” stick with Amazon, but for Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Pascal, and Spurgeon, check out CCEL before you part with your cash.

PS: Hugh mentioned to me this morning that now that there is registration on the site, they track the number of documents you download and eventually try to to guilt you into making a donation. I have no idea what size donation will silence nagging. I think it is fitting to ask the folks that they know are benefiting from the site to support it; so, this doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for it.