Sacred Plants and the Gnostic Church: Speculations on Entheogen-Use in Early Christian Ritual

The paper argues for a temporal and cultural link between entheogen use in Classical mystery cults and possible entheogen use in early Christian Gnosticism. It presents textual evidence from the New Testament and Nag Hammadi Library suggesting ritual entheogens, and examines entheogen use by Mediterranean religious sects from the fifth century BCE to the third century CE. The authors note considerable philosophical overlap among schools. They conclude that the subject remains plausible speculation due to a lack of primary sources, but if the entheogenic hypothesis is correct, it could aid future research and translation of original documents.

Study at a glance

Abstract

It is the aim of this paper to establish a temporal and cultural link between entheogen-use[1] in Classical mystery cults and their possible use in a segment of the early Christian Gnostic Church. As early Christianity was heavily influenced by the Classical world in which it first developed, it is essential to examine the evidence of entheogen-use within Classical mystery cults, and explore their possible influence on the development of Christian ritual. We will first present textual evidence from the New Testament and Nag Hammadi Library (NHL) that indicate possible use of ritual entheogens. Next we will examine entheogen-use by some of the main religious sects of the ancient Mediterranean world as part of their liturgical practice between c. fifth century BCE and the third century CE. Then we will show that the different schools of philosophical thought examined were quite fluid, and that there was considerable overlap among schools with respect to several key philosophies and practices. Ultimately the subject of entheogen-use in the Classical world necessarily falls into the realm of plausible speculation mainly due to the lack of primary sources. However, should the entheogenic hypothesis[2] prove to be correct, it promises to be quite useful in future research and in the translation of original documents.