Marxism is not a philosophy. Neither are its derivatives, like “Wokeness” (Woke Marxism). These are a strain within a broader category of cult religious movements that pose as economics, sociology, and politics. The broad name for these Esoteric cult religions is “Gnosticism,” but that’s a confusing label for a number of reasons. The first of these reasons is that “gnosticism” as a term, either as a descriptive or proper noun, means several things at once, which requires clarification. Another is that as economic, social, and political movements, they don’t look at all like the pre-modern spiritualist and mystical movements that go by those names. In this groundbreaking episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay clarifies the term “gnosticism” and unmasks what amounts to a huge “New Age” movement in the Middle Ages as the source of a thread of Gnostic cult belief that has shaped every facet of the West for at least the last three hundred years. He also explains how the shift from the Middle Ages to the Modern period included a shift in the Gnostic project, out of overt spiritualism and into exactly those society-building realms of economics, sociology, and politics. Join him to gain a completely new understanding of these dangerous movements and how they’re relevant to our lives today.

The Gnostic Tradition and Renaissance Occultism, by Thomas Molnar

Gnosticism and Modernity: Voegelin’s Reconsiderations Twenty Years After The New Science of Politics, by Stephen A. McKnight

Utopian Nightmares and Gnostic Political Religions (Amazon book list)

The Best of Charles Burris