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Bloom is probably best known to the general public for his controversial argument in the best-selling The Book of J that the first author of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers) was a woman who belonged to the Solomonic elite. But he is also a major literary critic and a most prolific one. His new book is also likely to provoke controversy. Omens of Millennium is his spiritual autobiography, a fascinating exploration in comparative religion and literature which, among other things, helps us to appreciate the origins and various understandings of these unique phenomena through the centuries.
Bloom is dissatisfied with conventional institutional religion, whether it be Christian, Jewish, or Islamic. But he is drawn to Gnosticism (considered heretical by these faiths), which emphasizes an acquaintance with, or knowledge of, the God within the self. In this book, using Christian Gnosticism, Muslim Sufism, and Jewish Kabbalism as his explanatory sources he seeks "to show how four of our increasing concerns are necessarily fused: angelology, a quasi-predictive element in dreams, the 'near-death experience,' and the approach of the Millennium (variously placed at the years 2000 or 2001 or 2033)." Bloom's learned but remarkably readable discussion of these matters is masterly.
Bloom explains that "in some sense all of this book is a kind of Gnostic sermon." He believes that "for at least two centuries now most Americans have sought the God within rather than the God of European Christianity." Ralph Waldo Emerson led the way with such statements as "It is by yourself without ambassador that God speaks to you." Bloom believes that "Creativity and imagination are essential to gnosticism," and "Originality is as much the mark of historical Gnosticism as it is of canonical Western literature." Along the way, there are illuminating discussions of the work of Shakespeare, Freud, Blake, and religious mystics and thinkers, in particular, Valentinus of Alexandria (100-175 C.E.).
Probably no reader will agree completely with everything Bloom says, and some will strongly disagree with him at many points. But his book is so rich in stimulating thought and in acquainting us with approaches and connections between those who lived centuries ago and our world, that I urge you to consider it.
Roger Bishop is Contributing Editor to this publication.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.