We're Back!
After a much-needed break, The Erotic Gospel is back - with a new focus and a new model
Hello loyal supporters (and welcome to new subscribers!) -
It’s been some time, I admit. For the past few months, I have felt overwhelmed with all that I had taken on, and the maintenance of this Substack fell by the wayside for a while. Let me express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who stuck by me during this time!
We’ve got some big news to cover, so I’ll get right to it:
First, we’re back on a new subscription model which makes all posts available to all free subscribers. That’s right - the paywall is gone now. You can still sign up for a Paid subscription if you would like to support my work in that way, and thank you to all who continue to do so! But it is no longer required to access past posts.
Second - what’s up with The Erotic Gospel? As long-time subscribers know, I received a fit of inspiration and decided to rewrite the planned trilogy of novels for the stage. And now, I am proud to relate, the seventh draft of The Erotic Gospel musical is now complete. It was no easy task to condense a story originally planned to span three books into a single play with a run time under 2.5 hours (including music, no less!), but I finally did it. As of this writing, I’m currently in talks to bring this work to the stage around various theaters in California. Stay tuned for more updates.
Finally, a new focus. While I’m as committed as ever to exploring the idea of early Christianity as an expression of the hieros gamos, I have become intrigued with one specific time and place in history: that is, ancient Alexandria in the late Ptolemaic period. I had already become aware that this extraordinary city had played an important role in the shaping of Paleochristianity, but as I’ve dug deeper I have become simply astounded to learn what an understatement that really is. For the next few months, at least, I expect to explore deep dives into this period of ancient Alexandrian history, to try to tease out how the Mysteries of Isis, the cult of Serapis, the writings of Philo and other influential sources shaped the nascent new religion, cribbing in Egypt’s back yard.
Thanks again for all of your support, and I look forward to taking this exciting ride with you again!
-Jeremy