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Van Biema concludes by noting that Americans have always had a Gnostic bent, seeking a personal God to have a personal relationship with. Americans are also highly individualistic and will pick whichever spiritual path they wish to follow. In that way, the Gnostic hype offers hope that those who seek will find, even if what they find is not what they were looking for.

More Articles:

More on the Gnostics:

• Post-Belief Christianity | This summer, ''Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas,'' by Elaine Pagels, spent 13 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. It was an unusual best seller: a close reading of an obscure Christian text almost 2,000 years old. So what propelled it to mass success? Perhaps it was the book's thought-provoking contention that Christians should not be defined primarily by what they believe. (New York Times)
  
  

Virgin of Guadalupe celebration:

• Celebration brings together Hispanics, Anglos | Members of the Hispanic and Anglo communities united at St. Joseph's Church Sunday to celebrate the event of Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Newport Daily News, Rode Island)
  
  
• Virgin of Guadalupe praised | Patron Saint of Mexico (The Californian)
  
  
• Guadalupe: From sacred image in Mexico to U.S. pop-culture icon | How did one of Mexico's most prominent national and religious symbols become an icon of American pop culture? (The Seattle Times)
  
  
• Mexican feast a sign of faith | Friday was a special day for the estimated 122,000 people of Mexican origin living in Ohio and Kentucky. On Dec. 12, many of them gather in Catholic churches for the feast of La Virgen de Guadalupe, or Our Lady of Guadalupe. (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
  
  
• Guadalupe celebration brings Latinos together | The effort of many Mexicans and other Latinos to stay connected to their culture was demonstrated by Thursday night's celebration of La Fiesta de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, or the Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Willimantic Chronicle, Connecticut)
  
  

Carl Henry:

• Rev. Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, 90, Brain of Evangelical Movement, Dies | The Rev. Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, a theologian who helped move evangelical Christianity from the sidelines to a central place in American religion, died on Sunday in Watertown, Wis. He was 90. (New York Times)
  
  
• Spiritual giant of evangelicals dies at 90 | On the campus of Union University, the center for Christian leadership bears the name of renowned theologian Carl F.H. Henry. Henry, the first editor of Christianity Today, died Dec. 7 at the age of 90, leaving a legacy of leadership not only at Union but also in the evangelical world. (Jackson Sun, Tennessee)
  
  

Christmas:

• The babe in the manger | Amid the holiday hustle and bustle — the parties, the baking, the shopping, the rush to finish everything on the "to do" list — it is still possible, Odessa pastors said, to have a Christmas that is holy as well as merry. (Odessa American, Texas)
  
  
• Thirty-one years of collecting creates large nativity scene | A lot of people have small nativity sets that they put up before Christmas and take down after the holiday season. Few have a complete nativity set depicting the entire town of Bethlehem and surrounding hills as does Nancy Trump of Wallowa. (Wallowa County Chieftain, Oregon)
  
  

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December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47