Religion as Poetry vs Dogma

A repeat of last month's topic because much of the discussion took the "Why Religion?" topic literally, ignoring the point of the podcast which was about the poetry of Early Christianity. I have changed the topic this time to make it clear.

A companion topic for our recent celebration of Carl Sagan. This interview is with Elaine Pagels, a famous scholar of the long-lost gnostic gospels found in 1945. They reveal that Christianity was a lot more like other Eastern religions, focused on stories rather than dogma, on a poetic approach to understanding life and experiencing the numinous directly within oneself and with connection to the cosmos (Carl Sagan-like) rather than fealty to organised religion.

The podcast starts with her personal history which is interesting enough but for the meetup please make sure you listen between the 16 minute mark and 34 minutes.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/soul-search/elaine-pagels-on-why-religion/13435778