Gilles Quispel
See also G.C. Quispel for works on 20thC migration, racism and anti-Semitism.
Gilles Quispel was a Dutch theologian, and historian of Christianity and Gnosticism. He became professor emeritus of early Christian history at Utrecht University.
After studies at Leiden and Groningen, his 1943 doctorate at Utrecht was on Tertullian's sources. He worked on the Gospel of Thomas, and was closely associated with the editing of the Nag Hammadi Library. He became quite famous after one of his statements with regard to gnosticism and early Christianity: "Gnosticism is about to become the 21st century world religion," having in view that most scholars and young researchers manifest a great interest in this religious-philosophical system, focused on esoteric knowledge as means of salvation, during a summer seminar at the University of Amsterdam, in 2000.
“John has a narrow mind. For him, neither the beauty nor the prosperity of the city of Ephesus is worth a second glance. Ephesus was situated at the end of the Silk Road from China and the caravan route from India which used to pass through the Parthian Empire en route to the West. But the prophet is quite unaware that this particular world exists at all. Even culture means absolutely nothing to him; for example, in 18:22 he rejoices that not only song but also the sound of the flute have disappeared. The world which he knows is limited to the seven churches whose Christianity corresponded with his own; and that in but a single province of the Roman Empire, namely Asia. As to the rest, he is only familiar with the mother church in Jerusalem and the sister church in Rome.John is utterly obsessed by Rome. The fact that this particular metropolis had bestowed both law and peace upon no less than one-half of the world never got through to him at all. He is also quite oblivious of the fact that Rome oppresses nations and exploits slaves. He could not care less about national or social considerations. He abominates the "whore on the seven hills" simply because Rome is persecuting Christians. This is precisely what the Apocalypse is all about: innocent suffering.”
“During the persecutions under the Emperor Domitian, John was summoned to Rome, where he was tortured by immersion in a pot of boiling oil and subsequently banished to the island of Patmos in the Aegean sea. It was there he wrote his Apocalypse. It was only after the death of Domitian, in A.D. 96, that he returned to Ephesus, where he was still living during the reign of the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98-117). He became so old and frail that he could no longer walk and had to be carried to meetings and services. All he could manage to say was, "My little children, love one another." He repeated this over and over.”