Samuel Luminari writes about the origins of religious traditions for readers who want the primary sources, not the dogma.

He is not a theologian or an academic, but a careful reader — someone who sets the oldest surviving texts side by side, follows where they actually lead, and cites every step so readers can check the trail for themselves. His books trace how living spiritual teachings hardened into institutions: the message of Jesus preserved in the Gnostic gospels of Nag Hammadi, and the ge