The Secret of the Second Coming

This is a work dedicated to answering the call of mankind for a one world religion, or, more accurately, a religious outlook that can not just coexist with modern science and other world religions, but be molded to encapsulate all religious and scientific thought. Hopefully through propagating this outlook we can unite the peoples of the Earth in order to stop the seemingly inevitable self-destruction of mankind. The author poses that a Gnostic reading of the Gospel of John contains the knowledge to accomplish this goal and alludes to the emergence of this idea as being the true meaning of "second coming." In this book the author looks at the story of Jesus and compares it with the history and the context of the biblical writings themselves in order to get a new more accurate vision of Jesus, John, Peter, and Christianity as a whole. The author also sheds light on what Christianity's place and purpose could be among re-emerging Gnostic thought, the diverse religious cultures of the world, and it's possible role in stopping this pending self-destruction.

With a double major in philosophy and comparative literature from the University of Tennessee, Howard E. Cook went on to earn an MA in English from CCNY before going to Paris to pursue advanced studies in French language and literature at Schiller International University - Paris. During the fabulously radical sixties he lived in Greenwich Village, NY, and did freelance writing and copy editing for various publishers; Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, TIME, Life, Fortune, and Look to name a few. He lived on storied Gay St., an easy walking distance to Washington Square where, in those heady days, the hippies and the folk singers gathered, and where the counter culture and sexual revolutions were finding a rallying point. While doing postgraduate work at Hunter College and City College he taught english at Columbia Grammar School in Manhattan. Shaking the dust of Gotham from his feet, he then returned home to Athens, Tennessee. He taught French and English at Calhoun High School, near his beloved Athens, until that school closed. He then moved on to teach French at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Hiwassee College in Monroe County. Now approaching his 95th year he has seen the world drastically evolve, lived through 2 world wars and a great depression, and has been front and center as he witnessed the marvel of technology and the internet emerge.