Gnosticism is probably the most famous of the early Christian heresies. Unfortunately it is more a catch-all term than it is a single set of beliefs or philosophies. It is common for us to think that the Apostles were dealing with Gnosticism when writing the epistles, but from the timeline at the bottom of this page it would seem that they were dealing with forms of proto-Gnosticism that would coalesce a bit later into distinct schools.

The term "Gnosticism" is derived from the Greek gnosis; higher, spiritual, Intuitive or Divine knowledge, as opposed to episteme, which is often translated knowledge or even science. (We get our English word epistemology, the study of knowledge, from episteme.) We see in the word gnosis the notion of an intuitive free-thinking approach to spiritual things. Even those friendly to Gnosticism admit that:

... Gnosis is usually thought of as an aspect of "religion", it in fact differs from religion or "Faith" in one extremely important respect. With Religion, knowledge of higher things is not realised intuitively, but rather enforced as a body of knowledge - a dogma or revelation - imposed from without, e.g. Bible, Koran, Gita, etc. ...

With Gnosis, one may indeed be inspired or stimulated by external teachings and revelations, but the essential knowledge comes from within. What this means basically is that there are as many Gnostic teachings as there are Gnostics, and vice-versa. A modern-day Gnostic may be (and in fact usually is) a part of some tradition (Sufi, Kabbalistic, Tantric, Christian, etc), but he/she will always interpret that tradition in an individual way. (http://www.kheper.net 4/15/08)

Actually of the religious "revelation" documents mentioned above, the Bible alone also claims to be history. Indeed it can be thought of as the history of the people who did not altogether forget God and were called to live in fellowship with Him, which they only managed to do imperfectly. Additionally, many Christians say that Christianity and the Bible in particular can not be understood without the Holy Spirit interpreting. This whould seem to bring Christianity within shouting distance of the Gnostic notion outlined above. That said, there are Gnostic scriptures that would seem to have been used to augment the New Testament story.

Traditionally it has been said that what Christians call Gnosticism is a blend of Greek philosophy, paganism, Judaism and early Christianity. As a synchronistic system, it acquired its notion of dualism or polytheism from Greek philosophy and paganism, its notion of creation from Judaism and the idea of redemption from Christianity. Additionally as it was acquiring new elements from various places it changed a lot over time so it would be hard to pin down its teachings or its beginnings. There being no consistent message, founding documents or founding leaders.

To illustrate these difficulties we find that Bock (2006: pp 27-29) gives us 4 theories as to the origin of Gnosticism which I summarize here:

1. Gnosticism was independent and pre Christian. Acquiring various notions from Christianity as the two co-existed. That is, early Gnosticism was influenced by Christianity.
2. Gnosticism was always independent and co-existed with early Christianity, with Christianity adopting some notions from Gnosticism. (This theory is held by those who claim that Christianity is a synthesis of various religious traditions rather than a completion of Jewish revelation.)
3. Gnosticism emerged from early Christianity as people from outside of the Jewish tradition had a hard time with some of the more Jewish elements of the Christian message, most notably the notion of God as creator.
4. Gnosticism was a Jewish reaction to Judaism. This seems unlikely at first as the Gnostic conception of God is so different from the Jewish God of the Old Testament. It is true, however, that even today some of the fiercest opponents of the traditional Christian message have come from inside the Church. (The heresies page demonstrates this as it points us to false teachers thought out the history of the Church.)

The first two theories are becoming popular especially with those who study religion, generally from a fully skeptical position. For them it is generally important that Christianity fit the basket of all other religions. The Gnostic Church that is extant today, however, claims that it was once part of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which would give credence to the traditional view. (Bock insists that while there were Gnostics in the first few Christian centuries, there was no Gnostic Church in an organized sense.) The Sethian Gnostics claim a history older than the Christian Church. They could be the "Jewish reaction to Judaism" of theory 4. They tie their tradition to special revelation given to the Biblical Seth of Genesis 4.

It is clear that Gnosticism varied widely by school and teacher; and these often disagreed with each other. All that said, we still ask: "What makes a Gnostic a Gnostic or perhaps what would identify writings as Gnostic?" Bock (2006: 19-20) provides us with a list of 5 traits of Gnostic writings and by extension their beliefs, they are:

1. Concept of God—Dualism in God(s): In creation there is a mix of good an evil that is distinguishable even as the two qualities exist side by side. Included in this dualism usually is the distinction between the good and largely transcendent unknowable God and the God who created the world. The knowable God who is a projection into the creation is the creator, while the unknowable God is over everything but is too transcendent to be directly involved with the creation. The true God and the God of Genesis are not the same being.
2. Cosmology—Dualism in Creation: Here in creation, there is a contrast of spheres, often called light versus darkness, soul and/or spirit versus matter and/or flesh, and knowledge versus ignorance or forgetfulness. Light, soul, spirit and knowledge represent what is good; and darkness matter, flesh and ignorance or forgetfulness reflect evil. Evil was in the creation from the start. The positive features in man are often characterized as a 'divine spark' within him.
3. Soteriology (the study of salvation): Salvation and redemption are understood primarily in terms of knowledge about creation's dualistic nature. Salvation of the nonmaterial spirit within a person is what matters, not salvation of the creation or of the flesh. The flesh (and the material world) is not redeemable.
4. Eschatology (the study of last things): What is important here is that one understands where existence is headed, namely, the redemption of the soul and the recovery of the creation into the 'fullness' or 'pleroma' (totality of divine powers) that is where good dwells. To reach this, one must:
   1. understand the value of the spiritual above the elements of existence.
   2. establish a sense of connection with the spiritual.
   3. have a sense of separation from the evil physical world of matter and flesh.
5. Cult and Community: little is actually known in this area except that they had practices beyond baptism.

An increasingly important question these days is which is older, Gnosticism or Orthodox Christianity? There is a Gnostic church (that calls itself the Gnostic church) among us today that claims Christian roots. Some Gnostics claim apostolic succession and many try to tie their teaching back to one of the apostles.

Below is a brief timeline that illustrates the traditional thinking. There were more Gnostic teachers and many are presented on the Teachers page along with a more detailed time line. We see here that Gnosticism or at least its formal rise is later than the New Testament.

GNOSTICISM Timeline
Date	Comment
c. 70	An initial wave of Gnosticism arose after the destruction of the temple in 70, but it wasn't until the second century that it gained in prominence and achieved its classical form. Early Gnosticism probably arose out of apocalyptic Judaism, and hostility towards the God of the Old Testament. It arose after people abandoned the idea that God would take action on their behalf.
c. 140	Valentinus begins teaching Gnostic views in Rome
144	Marcion is excommunicated for Gnostic-like views
c. 175	Basilides espouses Gnostic teachings in Alexandria
c. 180	Irenaeus writes Against the Heresies, opposing Gnosticism
c. 450	Gnostic sects diminish
Forms of Gnosticism return
800s	Paulicians
1200s	Albigensians

 

http://www.equip.org/article/modern-gnosticism/ 12/11/17

https://www.biblewise.com/bible_study/characters/first-century.php 5/1/20

• < Prev
• Next >