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Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D.
General characteristicsThe word gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνῶσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden mysticism (esoteric knowledge) that only a few possess. The occult nature of Gnostic teaching and the fact that much of the evidence for that teaching comes from attacks by orthodox Christians makes it difficult to be precise about Gnostic systems. The word Gnosticism is also used to describe many modern sects. However, their doctrines have sometimes little to do with ancient Gnosticism, and there has always been a great deal of diversity with gnosticism. Many elements of gnosticism are pre-Christian, and it is generally accepted that orthodox Christianity and its canonical texts do not predate the Gnostic movement, but grew up alongside it, out of some of the same sources. Many of today's scholars are convinced that the Gospel of Thomas was used by 1st Century gnostics as well as writers who lead to the modern Christian church. Other gnostic texts make no mention of Jesus, Christ, or other Christian figures. Many Gnostic sects were Christians who embraced mystical theories of the true nature of Jesus and/or the Christ which were out of step with the teachings of orthodox Christian faith. For example, Gnostics generally taught docetism, the belief that Jesus did not have a physical body, but rather his apparent physical body was an illusion, and hence his crucifixion was not bodily.  The so-called Gnostic Cross, the circular, harmonic cross as used by several Gnostic sects, notably the Cathars ValentiniansOne of the main gnostic sects of ancient time was the Valentinians. They are usually depicted as holding matter to be essentially evil, and the human body especially. Indeed they are often described as being little more than a Christian heresy with extreme, negative views on matter. However, modern efforts to assess this view have found it to be too simplistic. Firstly, the notion that early Christianity came into being fully possessed of a rigid doctrinal body and a similarly strict corpus of canonical texts is unlikely. Primitive Christianity is viewed by modern atheist scholars as a most fluid entity, which encapsulated many apparently contradictory movements and core beliefs of the period; what we would now call orthodox Christianity is a synthesis of some of these beliefs, just one among many differing Christian movements. Thus the notion of a central orthodoxy from which 'Gnosticism' - or any other 'heresy' - deviated, is considered an improper approach. One might note that the original meaning of 'heresy' - denoting 'those who have made a choice' - possessed no derogatory or negative connotations common in the modern sense: it was purely adjectival. It quickly gained these negative connotations however, from the many derogatory words and phrases that were applied to heretics. Furthermore, in the particular case of the Gnostics, the common view is all too dependent on representations of the movement observed from the point of view of its detractors. This is chiefly because most of the writings we have available are in quotations from their detractors, leaving little alternative other than speculation. MatterSome Gnostics, in common with such Neoplatonic philosophers as Plotinus, held matter to be evil only as a method of depicting its extreme distance from the monadic source of the universe (which is, of course, supremely good). Thus matter is not evil in and of itself, but only in its distance from and its contrast to its monadic source (compare summum bonum). It would be more accurate to characterise the Gnostic relationship with matter as one taut with ambivalence; their views an attempt to explain and clarify the divine's relationship with the imperfect universe, and to create a contextual basis for the individual Gnostic's feeling of alienation within that universe. TheologyGnosticism generally taught that the Earth was ruled over by a lesser "god" called Yaldabaoth, also known as the Demiurge, after Plato. The Demiurge was the head of the Archons, "petty rulers" and craftsmen of the physical world. But human bodies, although their matter is evil, contained within them a divine spark or pneuma that fell from the Source, or Nothingness from which all things came. Knowledge (gnosis) enables the divine spark to return to the Source from whence it came. Many Gnostics (especially the followers of Valentinius) taught that there was the One, the original, unknowable God (sometimes named Bythos, the Monad as it is called by Monoimus, or the first Aeon); and then from the One emanated other Aeons, pairs of lesser beings in sequence. (Valentinius listed 30 such pairs.) The Aeons together made up the Pleroma, or fullness, of God. The lowest of these pairs were Sophia ("Wisdom" in Greek) and Christ. In the Valentinian Gnostic creation myth, Sophia sought the unknowable One. In one account, she saw a distant light which was in fact a mirror image, and thus drifted even farther away from the pleroma. Sophia's fear and anguish of losing her life, just as she lost the light of the One, caused confusion and longing to return to it. Because of these longings the matter (Greek: hyle, ὕλη) and the soul (Greek: psyche, ψυχή) accidentally came into existence through the four classical elements fire, water, earth, and air. The creation of the lion-faced Demiurge is also a mistake during this exile, according to some Gnostic sources, as a result of Sophia trying to emanate on her own, without her male counterpart. The Demiurge proceeds to create the physical world in which we live, ignorant of Sophia, who nevertheless manages to infuse some spiritual spark into the creation of the Demiurge. This spark is the pneuma. After this the savior (Christos) returns and lets her see the light again, bringing her knowledge of the spirit (Greek: pneuma, πνεῦμα). Christ was then sent to earth in the form of the man Jesus to give men the gnosis needed to rescue themselves from the physical world and return to spiritual world. The three sensations experienced by Sophia creates three types of humans:
Gnostics identified the Demiurge with the God of the Old Testament, thus they rejected the Old Testament and Judaism and often celebrated those who were rejected by the Old Testament God. Some Gnostics were believed to identify the Demiurge with Satan, a belief which contributed to the suspicion with which many Christians regarded them. Other Gnostics regarded the serpent in the Garden of Eden as a heroic figure because it wanted to help humanity free itself of the chains of Yaldabaoth: After the Demiurge comes to rule over the physical world, Sophia sends a message by way of the Serpent. She gives gnosis to the humans this way, which causes the wrath of the Demiurge, who believes himself to be the sole creator of the universe and the exclusive ruler of this world. The "original sin" thus is in a gnostic context the "original enlightenment", and not an act of sin at all. Humans also learn that Seth, the third son of Adam, was introduced to the gnostic teachings by both his father and his mother, and that this knowledge has been preserved throughout creation. It should be noted that the Gnostics perceived the Old Testament as myth, and thus subject to interpretation. LifestyleMost Gnostics practiced celibacy and asceticism, on the grounds that the pleasures of the flesh were evil; a few however practiced libertinism, arguing that since the body was evil they should defile it, or that since the body was evil it did not matter what was done with it. This led to further distrust, and was an accusation leveled against other groups who did not follow this practice. Gnostic sects(Note: It is a matter of controversy if these sects had a real succession of ideas or communion with each other, or if they more or less coincidentally had the same basic doctrine.) First, the gnostic sects are often divided into an eastern, or Persian school, and a Syrian-Egyptic school. The Persian school has a more definitive division between light and darkness, whereas the Syrian-Egyptic school is more platonist in character. The latter is the one usually associated with Gnosticism, and the one known to include several Christian elements. A group referred to as the Ophites fall in between both of these strains.
SourcesWe have two main historical sources for information on Gnosticism: attacks on Gnosticism by orthodox Christians (i.e. Heresiologies such as those written by Tertullian, Hippolytus, Irenaeus and Epiphanius of Salamis), and the original Gnostic works. Neither of these two sources are entirely satisfactory. Attacks on Gnosticism by orthodox Christians, hostile as they are, most likely suffer from some degree of bias; and orthodox Christians had a tendency to conflate the many differing groups opposing them. There were considerably more Gnostic scriptures written than orthodox Christian ones, which are hinted at throughout the orthodox scriptures. Many Gnostic scriptures and other works were written, but until the late 19th and the 20th centuries, none of them were available, except in isolated quotations in the writings of their opponents. Many 19th century scholars devoted considerable effort to collecting the scattered references in the works of opponents and reassembling the Gnostic materials. Several finds of manuscripts have been made since, most importantly the Nag Hammadi codices. But though we now possess a reasonable collection of Gnostic texts, they are still often difficult to interpret, due to the esoteric nature of Gnostic teaching. We are also faced with difficulties in identifying which teachers or sects authored which texts. The Nag Hammadi Library is available in an English translation and is without doubt the most important collection of source texts for research in Gnosticism. With some basic knowledge of Gnostic concepts, it is not too complicated a read. Origins of GnosticismThe origins of Gnosticism are a subject of dispute amongst scholars: some think Gnosticism is fundamentally pagan in origin, but has adopted a Christian veneer; others trace its origin to Judaism; yet others think it derives from Jesus, and is a development of his teaching at least as valid as the orthodox one. It seems clear that Gnosticism, at least in some of its theologically more developed formulations, was heavily influenced by Platonism, Neo-Platonism, Stoicism, old Semitic religions, Christianity and (at least in the case of Monoimus) Pythagoreanism. Gnostic textsNote that like everything else about Gnosticism, the identification of a text as Gnostic or not may be controversial, however most Nag Hammadi codices may be assumed to be Gnostic in essence, except for the copy of Plato and the "sayings" Gospel of Thomas.
Notable GnosticsRoughly in chronological order:
Gnosticism in modern timesGnosticism has been treated at length by several modern authors, philosophers and psychologists:
Gnosticism has also seen something of a resurgence in popular culture in recent years.
See alsoFurther InformationBooks
External links
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