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Gnosticism: Christian Gnosticism
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Gnosticism is a peculiar religion that has roots older than Christianity. With the arrival of Jesus Christ, Gnosticism developed a strong Christological element, but it is not Christianity by any means. The origins of Gnosticism are difficult to pinpoint, but there are heavy doses of Neoplatonism and Jewish mysticism present, along with touches of Zoroastrianism and Hermeticism. The name itself comes from the greek word gnosis, or “knowledge”, and it entails esoteric traditions and secret knowledge to assist the journey of the soul to unity with God. It stands distinct from the generic religious movement of Illuminism, which simply means to be guided by new, special revelation from God. Gnosticism has a definite set of beliefs, complete with a theology all it’sown.
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Gnosticism was a religious philosophical dualism that professed salvation through secret knowledge, or gnosis. The movement reached a high point of development during the 2d century AD in the Roman and Alexandrian schools founded by Valentius. Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism; the Kabbalah of Judaism; and Egyptian religion. The early Christians considered Simon Magus (Acts 8:9 - 24) the founder of gnosticism. His doctrine, like that of other gnostic teachers, had nothing in common with the knowledge of the mysteries of God that Saint Paul called wisdom (1 Cor. 2:7).
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The problem of the relation of Gnosticism to Christianity has for the moment not been the object of consensus. Researchers are divided into two camps on this question. Some consider that Gnosticism was an independent, non-Christian religion which arose at the same time as Christianity and only gradually began to acquire Christian elements. Other researchers suppose that Gnosticism developed under the influence of Christianity and was one of its early interpretations.
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[R]egardless of how Gnosticism originated and developed, and no matter what its early relationship to Christianity was, once the Roman Empire converted to a more conventional form of Christianity, Gnostic varieties had little chance of surviving. Another New Testament scholar, James Robinson, summarizes its demise ...: Gnosticism was ultimately eradicated from Christendom, except for occasional underground movements, some affinities in medieval mysticism, and an occasional tamed echo that stayed just within the limits of propriety (5). Gnostic Literature For a long time, the vast majority of sources available for the study of Gnosticism were written by those who were opponents of Gnosticism. The situation changed drastically in 1945 when twelve codices or books (along with part of a thirteenth), containing 52 tractates written in Coptic, were discovered near the village of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The codices date from roughly the middle of the fourth century. However, nearly all of the texts are translations from Greek and Syriac originals.
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By the 3d century Gnosticism began to succumb to orthodox Christian opposition and persecution. Partly in reaction to the Gnostic heresy, the church strengthened its organization by centralizing authority in the office of bishop, which made its effort to suppress the poorly organized Gnostics more effective. Furthermore, as orthodox Christian theology and philosophy developed, the primarily mythological Gnostic teachings began to seem bizarre and crude. Both Christian theologians and the 3d-century Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus attacked the Gnostic view that the material world is essentially evil. Christians defended their identification of the God of the New Testament with the God of Judaism and their belief that the New Testament is the only true revealed knowledge. The development of Christian MYSTICISM, (q.v.) and asceticism satisfied some of the impulses that had produced Gnosticism, and many Gnostics were converted to orthodox beliefs.
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When writing about Gnosticism it is very difficult to present an objective view of this system of belief or its participants. The reason for this is that there are very few exhibits of first hand copies of their writings. These writings were burned by the orthodox Christians from the first century onward. Gnosticism was considered heretical and Gnostics heretics. So, until the find of Nag Hammadi in 1945 little was known of Gnosticism and the Gnostics except from the writings of their adversaries.
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Christian Gnosticism