Gnosticism
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Gnosticism (from
Gnostic
Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the
For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as
Etymology
Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness."[9] It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge (εἴδειν eídein). A related term is the adjective gnostikos, "cognitive",[10] a reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek.[11]
By the Hellenistic period, it began also to be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries, becoming synonymous with the Greek term musterion. Consequentially, Gnosis often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception.[citation needed] In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with the divine. In most Gnostic systems, the sufficient cause of salvation is this "knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. It is an inward "knowing", comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus (neoplatonism), and differs from proto-orthodox Christian views.[12] Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding – or perception and learning – as a particular modality for living".[13] The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used by Plato in the comparison of "practical" (praktikos) and "intellectual" (gnostikos).[note 1][subnote 1] Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts.[note 2]
Sometimes employed in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria[note 3] who speaks of the "learned" (gnostikos) Christian quite often, uses it in complimentary terms.[14] The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus. Some scholars[note 4] consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean "intellectual",[note 5] whereas his mention of "the intellectual sect"[note 6] is a specific designation.[16][note 7][note 8][note 9] The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources,[18][note 10] and was first coined in the 17th century by Henry More in a commentary on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation, where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in Thyatira.[19][note 11] The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185 AD) to describe the school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)".[20][note 12]
Origins
The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity,[note 13][23] but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects.[24][25][note 14][26] Some scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in Buddhism, due to similarities in beliefs,[27] but ultimately, its origins are unknown. As Christianity developed and became more popular, so did Gnosticism, with both proto-orthodox Christian and Gnostic Christian groups often existing in the same places. The Gnostic belief was widespread within Christianity until the proto-orthodox Christian communities expelled the group in the second and third centuries (AD). Gnosticism became one of the first groups to be declared heretical.[23]
Some scholars prefer to speak of "gnosis" when referring to first-century ideas that later developed into Gnosticism, and to reserve the term "Gnosticism" for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement in the second century.[28] According to James M. Robinson, no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity,[note 15] and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all."[29]
Most popular Gnostic sects were heavily inspired by Zoroastrianism.[30]
Jewish Christian origins
Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has
Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some gnostic systems.[33] The cosmogonic speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in Maaseh Breshit and Maaseh Merkabah. This thesis is most notably put forward by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) and Gilles Quispel (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish gnosis in the imagery of merkabah mysticism, which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents.[31] Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to Alexandrian Jews, to which group Valentinus was also connected.[34]
Many of the
Within early Christianity, the teachings of Paul the Apostle and John the Evangelist may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to the world of inferior, worldly powers (the archons), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term gnostikos may have acquired a deeper significance here.[38]
Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ecclesia (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic apocalypticism, speculation on divine wisdom, Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions."[38]
Regarding the angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes:
[Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The
Elchasaites, or at least Christians influenced by them, paired the male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the Testament of Solomon held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of De Centesima and Epiphanius' "Ebionites" held Christ to have been the highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the Ascension of Isaiah and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology.[39]
The pseudepigraphical Christian text Ascension of Isaiah identifies Jesus with angel Christology:
[The Lord Christ is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens...[40]
Neoplatonic influences
In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed.
Persian origins or influences
Early research into the origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements.[46] According to Wilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism,[42] and Richard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia.[42]
Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable.
However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower, James F. McGrath, Charles G. Häberl, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, and Şinasi Gündüz argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples.[32][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic, finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews".[55][56]
Buddhist parallels
In 1966, at the Congress of Median, Buddhologist
Characteristics
Cosmology
The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the
Dualism and monism
Gnostic systems postulate a
Moral and ritual practice
Gnostics tended toward asceticism, especially in their sexual and dietary practice.[67] In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behavior. In normative early Christianity, the Church administered and prescribed the correct behavior for Christians, while in Gnosticism it was the internalised motivation that was important. Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora describes a general asceticism, based on the moral inclination of the individual.[note 17] For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as any other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation.[68]
Female representation
It is difficult to find real women represented in sources characterized as 'Gnostic.' The few that are mentioned are portrayed to be chaotic, disobedient, and even enigmatic.[69] However, significant Gnostic texts like the Nag Hammadi place women in roles of leadership and heroism, contradicting the narrative that women in Gnostic spaces were mere victims to their circumstance.[69][70][71] The role women played in the evolution of Gnosticism is an area of study still being explored.
Concepts
Monad
In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the Monad,
Pleroma
Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons. Jesus is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology.
Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language, and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form, since the word appears in the Epistle to the Colossians. Proponents of the view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a gnostic sense.
Emanation
The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation.
Aeon
In many Gnostic systems, the aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic aeon Barbelo,[72][73][74] the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called syzygies.[75] The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.[76] The aeons as a totality constitute the pleroma, the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.[citation needed]
Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in A Valentinian Exposition.[77]
Sophia
In Gnostic tradition, the name Sophia (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and is identified with the anima mundi or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth [dubious ] (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD.[78] In most, if not all, versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive and negative depictions of materiality depend on the myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia in this highly patriarchal narrative is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world.[71] The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient.[79]
Sophia, emanating without her partner, resulted in the production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit. "public builder"),[80] who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.[72] This creature is concealed outside the pleroma;[72] in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind; trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies.[72][81] In response, the Godhead emanates two savior aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma.[82]
Demiurge
The term demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker".[note 20] This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth",[72] Samael (Aramaic: sæmʻa-ʼel, "blind god"), or "Saklas" (Syriac: sækla, "the foolish one"), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications are Ahriman, El, Satan, and Yahweh.
The demiurge creates the
Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within the broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows.[86]
Archon
In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge.
Other concepts
Other Gnostic concepts are:[89]
- sarkic – earthly, hidebound, ignorant, uninitiated. The lowest level of human thought; the fleshly, instinctive level of thinking.
- hylic – lowest order of the three types of human. Unable to be saved since their thinking is entirely material, incapable of understanding the gnosis.
- psychic – "soulful", partially initiated. Matter-dwelling spirits
- pneumatic – "spiritual", fully initiated, immaterial souls escaping the doom of the material world via gnosis.
- kenoma – the visible or manifest cosmos, "lower" than the pleroma
- charisma – gift, or energy, bestowed by pneumatics through oral teaching and personal encounters
- logos – the divine ordering principle of the cosmos; personified as Christ. See also Odic force.
- hypostasis– literally "that which stands beneath" the inner reality, emanation (appearance) of God, known to psychics
- ousia – essence of God, known to pneumatics. Specific individual things or being.
Jesus as Gnostic saviour
Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the
Development
Three periods can be discerned in the development of Gnosticism:[93]
- Late-first century and early second century: development of Gnostic ideas, contemporaneous with the writing of the New Testament;
- mid-second century to early third century: high point of the classical Gnostic teachers and their systems, "who claimed that their systems represented the inner truth revealed by Jesus";[93]
- end of the second century to the fourth century: reaction by the proto-orthodox church and condemnation as heresy, and subsequent decline.
During the first period, three types of tradition developed:[93]
- Genesis was reinterpreted in Jewish milieus, viewing Yahweh as a jealous God who enslaved people; freedom was to be obtained from this jealous God;
- A wisdom tradition developed, in which Jesus' sayings were interpreted as pointers to an esoteric wisdom, in which the soul could be divinized through identification with wisdom.[93][note 21] Some of Jesus' sayings may have been incorporated into the gospels to put a limit on this development. The conflicts described in 1 Corinthians may have been inspired by a clash between this wisdom tradition and Paul's gospel of crucifixion and arising;[93]
- A mythical story developed about the descent of a heavenly creature to reveal the Divine world as the true home of human beings.[93] Jewish Christianity saw the Messiah, or Christ, as "an eternal aspect of God's hidden nature, his "spirit" and "truth", who revealed himself throughout sacred history".[38]
The movement spread in areas controlled by the
Relation with early Christianity
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Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development of early Christianity.[97]
Orthodoxy and heresy
The Christian heresiologists, most notably Irenaeus, regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence.[98][96][99][97] Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other.[100]
According to Walter Bauer, "heresies" may well have been the original form of Christianity in many regions.
Historical Jesus
The Gnostic movements may contain information about the historical Jesus, since some texts preserve sayings which show similarities with canonical sayings.[104] Especially the Gospel of Thomas has a significant amount of parallel sayings.[104] Yet, a striking difference is that the canonical sayings center on the coming endtime, while the Thomas-sayings center on a kingdom of heaven that is already here, and not a future event.[105] According to Helmut Koester, this is because the Thomas-sayings are older, implying that in the earliest forms of Christianity, Jesus was regarded as a wisdom-teacher.[105] An alternative hypothesis states that the Thomas authors wrote in the second century, changing existing sayings and eliminating the apocalyptic concerns.[105] According to April DeConick, such a change occurred when the end time did not come, and the Thomasine tradition turned toward a "new theology of mysticism" and a "theological commitment to a fully-present kingdom of heaven here and now, where their church had attained Adam and Eve's divine status before the Fall."[105]
Johannine literature
The prologue of the Gospel of John describes the incarnated Logos, the light that came to earth, in the person of Jesus.[106] The Apocryphon of John contains a scheme of three descendants from the heavenly realm, the third one being Jesus, just as in the Gospel of John. The similarities probably point to a relationship between gnostic ideas and the Johannine community.[106] According to Raymond Brown, the Gospel of John shows "the development of certain gnostic ideas, especially Christ as heavenly revealer, the emphasis on light versus darkness, and anti-Jewish animus."[106] The Johannine material reveals debates about the redeemer myth.[93] The Johannine letters show that there were different interpretations of the gospel story, and the Johannine images may have contributed to second-century Gnostic ideas about Jesus as a redeemer who descended from heaven.[93] According to DeConick, the Gospel of John shows a "transitional system from early Christianity to gnostic beliefs in a God who transcends our world."[106] According to DeConick, John may show a bifurcation of the idea of the Jewish God into Jesus' Father in Heaven and the Jews' father, "the Father of the Devil" (most translations say "of [your] father the Devil"), which may have developed into the gnostic idea of the Monad and the Demiurge.[106]
Paul and Gnosticism
According to
Major movements
Judean–Israelite Gnosticism
Although Elkesaites and Mandaeans were found mainly in
Elkesaites
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 and 400 AD.[115] The members of this sect performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition.[115][117]: 123 The sect is named after its leader Elkesai.[118]
According to
Mandaeism
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Mandaeism is a Gnostic,
The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic
Mandaeans believe that there is a constant battle or conflict between the forces of good and evil. The forces of good are represented by Nhura (Light) and Maia Hayyi (Living Water) and those of evil are represented by Hshuka (Darkness) and Maia Tahmi (dead or rancid water). The two waters are mixed in all things in order to achieve a balance. Mandaeans also believe in an afterlife or heaven called Alma d-Nhura (World of Light).[126]
In Mandaeism, the World of Light is ruled by a Supreme God, known as
: 8The Lord of Darkness (
According to Mandaean beliefs, the material world is a mixture of light and dark created by
Baptisms are a central theme in Mandaeism, believed to be necessary for the redemption of the soul. Mandaeans do not perform a single baptism, as in religions such as Christianity; rather, they view baptisms as a ritual act capable of bringing the soul closer to salvation.[129] Therefore, Mandaeans are baptized repeatedly during their lives.[130] Mandaeans consider John the Baptist to have been a Nasoraean Mandaean.[117]: 3 [131][132] John is referred to as their greatest and final teacher.[50][117]
Due to paraphrases and word-for-word translations from the Mandaean originals found in the
In addition to accepting Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins, Buckley adds:
[T]he Mandaeans may well have become the inventors of – or at least contributors to the development of – Gnosticism ... and they produced the most voluminous Gnostic literature we know, in one language... influenc[ing] the development of Gnostic and other religious groups in late antiquity [e.g. Manichaeism, Valentianism].[6]
Samaritan Baptist sects
According to Magris, Samaritan Baptist sects were an offshoot of
The Simonians were centered on Simon Magus, the magician baptised by Philip and rebuked by Peter in Acts 8, who became in early Christianity the archetypal false teacher. The ascription by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and others of a connection between schools in their time and the individual in Acts 8 may be as legendary as the stories attached to him in various apocryphal books. Justin Martyr identifies Menander of Antioch as Simon Magus' pupil. According to Hippolytus, Simonianism is an earlier form of the Valentinian doctrine.[143]
The
Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism
Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism includes Sethianism, Valentinianism, Basilideans, Thomasine traditions, and Serpent Gnostics, as well as a number of other minor groups and writers.[144] Hermeticism is also a western Gnostic tradition,[96] though it differs in some respects from these other groups.[145] The Syrian–Egyptian school derives much of its outlook from Platonist influences. It depicts creation in a series of emanations from a primal monadic source, finally resulting in the creation of the material universe. These schools tend to view evil in terms of matter that is markedly inferior to goodness and lacking spiritual insight and goodness rather than as an equal force.
Many of these movements used texts related to Christianity, with some identifying themselves as specifically Christian, though quite different from the
Sethite-Barbeloite
Sethianism was one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd to 3rd centuries, and the prototype of Gnosticism as condemned by Irenaeus.
According to John D. Turner, German and American scholarship views Sethianism as "a distinctly inner-Jewish, albeit syncretistic and heterodox, phenomenon", while British and French scholarship tends to see Sethianism as "a form of heterodox Christian speculation".[150] Roelof van den Broek notes that "Sethianism" may never have been a separate religious movement, and that the term refers rather to a set of mythological themes which occur in various texts.[151]
According to Smith, Sethianism may have begun as a pre-Christian tradition, possibly a
According to Turner, Sethianism was influenced by Christianity and Middle Platonism, and originated in the second century as a fusion of a Jewish baptizing group of possibly priestly lineage, the so-called Barbeloites,[153] named after Barbelo, the first emanation of the Highest God, and a group of Biblical exegetes, the Sethites, the "seed of Seth".[154] At the end of the second century, Sethianism grew apart from the developing Christian orthodoxy, which rejected the Docetic view of the Sethians on Christ.[155] In the early third century, Sethianism was fully rejected by Christian heresiologists, as Sethianism shifted toward the contemplative practices of Platonism while losing interest in their primal origins.[156] In the late third century, Sethianism was attacked by neo-Platonists like Plotinus, and Sethianism became alienated from Platonism. In the early to mid-fourth century, Sethianism fragmented into various sectarian Gnostic groups such as the Archontics, Audians, Borborites, and Phibionites, and perhaps Stratiotici, and Secundians.[157][44] Some of these groups existed into the Middle Ages.[157]
Valentinianism
Valentinianism was named after its founder Valentinus (c. 100 – c. 180), who was a candidate for bishop of Rome but started his own group when another was chosen.[158] Valentinianism flourished after mid-second century. The school was popular, spreading to Northwest Africa and Egypt, and through to Asia Minor and Syria in the east,[159] and Valentinus is specifically named as gnostikos by Irenaeus. It was an intellectually vibrant tradition,[160] with an elaborate and philosophically "dense" form of Gnosticism. Valentinus' students elaborated on his teachings and materials, and several varieties of their central myth are known.
Valentinian Gnosticism may have been monistic rather than dualistic.[note 24] In the Valentinian myths, the creation of a flawed materiality is not due to any moral failing on the part of the Demiurge, but due to the fact that he is less perfect than the superior entities from which he emanated.[163] Valentinians treat physical reality with less contempt than other Gnostic groups, and conceive of materiality not as a separate substance from the divine, but as attributable to an error of perception which becomes symbolized mythopoetically as the act of material creation.[163]
The followers of Valentinus attempted to systematically decode the Epistles, claiming that most Christians made the mistake of reading the Epistles literally rather than allegorically. Valentinians understood the conflict between Jews and Gentiles in Romans to be a coded reference to the differences between Psychics (people who are partly spiritual but have not yet achieved separation from carnality) and Pneumatics (totally spiritual people). The Valentinians argued that such codes were intrinsic in gnosticism, secrecy being important to ensuring proper progression to true inner understanding.[note 25]
According to
Basilideans
The Basilidians or Basilideans were founded by
Thomasine traditions
The Thomasine Traditions refers to a group of texts which are attributed to the apostle Thomas.[167][note 26] Karen L. King notes that "Thomasine Gnosticism" as a separate category is being criticised, and may "not stand the test of scholarly scrutiny".[168]
Marcion
Marcion was a Church leader from Sinope (a city on the south shore of the Black Sea in present-day Turkey), who preached in Rome around 150 CE,[169] but was expelled and started his own congregation, which spread throughout the Mediterranean. He rejected the Old Testament, and followed a limited Christian canon, which included only a redacted version of Luke, and ten edited letters of Paul.[93] Some scholars do not consider him to be a gnostic,[170][note 27] but his teachings clearly resemble some Gnostic teachings.[169] He preached a radical difference between the God of the Old Testament, the Demiurge, the "evil creator of the material universe", and the highest God, the "loving, spiritual God who is the father of Jesus", who had sent Jesus to the earth to free mankind from the tyranny of the Jewish Law.[169][13] Like the Gnostics, Marcion argued that Jesus was essentially a divine spirit appearing to men in the shape of a human form, and not someone in a true physical body.[171] Marcion held that the heavenly Father (the father of Jesus Christ) was an utterly alien god; he had no part in making the world, nor any connection with it.[171]
Hermeticism
Hermeticism is closely related to Gnosticism, but its orientation is more positive.[96][145][clarification needed]
Other Gnostic groups
- Serpent Gnostics. The Naassenes, Ophites and the Serpentarians gave prominence to snake symbolism, and snake handling played a role in their ceremonies.[169]
- Cerinthus (c. 100), the founder of a school with gnostic elements. Like a Gnostic, Cerinthus depicted Christ as a heavenly spirit separate from the man Jesus, and he cited the demiurge as creating the material world. Unlike the Gnostics, Cerinthus taught Christians to observe the Jewish law; his demiurge was holy, not lowly; and he taught the Second Coming. His gnosis was a secret teaching attributed to an apostle. Some scholars believe that the First Epistle of John was written as a response to Cerinthus.[172]
- The libertinism). The name Cainite is used as the name of a religious movement, and not in the usual Biblical sense of people descended from Cain.[173]
- The
- The school of Justin, which combined gnostic elements with the ancient Greek religion.[175]
- The Borborites, a libertine Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans[176]
Persian Gnosticism
The Persian schools, which appeared in the western Persian
Manichaeism
Manichaeism was founded by
Manichaeism conceives of two coexistent realms of light and darkness that become embroiled in conflict. Certain elements of the light became entrapped within darkness, and the purpose of material creation is to engage in the slow process of extraction of these individual elements. In the end, the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness. Manicheanism inherits this dualistic mythology from
According to Kurt Rudolph, the decline of
The influence of Manicheanism was attacked by imperial elects and polemical writings, but the religion remained prevalent until the 6th century, and still exerted influence in the emergence of Paulicianism, Bogomilism, and Catharism in the Middle Ages, until it was ultimately stamped out by the Catholic Church.[127]
In the east, Rudolph relates, Manicheanism was able to bloom, because the religious monopoly position previously held by Christianity and Zoroastrianism had been broken by nascent Islam. In the early years of the Arab conquest, Manicheanism again found followers in Persia (mostly amongst educated circles), but flourished most in Central Asia, to which it had spread through Iran. There, in 762, Manicheanism became the state religion of the Uyghur Khaganate.[127]
Middle Ages
After its decline in the Mediterranean world, Gnosticism lived on in the periphery of the Byzantine Empire, and resurfaced in the western world. The
The Cathars (Cathari, Albigenses or Albigensians) were also accused by their enemies of the traits of Gnosticism; though whether or not the Cathari possessed direct historical influence from ancient Gnosticism is disputed. If their critics are reliable the basic conceptions of Gnostic cosmology are to be found in Cathar beliefs (most distinctly in their notion of a lesser, Satanic, creator god), though they did not apparently place any special relevance upon knowledge (gnosis) as an effective salvific force.[verification needed]
Islam
The Quran, like Gnostic cosmology, makes a sharp distinction between this world and the afterlife. God is commonly thought of as being beyond human comprehension. In some Islamic schools of thought, God is identifiable with the Monad.[181][182]
However, according to Islam and unlike most Gnostic sects, not rejection of this world but performing good deeds leads to
Islam also integrated traces of an entity given authority over the lower world in some early writings: Iblis is regarded by some Sufis as the owner of this world and humans must avoid the treasures of this world since they would belong to him.[186]
In the
Further traces of Gnostic ideas can be found in Sufi anthropogeny.[
It seems that Gnostic ideas were an influential part of early Islamic development but later lost its influence. However light metaphors and the idea of
Kabbalah
Gershom Scholem, a historian of Jewish philosophy, wrote that several core Gnostic ideas reappear in medieval Kabbalah, where they are used to reinterpret earlier Jewish sources. In these cases, according to Scholem, texts such as the Zohar adapted Gnostic precepts for the interpretation of the Torah, while not using the language of Gnosticism.[192] Scholem further proposed that there was a Jewish Gnosticism which influenced the early origins of Christian Gnosticism.[193]
Given that some of the earliest dated Kabbalistic texts emerged in medieval
Modern times
Found today in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities, the
Early 20th-century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism include
Sources
Heresiologists
Prior to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 Gnosticism was known primarily through the works of
Gnostic texts
Prior to the discovery at Nag Hammadi, a limited number of texts were available to students of Gnosticism. Reconstructions were attempted from the records of the heresiologists, but these were necessarily coloured by the motivation behind the source accounts. The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of
Academic studies
Development
Prior to the discovery of Nag Hammadi, the Gnostic movements were largely perceived through the lens of the early church heresiologists. Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1694–1755) proposed that Gnosticism developed on its own in Greece and Mesopotamia, spreading to the west and incorporating Jewish elements. According to Mosheim, Jewish thought took Gnostic elements and used them against Greek philosophy.[46] J. Horn and Ernest Anton Lewald proposed Persian and Zoroastrian origins, while Jacques Matter described Gnosticism as an intrusion of eastern cosmological and theosophical speculation into Christianity.[46]
In the 1880s, Gnosticism was placed within Greek philosophy, especially neo-Platonism.[42] Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), who belonged to the School of the History of Dogma and proposed a Kirchengeschichtliches Ursprungsmodell, saw Gnosticism as an internal development within the church under the influence of Greek philosophy.[42][205] According to Harnack, Gnosticism was the "acute Hellenization of Christianity".[42]
The
The study of Gnosticism and of early Alexandrian Christianity received a strong impetus from the discovery of the
Definitions of Gnosticism
According to Matthew J. Dillon, six trends can be discerned in the definitions of Gnosticism:[212]
- Typologies, "a catalogue of shared characteristics that are used to classify a group of objects together."[212]
- Traditional approaches, viewing Gnosticism as a Christian heresy[213]
- Phenomenological approaches, most notably Hans Jonas[214][215]
- Restricting Gnosticism, "identifying which groups were explicitly called gnostics",[216] or which groups were clearly sectarian[216]
- Deconstructing Gnosticism, abandoning the category of "Gnosticism"[217]
- Psychology and cognitive science of religion, approaching Gnosticism as a psychological phenomenon[218]
Typologies
The 1966 Messina conference on the origins of gnosis and Gnosticism proposed to designate
... a particular group of systems of the second century after Christ" as gnosticism, and to use gnosis to define a
conception of knowledge that transcends the times, which was described as "knowledge of divine mysteries for an élite.[219]
This definition has now been abandoned.[212] It created a religion, "Gnosticism", from the "gnosis" which was a widespread element of ancient religions,[note 31] suggesting a homogeneous conception of gnosis by these Gnostic religions, which did not exist at the time.[220]
According to Dillon, the texts from Nag Hammadi made clear that this definition was limited, and that they are "better classified by movements (such as Valentinian), mythological similarity (Sethian), or similar tropes (presence of a Demiurge)."[212] Dillon further notes that the Messian-definition "also excluded pre-Christian Gnosticism and later developments, such as the Mandaeans and the Manichaeans."[212]
Hans Jonas discerned two main currents of Gnosticism, namely Syrian-Egyptian, and Persian, which includes Manicheanism and Mandaeism.[31] Among the Syrian-Egyptian schools and the movements they spawned are a typically more Monist view. Persian Gnosticism possesses more dualist tendencies, reflecting a strong influence from the beliefs of the Persian Zurvanist Zoroastrians. Those of the medieval Cathars, Bogomils, and Carpocratians seem to include elements of both categories. However, scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower and Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley argue for a Palestinian origin for Mandaeism.
Gilles Quispel divided Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism further into Jewish Gnosticism (the Apocryphon of John)[147] and Christian Gnosis (Marcion, Basilides, Valentinus). This "Christian Gnosticism" was Christocentric, and influenced by Christian writings such as the Gospel of John and the Pauline epistles.[221] Other authors speak rather of "Gnostic Christians", noting that Gnostics were a prominent substream in the early church.[222]
Traditional approaches – Gnosticism as Christian heresy
The best known example of this approach is Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), who stated that "Gnosticism is the acute Hellenization of Christianity."[213] According to Dillon, "many scholars today continue in the vein of Harnack in reading gnosticism as a late and contaminated version of Christianity", notably Darrell Block, who criticises Elaine Pagels for her view that early Christianity was wildly diverse.[215]
Phenomenological approaches
Restricting Gnosticism
In the late 1980s scholars voiced concerns about the broadness of "Gnosticism" as a meaningful category. Bentley Layton proposed to categorize Gnosticism by delineating which groups were marked as gnostic in ancient texts. According to Layton, this term was mainly applied by heresiologists to the myth described in the Apocryphon of John, and was used mainly by the Sethians and the Ophites. According to Layton, texts which refer to this myth can be called "classical Gnostic".[216]
In addition, Alastair Logan uses social theory to identify Gnosticism. He uses Rodney Stark and William Bainbridge's sociological theory on traditional religion, sects and cults. According to Logan, the Gnostics were a cult, at odds with the society at large.[216]
Criticism of "Gnosticism" as a category
According to the Westar Institute's Fall 2014 Christianity Seminar Report on Gnosticism, there is no group that possesses all of the usually-attributed features. Nearly every group possesses one or more of them, or some modified version of them. There was no particular relationship among any set of groups which one could distinguish as "Gnostic", as if they were in opposition to some other set of groups. For instance, every sect of Christianity on which we have any information on this point believed in a separate Logos who created the universe at God's behest. Likewise, they believed some kind of secret knowledge ("gnosis") was essential to ensuring one's salvation. Likewise, they had a dualist view of the cosmos, in which the lower world was corrupted by meddling divine beings and the upper world's God was awaiting a chance to destroy it and start over, thereby helping humanity to escape its corrupt bodies and locations by fleeing into celestial ones.[223]
According to
According to Karen King, scholars have "unwittingly continued the project of ancient heresiologists", searching for non-Christian influences, thereby continuing to portray a pure, original Christianity.[217]
In light of such increasing scholarly rejection and restriction of the concept of Gnosticism, David G. Robertson has written on the distortions which misapplications of the term continue to perpetuate in religious studies.[224]
Psychological approaches
Carl Jung approached Gnosticism from a psychological perspective, which was followed by Gilles Quispel. According to this approach, Gnosticism is a map for the human development in which an undivided person, centered on the Self, develops out of the fragmentary personhood of young age. According to Quispel, gnosis is a third force in western culture, alongside faith and reason, which offers an experiential awareness of this Self.[217]
According to Ioan Culianu, gnosis is made possible through universal operations of the mind, which can be arrived at "anytime, anywhere".[225] A similar suggestion has been made by Edward Conze, who suggested that the similarities between prajñā and sophia may be due to "the actual modalities of the human mind", which in certain conditions result in similar experiences.[226]
Notes
- ^ In Plato's dialogue between Young Socrates and the Foreigner in his The Statesman (258e).
- ^ 10x Plato, Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman 2x Plutarch, Compendium libri de animae procreatione + De animae procreatione in Timaeo, 2x Pseudo-Plutarch, De musica[web 2]
- Stromateis
- ^ For example A. Rousseau and L. Doutreleau, translators of the French edition (1974)[15]
- ^ As in 1.25.6, 1.11.3, 1.11.5.
- ^ Adv. haer. 1.11.1
- comparative adjective gnostikeron "more learned", evidently cannot mean "more Gnostic" as a name.[16]
- ^ Williams, p. 36: "But several of Irenaeus's uses of the designation gnostikos are more ambiguous, and it is not so clear whether he is indicating the specific sect again or using 'gnostics' now merely as a shorthand reference for virtually all of the groups he is criticizing"; p. 37: "They argue that Irenaeus uses gnostikos in two senses: (1) with the term's 'basic and customary meaning' of 'learned' (savant), and (2) with reference to adherents of the specific sect called 'the gnostic heresy' in Adv. haer. 1.11.1."; p. 271: "1.25.6 where they think that gnostikos means 'learned' are in 1.11.3 ('A certain other famous teacher of theirs, reaching for a doctrine more lofty and learned [gnostikoteron] ...') and 1.11.5 ('... in order that they [i.e.,])."[16]
- Marcellina use the term gnostikos of themselves.[17][subnote 2] Later Hippolytus uses "learned" (gnostikos) of Cerinthus and the Ebionites, and Epiphaniusapplied "learned" (gnostikos) to specific groups.
- ^ Dunderberg: "The problems with the term 'Gnosticism' itself are now well known. It does not appear in ancient sources at all"[18]
- ^ Pearson: "As Bentley Layton points out, the term Gnosticism was first coined by Henry More (1614–1687) in an expository work on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation.29 More used the term Gnosticisme to describe the heresy in Thyatira."[19]
- apostle Paul's warning against "knowledge falsely so-called" in 1 Timothy 6:20, and covers various groups, not just Valentinus.[21]
- ^ a b c Cohen & Mendes-Flohr: "Recent research, however, has tended to emphasize that Judaism, rather than Persia, was a major origin of Gnosticism. Indeed, it appears increasingly evident that many of the newly published Gnostic texts were written in a context from which Jews were not absent. In some cases, indeed, a violent rejection of the Jewish God, or of Judaism, seems to stand at the basis of these texts. ... facie, various trends in Jewish thought and literature of the Second Commonwealth appear to have been potential factors in Gnostic origins.[25]
- ^ Robinson: "At this stage we have not found any Gnostic texts that clearly antedate the origin of Christianity." J. M. Robinson, "Sethians and Johannine Thought: The Trimorphic Protennoia and the Prologue of the Gospel of John" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, vol. 2, Sethian Gnosticism, ed. B. Layton (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), p. 662.
- ^ The idea that Gnosticism was derived from Buddhism was first proposed by the Victorian gem collector and numismatist Charles William King (1864).[59] Mansel (1875) [60] considered the principal sources of Gnosticism to be Platonism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism.[61]
- Ptolemy, in Letter to Flora: "External physical fasting is observed even among our followers, for it can be of some benefit to the soul if it is engaged in with reason (logos), whenever it is done neither by way of limiting others, nor out of habit, nor because of the day, as if it had been specially appointed for that purpose."
- Æon), Bythos (Depth or Profundity, Βυθός), Proarkhe (Before the Beginning, προαρχή), and He Arkhe (The Beginning, ἡ ἀρχή).
- ^ The relevant passage of The Republic was found within the Nag Hammadi library,[84] wherein a text existed describing the demiurge as a "lion-faced serpent".[72]
- Republic. In Timaeus, the demiourgós is a central figure, a benevolent creator of the universe who works to make the universe as benevolent as the limitations of matter will allow. In The Republic the description of the leontomorphic "desire" in Socrates' model of the psyche bears a resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion.[note 19]
- ^ According to Earl Doherty, a prominent proponent of the Christ myth theory, the Q-authors may have regarded themselves as "spokespersons for the Wisdom of God, with Jesus being the embodiment of this Wisdom. In time, the gospel-narrative of this embodiment of Wisdom became interpreted as the literal history of the life of Jesus.[94]
- ^ The existence of Jesus is explored in other Wikipedia articles, such as: Christ myth theory, Historicity of Jesus, Sources for the historicity of Jesus, Historical Jesus, Quest for the historical Jesus
- ^ The doctrine of the "triple-powered one" found in the text Allogenes, as discovered in the Nag Hammadi Library, is "the same doctrine as found in the anonymous Parmenides commentary (Fragment XIV) ascribed by Hadot to Porphyry [...] and is also found in Plotinus' Ennead 6.7, 17, 13–26."[44]
- ^ Quotes:
* Elaine Pagels: "Valentinian gnosticism [...] differs essentially from dualism";[161]
* Schoedel: "a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic".[162] - On the Detection and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So CalledBook 1. Ch.3
- ^ The texts commonly attributed to the Thomasine Traditions are:
- The Hymn of the Pearl, or, the Hymn of Jude Thomas the Apostle in the Country of Indians
- The Gospel of Thomas
- The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
- The Acts of Thomas
- The Book of Thomas: The Contender Writing to the Perfect
- The Psalms of Thomas
- The Apocalypse of Thomas
- dualisthe certainly was, but he was not a Gnostic".
- ^ Where Augustine was a member of the school from 373–382.[179][180]
- ^ This understanding of the transmission of Gnostic ideas, despite Irenaeus' certain antagonistic bias, is often utilized today, though it has been criticized.
- ^ According to Layton, "the lack of uniformity in ancient Christian scripture in the early period is very striking, and it points to the substantial diversity within the Christian religion."[204]
- ^ Markschies: "something was being called "gnosticism" that the ancient theologians had called 'gnosis' ... [A] concept of gnosis had been created by Messina that was almost unusable in a historical sense."[220]
Subnotes
- ^ perseus.tufts.edu, LSJ entry: γνωστ-ικός, ή, όν, A. of or for knowing, cognitive: ἡ -κή (sc. ἐπιστήμη), theoretical science (opp. πρακτική), Pl.Plt.258e, etc.; τὸ γ. ib.261b; "ἕξεις γ." Arist.AP0.100a11 (Comp.); "γ. εἰκόνες" Hierocl.in CA25p.475M.: c. gen., able to discern, Ocell. 2.7. Adv. "-κῶς" Procl.Inst.39, Dam.Pr.79, Phlp.in Ph.241.22.[web 1]
- ^ Williams: "On the other hand, the one group whom Irenaeus does explicitly mention as users of this self-designation, the followers of the Second Century teacher Marcellina, are not included in Layton's anthology at all, on the grounds that their doctrines are not similar to those of the "classic" gnostics. As we have seen, Epiphanius is one of the witnesses for the existence of a special sect called 'the gnostics', and yet Epiphanius himself seems to distinguish between these people and 'the Sethians' (Pan 40.7.5), whereas Layton treats them as both under the 'classic gnostic' category."[17]
References
This article has an unclear citation style. (January 2024) |
Citations
- ^ Pagels 1989, pp. 28–47, "One God, One Bishop: The Politics of Monotheism".
- ^ Pagels 1989, p. xx.
- ^ Layton 1995, p. 106.
- ^ a b Pagels 1989, p. xx.
- ^ a b Deutsch 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Buckley 2010, p. 109.
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- ^ Robertson 2021, p. [page needed].
- Liddell Scott entryγνῶσις, εως, ἡ, A. seeking to know, inquiry, investigation, esp. judicial, "τὰς τῶν δικαστηρίων γ." D.18.224; "τὴν κατὰ τοῦ διαιτητοῦ γdeetr." Id.21.92, cf. 7.9, Lycurg.141; "γ. περὶ τῆς δίκης" PHib.1.92.13 (iii B. C.). 2. result of investigation, decision, PPetr.3p.118 (iii B. C.). II. knowing, knowledge, Heraclit.56; opp. ἀγνωσίη, Hp. Vict.1.23 (dub.); opp. ἄγνοια, Pl.R.478c; "ἡ αἴσθησις γ. τις" Arist.GA731a33: pl., "Θεὸς γνώσεων κύριος" LXX 1 Ki.2.3. b. higher, esoteric knowledge, 1 Ep.Cor.8.7,10, Ep.Eph.3.19, etc.; "χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν νοῦν, λόγον, γνῶσιν" PMag.Par.2.290. 2. acquaintance with a person, "πρός τινα" Test. ap.Aeschin.1.50; "τῶν Σεβαστῶν" IPE1.47.6 (Olbia). 3. recognizing, Th.7.44. 4. means of knowing, "αἱ αἰσθήσεις κυριώταται τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστα γ." Arist.Metaph.981b11. III. being known, "γνῶσιν ἔχει τι", = "γνωστόν ἐστι", Pl.Tht.206b. 2. fame, credit, Hdn.7.5.5, Luc.Herod.3. IV. means of knowing: hence, statement in writing, PLond.5.1708, etc. (vi A. D.). V. = γνῶμα,Hsch.s. h. v.
- ^ LSJ entry γνωστ-ικός, ή, όν, A. of or for knowing, cognitive: ἡ -κή (sc. ἐπιστήμη), theoretical science (opp. πρακτική), Pl.Plt.258b.c., etc.; τὸ γ. ib.261b; "ἕξεις γ." Arist.AP0.100a11 (Comp.); "γ. εἰκόνες" Hierocl.in CA25p.475M.: c. gen., able to discern, Ocell. 2.7. Adv. "-κῶς" Procl.Inst.39, Dam.Pr.79, Phlp.in Ph.241.22.
- ^ In Perseus databank 10x Plato, Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman 2x Plutarch, Compendium libri de animae procreatione + De animae procreatione in Timaeo, 2x Pseudo-Plutarch, De musica
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- ^ a b Chadwick n.d.
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The most prominent example of Angel Adoptionism from the early Church would have to be the document known as The Shepherd of Hermass. In The Shepherd, the savior is an angel called the "angel of justification", who seems to be identified with the archangel Michael. Although the angel is often understood to be Jesus, he is never named as Jesus.
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- ^ Smith 2004.
- ^ Turner 2001, pp. 257–258.
- ^ Turner 2001, p. 258.
- ^ Turner 2001, p. 259.
- ^ Turner 2001, pp. 259–260.
- ^ a b Turner 2001, p. 260.
- ^ Adversus Valentinianos 4.
- ^ Green 1985, p. 244.
- ^ Markschies 2003, p. 94.
- ^ Pagels 1979, p. [page needed].
- ^ Schoedel, William (1980). "Gnostic Monism and the Gospel of Truth" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Vol.1: The School of Valentinus, (ed.) Bentley Layton. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- ^ a b "Valentinian Monism". The Gnostic Society Library. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ Layton 1987.
- ^ Simone Petrement, A Separate God
- ^ Schaff, Philip; et al. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book IV.
- ^ Jon Ma. Asgeirsson, April D. DeConick and Risto Uro (editors), Thomasine Traditions in Antiquity. The Social and Cultural World of the Gospel of Thomas Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, Brill.
- ^ King 2003, p. 162.
- ^ a b c d Magris 2005, p. 3518.
- ^ "Adolf Von Harnack: Marcion". gnosis.org.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55635-703-9.
- ^ González, Justo L. (1970). A History of Christian Thought, Vol. I. Abingdon. pp. 132–133
- ^ "Cainite | Gnostic sect | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- JSTOR 1582042.
- JSTOR 1584560.
- ISBN 978-90-04-15231-1.
- ISBN 978-1-84212-165-8.
- ^ "Dualism Religion – Definition – Dualistic Cosmology – Christianity". 2018-03-16.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
- ISBN 1-57910-918-7.
- ISBN 978-1-597-81703-5, p. 17
- ^ a b Nagel 1994, p. 222.
- ISBN 978-1-780-28883-3
- ^ a b Nagel 1994, p. 215.
- ^ Nagel 1994, p. 216.
- ISBN 978-90-04-06906-0
- ^ Barnstone & Meyer 2009, p. 803.
- ^ Barnstone & Meyer 2009, p. 707.
- ISBN 978-1-136-13754-9, p. 154
- ISBN 978-1-904-65832-0, p. 51
- ISBN 978-1-594-77767-7
- ^ Scholem, Gershom. Origins of the Kabbalah, 1987. Pp. 21–22.
- ^ Scholem, Gershom. Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition, 1965.
- ^ Dan, Joseph. Kabbalah: a Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 24.
- ^ Rudolph 1987, p. 343.
- ISBN 978-0-547-79210-1.
- Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation, Vol. II, Ch. XLVIII
- ^ ISBN 0-06-066935-7
- ^ Green, Celia (1981, 2006). Advice to Clever Children. Oxford: Oxford Forum. pp. xxxv–xxxvii.
- ^ Michael Weber. Contact Made Vision: The Apocryphal Whitehead Pub. in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.), Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008, I, pp. 573–599.
- ^ Markschies 2003, p. 37.
- ISBN 0-06-052378-6
- ^ Robinson 1978, Introduction.
- ^ Layton 1987, p. xviii.
- ^ Lahe 2006, p. 221.
- ^ a b c Sariel, Aviram. "Jonasian Gnosticism." Harvard Theological Review 116.1 (2023): 91-122.
- ^ Jonas 1963, pp. 3–27.
- ^ Albrile 2005, pp. 3533–3534.
- ^ Broek 1996, p. vii.
- ^ Albrile 2005, p. 3535.
- ^ Quispel 2004, p. 8.
- ^ a b c d e Dillon 2016, p. 24.
- ^ a b Dillon 2016, p. 25.
- ^ Jonas 1963.
- ^ a b c Dillon 2016, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d Dillon 2016, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d Dillon 2016, p. 28.
- ^ Dillon 2016, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Markschies 2003, p. 13.
- ^ a b Markschies 2003, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Quispel 2005, p. 3511.
- ^ Freke & Gandy 2005.
- ^ "Fall 2014 Christianity Seminar Report on Gnosticism". westar institute. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ Robertson 2021.
- ^ Dillon 2016, pp. 28–29.
- ^ Conze 1975, p. 165.
Works cited
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- Merillat, Herbert Christian (1997). "Buddhism and Gnosticism". The Gnostic Apostle Thomas: "Twin" of Jesus. Retrieved 13 February 2023 – via gnosis.org.
- Nagel, Tilman (1994). Geschichte der islamischen Theologie: von Mohammed bis zur Gegenwart (in German). C. H. Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-37981-9.
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- Perkins, Pheme (2005). "Gnosticism: Gnosticism as a Christian heresy". In Jones, Lindsay (ed.). MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion. MacMillan.
- Quispel, Gilles (2004). "Voorwoord". In Pagels, Elaine (ed.). De Gnostische Evangelien (in Dutch). Servire.
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- Robinson, J. M. (1982). "Jesus: From Easter to Valentinus (Or to the Apostles' Creed)". Journal of Biblical Literature. 101 (1): 5–37. JSTOR 3260438.
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- Smith, Morton (1981). History of the Term Gnostikos. Netherlands: E.J. Brill.
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- Turner, John (1986). "Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History". Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity. Archived from the original on 2012-12-11.
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- Valantasis, Richard (2006). The Beliefnet Guide to Gnosticiam and Other Vanished Christianities. Beliefnet. ISBN 978-0-385-51455-2.
- Verardi, Giovanni (1997). "The Buddhists, the Gnostics and the Antinomistic Society, or the Arabian Sea in the First Century AD" (PDF). Aion. 57 (3–4): 324–346.
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Web sources
- ^ perseus.tufts.edu, LSJ entry
- ^ perseus.tufts.edu, Gnostikos
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1980". National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ Sheahen, Laura (June 2003). "Matthew, Mark, Luke and... Thomas?: What would Christianity be like if gnostic texts had made it into the Bible?". Beliefnet. Retrieved June 7, 2009.
Further reading
Primary sources
- ISBN 978-0-06-081598-1.
- Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin (2010). Essential Gnostic Scriptures. Shambhala Books. ISBN 978-1590305492.
- ISBN 978-0-674-99484-3.
General
- Aland, Barbara (1978). Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 978-3-525-58111-7.
- Burstein, Dan (2006). Secrets of Mary Magdalene. CDS Books. ISBN 978-1-59315-205-5.
- Filoramo, Giovanni (1990). A History of Gnosticism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-18707-3.
- Freke, Timothy; Gandy, Peter (2002). Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-00-710071-2.
- Haardt, Robert (1967). Die Gnosis: Wesen und Zeugnisse (in German). Salzburg: Otto-Müller-Verlag. Translated as Haardt, Robert (1971). Gnosis: Character and Testimony. Leiden: Brill.
- ISBN 978-0-8356-0816-9.
- ISBN 978-3-525-53841-8.
- King, Charles William (1887). The Gnostics and Their Remains – via Sacred-texts.com.
- Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim (1993). Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-064586-1.
- Layton, Bentley, ed. (1981). The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Sethian Gnosticism. E.J. Brill.
- Pagels, Elaine (1989). The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis. Atlanta: Scholars Press. ISBN 978-1-55540-334-8.
- ISBN 978-0-567-09364-6.
- Van den Broek, Roelof (2013). Gnostic Religion in Antiquity. Cambridge University Press.
- ISBN 978-1-85274-057-3.
- ISBN 978-0-8010-9919-9.
- Yamauchi, Edwin M. (1979). "Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts?". Church History. 48 (2): 129–141. S2CID 161310738.
External links
Texts
- Gnostic Society Library – primary sources and commentaries
- Early Christian Writings – primary texts
- Gnostic texts at sacred-texts.com
Encyclopedias
- Bousset, Wilhelm (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 152–159.
- Gnosticism, by Edward Moore, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Gnosticism by Kurt Rudolph, Encyclopædia Iranica
- Gnosticism Catholic Encyclopedia