Gnosticism

The purpose of this research is to examine the origins and development of Gnosticism. The plan of the research will be to set forth how Gnosticism evolved in the first Christian era, and then to discuss the mutual influences of Gnosticism and Christianity on each other, as well as the similarities and differences between the two systems of religious thought, with a view toward showing the significant ways in which the evolutionary paths of Gnosticism intersected in the postapostolic development of theological and philosophical thought outward from Western Mediterranean area and into Europe.

The typical translation of the Greek word gnosis, which gives gnosticism its name, is "knowing," but Tillich says that in "Hellenistic-Christian language, the word gnosis means knowledge, sexual intercourse, and mystical union" (Tillich, 1951-1963, p. 3:127). The mystical connotations of these related but slightly distinct meanings is connected to an understanding of gnosis as cabalistic or secret knowledge (Pagels, 1981, p. xix). The nature of such knowledge seems connected to spiritual mystery to which only a "happy few" are initiated. "I will speak my mystery," reads the opening line of A Valentinian Exposition, and the text proceeds to elaborate the depth of significance of that mystery in terms of the human potentiality to apprehend (though perhaps not appropriate) divine experience. For example: "While these things are due to the Root of the All, let us for our part enter his re

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that appear in some forms of gnostic mythology. Tertullian ridiculed the gnostics for creating elaborate cosmologies, with multi-storied heavens like apartment houses, "with room piled on room, and assigned to each god by just as many stairways as there were heresies: The universe has been turned into rooms for rent!" (Pagels, 1981, xxxi). The content of gnosticism, of course, was perceived as a threat to the content of Christian orthodoxy, which is why it is fair to say that gnosticism evolved in an intellectual environment that was hostile to it and for the most part managed to suppress it. It may be noted that Christianity, as a deliberate departure from paganism, Judaism, and imperial Rome alike, was hostile to every alternative mode of thought. But the physical retreat by the gnostics to remote regions at the very time orthodox Christianity was structuring itself along familiar lines, suggests that Christianity considered gnosticism a particularly powerful threat to its integrity. However, parallels of thought between gnosticism and Christianity are as discernible as divergences, and that is why it is useful to examine sources of both divergence and intersection. Any understanding of the gnostic abstraction from Chris

Category: Philosophy - G