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 post-apostolic 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." Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951-1963), 3:137.
The mystical connotations of these related but slightly distinct meanings is connected to an understanding of gnosis as cabalistic or secret knowledge. Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Vintage, 1981), 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 revelation and his goodness and his descent and the All, that is, the Son, the Father of the All, and the Mind of the Spirit." A Valentinian Exposition, in Nag Hammadi Library in English, trans. John D. Turner (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1977), 436.
That is the underlying concept of gnosis, which "involves coming to recognize the true so...