The Impact Of The Gnostic Movement On The Way Of Looking At The World Essay

The subject of the book, author’s purpose and intended audience: The history of Christian thought in the modern era was a quest of today’s Christian. Faith in a multi-denominational society decreases a sense of belonging. Since the Enlightenment some

Gnosticism means rebelling against and breaking free of the conformity set forth to us by religious dogma. That same dogma that, for centuries, has instilled unbelievable fear and guilt upon the masses. It means dispelling all the fear based untruths about God and our eternal Souls by bringing reasoning and intelligence into the equation. Gnosticism has been linked to the New Age movement. This so-called New Age movement isn’t so new. In fact, it is older than time. Gnosticism was around long before the time of Buddha or the time of Jesus, and it came about way before the Old Testament. The whole world believed in it, totally and completely--we have had many lives. The term "gnostic" derives from "gnosis," which means "knowledge" in Greek. The Gnostics believed that they were privy to a secret knowledge about the divine, hence the name.

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.

Gnosticism is nearly as old as Christianity and some would argue very similar to Christianity in beliefs. However, there are distinct differences to Gnosticism in beliefs, doctrines, and practices from, and practices of Christianity. Gnosticism had several key leaders during its early years, few of whom we will discuss at further length later in this paper. There were also several key leaders of the early Christian church who denounced Gnosticism for heresy and claimed that it was pseudo way to Christianity. Up until the 1900’s, very little was known about the precise beliefs of Gnosticism, then this changed with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi works which may have been written by Valentinus. Gnosticism is a more distinct religion than it

Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.

There is a close relationship between Christianity and Judaism both from a theological and historical perspective. The similarities between these two religious platforms emanates from the notion that Christianity arose and protested from Judaism. However, it is worth noting that Christianity is not a continuation of Judaism as some people perceive. Both Jesus and most of his disciples, who pioneered the earliest Christian churches, were Jews. Particularly, Jesus’ family practiced and followed Jewish beliefs, and He frequently referenced the Hebrew bible. On the contrary, the disciples believed that Jesus was the one and only Messiah, which is predicted in the Jewish Bible. While the creation narrative is still mysterious to many people, most individuals are still obsessed with the attempt to discover how everything came to existence. The primary purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the basic ideologies of Christianity and Judaism (Neusner, 76).

When you think “Christian Worldview,” what comes to mind? I know I automatically think; God, Jesus, Christians, and Prayer. As I have learned through my Christian Worldview class, I have learned that there is a lot more to it and this paper will provide you with what I have learned. Throughout this assignment, I will explain about God, Humanity, Jesus, restoration, my analysis of the Christian Faith, and my reflection.

The era of France Enlightenment and religion have a misconception that leads one to believe that they were enemies. The Enlightenment was not against religion but it was against the superstitions and the supernaturalism of religion. Philosophes during the era of France’s Enlightenment did not look to abolish religion or the Catholic Church of France. They simply wanted a separation of religion and state because it was believed that the state was based on reason and religion was based on morality. Religion and the Enlightenment were compatible and Dr. Sorkin argues: “the Enlightenment was not only compatible with religious belief,” it actually generated new formulations of that belief. One goal that was a reflection of the

Tripp, D (2000). “Where did I come from”. Exploring Christianity. Retrieved on June 26, 2015 from www.christanity.co.nz

Christians are usually viewed in the same way, from one perspective. The perspective in which Christians are viewed is one created by themselves. Robert L. Wilkin’s main purpose for the book The Christians as the Romans Saw Them was to provide his audience with another viewpoint, one of Greeks and Romans. Wilkin describes this book as “a portrayal of pagan criticism of Christianity from its beginning in the early second century to the time of Julian in the late fourth century,” (Wilkin, xvii). Wilkin’s intent in his writing of the book is to analyze what pagan observers once said and then, attempts to coincide their views with the religious and social impacts of the world.

The purpose of the paper is to differentiate between Christ of faith and Jesus of history. New Testament biblical scholars from the 19th Century have been preoccupied by the notion of Christ of faith versus Jesus of History. Jesus of history can be described as the quest for historical Jesus, while the Christ of Faith is the Christ of Christian belief either through the Church or historically. Some traditions even went ahead to argue that the Jesus of History could never be found and therefore the Christ of faith is the only way forward for Christians. On the other hand, those who have been promoting the Jesus of History have often assumed that the historical Jesus is much superior as compared to the Christ of Faith. Despite the key differences between Christ of faith and the historical Jesus, both these aspect have an implication for Western Christianity.

Due to the "highly subjective nature of most scientific theorizing... [we should] let the Bible speak for itself and modify our scientific view of origins accordingly." (as cited in Downey, D., & Porter, S., 2009).

In spite of a few shortcomings, Chandler’s book is well written and easy to understand. He shows that the Trinity Doctrine is related to Gnostic heresies that the Church condemns. Like most of the Gnostic heresies, the Trinity Doctrine developed from Greek philosophy and Egyptian paganism, especially Hermeticism. The notion of Christ as God has its origins in Gnosticism instead of the New Testament. Thus, he shows that the Trinity Doctrine is essentially a Gnostic creed.

Polytheism (God Father, God Son, and God Holy Ghost) might govern our beliefs rather than monotheism. Its evolution might have followed the pantheism of some Eastern religions that elevate humans to the level of the divine or conversely demote the divine to the level of mortals. Clement of Alexandria identified himself as the “true gnostic” and urged Christians to accept “the truth of philosophy” (Gonzalez 88). The early church fathers recognized these dangers from within as they taught against such

Gnosticism, which was viewed as a threat to early Christian beliefs can be defined as the “thought and practice especially of various cults of late pre Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis (King, p.5).” Besides the dictionary’s condensed definition summarizing Gnosticism, “Gnosticism” is a much more complex belief composed of numerous myths defining humans and God and viewed as an ancient Christian heresy. Gnosticism is rather a term invented in the early modern period to aid in defining the boundaries of normative Christianity. Yet, it has been mistakenly come to be thought of as a distinctive Christian heresy or seen as a religion in its own