The Pros And Cons Of Gnosticism

From the beginning of the Christian church to the present age, followers of Christ have sought after truth as propagated by Christ and His disciples. The written words of the Apostles and of Christ became of immeasurable value as false doctrines emerged from the bowels of nefarious teachers. Those who would infiltrate the church of God and detract it from its purposes for their selfish ambitions, such as the Gnostics and Marcionites, began introducing and manipulating writings, hoping to gain credibility among orthodox Christians.[5]

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

During the Medieval period, avid church goers and clergymen had many fears regarding heresy, one of which was the spread of doubt within the faith. In a time when only churchmen could read and write, it was their teachings of the

Gnosticism was one of the movements that grew out of Christianity. It would challenge the beliefs of the church in a way that would put the two at odds. This case study will discuss the beliefs of Gnosticism and the Church’s response to it using research from scholarly printed text and on-line resources.

Millenarians, radicals, mystics, heretics, and all other groups with their own opinions regarding the teachings of the organized church have always existed. In certain points in history, current events have caused spikes in these groups’ abundance. One example of such time periods is the twelfth through fourteenth century. This point in time saw a particular rise for these groups due to the social, political, and religious climate of the preceding centuries.

For example, the Gospel of Thomas includes salvation by secret knowledge, polytheism, disregard for the bodily appetites, and the thought of a blissful teaching Christ who is not necessarily human. It is likely related to Sethian Gnosticism. However, “Gnosticism” is largely an umbrella term for the beliefs of several movements in the post-Apostolic era that sought out special knowledge. Gnosticism is a term that is used for spiritual practices and religious beliefs. This term was very common for early Christians, as well as Zoroastrianism, Hellenistic Judaism, and Neoplatonism. The discovery of this Gospel, which was founded in 1945, along with the rest of the Nag-Hamaddi library is very revealing of certain gnostic groups that we previously had less knowledge of. We knew of Gnosticism from other texts and witnesses to them (Irenaeus) before. However, now there are many more source texts. There is also a difference between Gnostics and Orthodox Christianity. The Old Testament prophecies were described as fulfilled by Jesus. That is that Jesus was explained in the canonical Gospels as the Messiah. The Canonical Gospels are highly Jewish in their language and references. They were written by Hebrews. The Gnostic Gospels seem to be ignorant of the fact of the Jewish nature of Christ. They basically use His name but attach it

A final point The Religion Toolkit makes about Religious Studies is that it is also about looking at religions complexly, from both contrasting and historical viewpoints. That is to say, Religious Studies involves looking how religions developed over time and from each other. One of the more compelling examples talks about how the word for the Christian holiday “Easter” is taken from an Anglo-Saxon goddess called “Eostre.” This shows how religious traditions did not flourish independent of each other, but interacted with each other even before globalization. The introduction features a quote from Max Müller who coined the term “Religious Studies” that best described this idea about studying religions comprehensively, “He who

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.

The Gnostic Gospels written by Elaine Pagel discusses the origins of the Christian faith and the true reasons behind some of the Christian’s beliefs. Pagel claims that the theological disputes between the Orthodox Church and Gnostics in the early stages of Christianity were largely motivated by the political struggle for leadership of the religion. Orthodox Christians supported texts and interpretations to strengthen their goal which was to create an organization of believers. Gnostics, who was not necessarily seeking authority over Christianity, were eventually overshadowed by the supremacy of the Orthodox. Prior to the discovery of the artifact at Nag Hammadi in Egypt 1945 there were only had texts that support the Orthodox Christians belief, now historians were able to fully evaluate the two groups in a new prospective. Some of the writings found in this newly discovered artifact are believed to be the Gospel of Thomas and Mary Magdalene. Although Mary Magdalene does not have a book in the current bible, it is believed by many gnostic Christians that Jesus came to her in spirit after his death and passed on to her the secret knowledge of enlightenment. The new gospels that were discovered in Nag Hammadi doesn’t emphases on the birth or death of Jesus as the current biblical gospels do, but focuses more on Jesus’ life. Each chapter is devoted to a major theological problem that divides the Orthodox from the Gnostic. Pagel makes a compelling case that theological beliefs

Christianity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Christianity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity. [Accessed 16 July

The Church went through a period of cruel persecution under various Roman Empire emperors prior to the 4th century. The church also had to go through the issue with heretics inside the church. During this crucial period in church history, one of the important theological and ecclesiastical question concerned Christology. Christology deals with the life of Jesus Christ. One bishop, Arius, taught that Jesus was not God the Son. God providentially sent a man, St. Athanasius, to defend the Lord’s church.

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

Religion has existed for countless centuries. Christianity is one of the major religions in this world, which had people be criticized, battle in wars, and killed for, but it still survived to this day. The purpose of this paper is to study the source of the religion, recognize the teachings, observe its spread throughout the world, and to identify how it stands among people today. Approaching this paper by a factual report I will explain these major points and why we need to know about this religion and other religions that existed before our generation.

The first part of this paper will explore the mystery-religions, the reasons behind their popularity, and the Hellenistic world in which they grew that began with Alexander the Great. Next, their characteristics and connections first with Judaism and later with Christianity will be more deeply discussed. In the second part it will be shown that the mystery-religions helped to clear the pathway for the Christianization of the Greco-Roman world by men such as Paul the Apostle. Finally, the Emperor Constantine’s role in this story will be mentioned, during whose reign the mystery-religions declined and Christianity became the major religion of Europe and the near east. The paper will conclude with a brief speculation about the significance of