Gnostic Christians

[Road Warrior]

Some may know there are about 38,000 denominations of Christianity in the modern world. What some may not know are there were many variants of Christianity for several hundred years before the Roman Catholic church crushed them out as heretics. Arianism is one. Gnosticism is another.

Gnosticism interests me because of it's perspective:

Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some of the early Christian groups called "gnostic" ("learned") by Irenaeus and other early Christian heresiologists.

Although I do not agree with all of its 2,000 year old perspectives, neither do I completely agree with all the ideas and dogma set forth by the early Roman Catholic church in the form of Roman Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea in 325AD.

Did I believe Christ lived? Yes. Do I believe he brought divine wisdom? Yes. Do I believe, as some atheists attest, that he was simply a megalomaniac who set himself up to make a name for himself? No, not at all.

I believe Jesus of Nazareth was in touch with the Divine and sought to spread the word of God. To teach. To be a Rabbi.

Gnostic Christianity is, by some, considered to be heresy. I do not believe it is. I believe that anything, anything that brings us closer to the Almighty is a good thing. Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hinduism, Buddhism. All are forms of learning, all are gnosticism and all are paths to God.

Since this is posted on the Christian side of DIR, and since the USA is primarily Christian, I would like you think.

 

[Bob Dixon]

Gnosticism is cool.
Yes, there are some Gnostic beliefs I have trouble with but the great part is that there isn't even a definitive list of Gnostic beliefs to begin with.

It's a shame Gnostics were persecuted. Their semi-destruction is a huge loss for Christian history.

 

[Road Warrior]

True about the past, but since we know about Gnosticism, understand Gnosticism and have free will, the concept has not been lost.

Is learning a better goal than learning dogma? I'm still trying to wrap my head around Gnosticism. It's about learning. While I am sure I don't completely agree with the ideas of those from 2000 years ago, there are concepts there to build upon. What can be learned from the Gnostics?

 

[Chisti]

True about the past, but since we know about Gnosticism, understand Gnosticism and have free will, the concept has not been lost.

Is learning a better goal than learning dogma? I'm still trying to wrap my head around Gnosticism. It's about learning. While I am sure I don't completely agree with the ideas of those from 2000 years ago, there are concepts there to build upon. What can be learned from the Gnostics?

To experience God rather than to merely believe in him.

 

[Road Warrior]

Absolutely.

 

[Bob Dixon]

Also, the idea that salvation comes through knowledge (rather than faith) is a brilliant one.

 

[Road Warrior]

Agreed. Of course, it's heresy to believe that!

I just finished listening to the lectures series in iTunes U titled "the Early Middle Ages" by Paul Freedman (great course for lovers of history!). A large part of it dealt with Christianity because Christianity had such a heavy influence on the development of Europe. Part of what I found fascinated in learning from it was the hundreds of years spent by scholars, theologians and leaders on the nature of Christ. Pointing out the obvious, Jesus of Nazareth wasn't crucified and raised over a Passover weekend then on Monday the concepts of the Trinity, communion, priests and the Holy Bible all popped into existence. It took centuries for those things to be resolved. Additionally, as previously mentioned, alternative beliefs were quashed and deemed heresies by panels of men hundreds of years after Christ and all the Apostles had ceased their mortal existence.