Gnostic confusion

[KylalaKitty]

I been reading about Gnosticism and I'm confused as hell. The more I read the more confused I become :o and I hope someone could help me out here. What exactly is Gnosticism? It sounds pagan/Buddhist (the whole ridding ourselves of material attachment ect) , but its Christian? Why is none of it in the bible? :huh: What is this crazyness?

[Toby Stimpson]

Gnosticism is from a time when there was no mainstream Christian Church. There were many inspired sects of Christians (this is in the early days before the Catholic doctrine became established.) The Gnostic gospels are ones that didn't make it into the 'Bible' when the Bible was being compiled. It has a lot of connectivity I have seen with the Kabbalah, and the tree of life.

Gnosticism is interesting because it has a lot of different roots. David19 should be able to tell you more, I believe he has read much into Gnosticism.

[MajorTal]

Well to start with keywords, Gnosis is greek for "knowledge" and in Gnostic Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth was the embodiment of the demiurge, and the bringer of gnosis. It's a combination of Greek philosophy and Abrahamic Christianity to name a few basic sources. It was a very popular religion for awhile, until it's dualistic views were deemed heretical.
What have you read? Which Gnostic Gospels? Mary Magdalene, Judas and Thomas are good reads for a wider view after the death/resurrection of Jesus.
Hopes this helped a little.

Tal

[Philosophia]

I been reading about Gnosticism and I'm confused as hell. The more I read the more confused I become :o and I hope someone could help me out here. What exactly is Gnosticism?

From here (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06592a.htm):

A collective name for a large number of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, which flourished from some time before the Christian Era down to the fifth century, and which, while borrowing the phraseology and some of the tenets of the chief religions of the day, and especially of Christianity, held matter to be a deterioration of spirit, and the whole universe a depravation of the Deity, and taught the ultimate end of all being to be the overcoming of the grossness of matter and the return to the Parent-Spirit, which return they held to be inaugurated and facilitated by the appearance of some God-sent Saviour.

It sounds pagan/Buddhist (the whole ridding ourselves of material attachment ect) , but its Christian? Why is none of it in the bible? :huh: What is this crazyness?

Gnosticism is generally seen as heretic by some (if not most) Christian founders because of its beliefs. Whether it can be fully classed as Christian is unknown.

[plumedsnake]

Well to start with keywords, Gnosis is greek for "knowledge" and in Gnostic Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth was the embodiment of the demiurge, and the bringer of gnosis. It's a combination of Greek philosophy and Abrahamic Christianity to name a few basic sources. It was a very popular religion for awhile, until it's dualistic views were deemed heretical.
What have you read? Which Gnostic Gospels? Mary Magdalene, Judas and Thomas are good reads for a wider view after the death/resurrection of Jesus.
Hopes this helped a little.

Tal


Just a couple of points of correction. Jesus is not the embodiment of the demiurge. The demiurge is like an evil god that creates the material prison that we are trapped in. Jesus came to save us from this prison. So he is very much against the demiurge.

Also there were a hell of a lot of cults knocking about in the first few centuries of the common era amongst them greek philosophy, platonism, zoroastrianism (a very big player on the scene) and yes, buddhism and many many more. I don't particularly buy into the whole 'this religion came from that religion, and this one was influenced by that one' way of thinking. They were all products of a certain zeitgeist, and if we are to consider the possibility that they weren't just making it all up, but were expressing experiences of reality then it follows that they needn't even have to have been in contact to reach similar conclusions.

Everywhere in the world there is the belief that the sky is blue. Where could this belief have come from? Perhaps when the egyptians met the persian they taught them the belief and then the persians passed it on to the greeks and from there to the romans who spread it across their vast empire.
Or could it possibly be as simple as everybody sooner or later looking up at the sky and realising what a lovely blue colour it is.

Maybe the belief in duality comes from the experience of duality that we all have. I was reading in Richard Dawkins book 'the God Delusion' that the sense of dualism is innate even among little children. The sense that there is more to us than the physical flesh. Of course dawkin's sees this as a delusion and a defect but that's his problem and he's not what I'm discussing here.
Dualism of Matter and Spirit is found absolutely everywhere in the world and every religion addresses it. This is also central to orthodox christianity. The whole ' the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak' thing.

The interesting thing about the bible is that once you are familiar with gnosticism a hell of a lot of what's in it can be seen as gnostic. We only interprete it the way we do now because of centuries of being told how to interprete it and what it really means. Orthodoxy means Right Thinking which in a modern political context also means Thought Control. Once you're free of the control of the Thought Police the bible becomes a minefield of so many wonderful possiblities.

So the answer to the question, 'why is none of it in the bible?' is that It is. You've just been brainwashed not to see it.

[SageWoodWitch]

A good book that expains Gnostic Christianity really well is 'The Jesus Mysteries' By Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy...There's also two other books that go with it called 'Jesus and the Lost Goddess' and The Laughing Jesus' I have the other two but haven't read them yet, but the 'Jesus Mysteries' was awsome!

[cesara]

If you REALLY want to know about Gnosticism read The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. She is one of very few scholars who knows Coptic and is therefore, far more reliable than other scholars. (sorry, Freke)

That book is fantastic if you want to know the roots of Gnosticism, Christianity and their interaction. It's the only one I would suggest.

For a look into modern practice of Gnosticism read Father Jordan Stratford's Living Gnosticism. An excellent Gnosticism 101 book.

[patch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbyvKAGNUMc

A very informative video ^_^

[KylalaKitty]

thanks everyone :)