Gnostics and Proto-Orthodox Christians became quite the bitter rivals towards the end of the 2nd century and onward. Their views were polar opposites; this included their creations myths, which couldn’t have been more different. Although some elements overlapped, the differences between these two religions vastly outnumbered the similarities. Each religion interpreted scripture differently, and each side genuinely believed they had the correct views on god(s), religion, and the ultimate truth. Each religion had many creation stories, but the two most popular ones were within The Book of Genesis for Proto-Orthodox Christians, and The Secret Book of John for Gnostics. These stories, or myths, were the basic foundations for each religion, and offered various explanations of how the world and mankind came to be. The Secret Book of John is one of the most famous and well-known Gnostic texts. It was found in the Nag Hammadi Library, which was discovered in Egypt. The Book of Genesis is a part of the Christian Old Testament Bible. Both texts were equally influential and meant a great deal to each religion. The creation stories of Proto-Orthodox Christians and Gnostics shaped a number of their most important beliefs, especially the belief of how suffering lead to salvation.
The most popular Gnostic creation myth for Proto-Orthodox Christians was in The Secret Book of John. This Gnostic creation myth began with the Monad. Monad was their ultimate god and the creator of all existence. He is described in The Secret Book of John as “a monarchy with nothing above it. [It is he who exists] as [God] and father of everything, [the invisible] One who is above [everything, who exists as] incorruption, which is [in the] pure light into which no ...
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...s would be unaware why they were made, just to die at a certain point. This creation myth puts these points into perspective for them. We all will die eventually and this creation story tells us why that happens and how we are able to have our sins forgiven.
Salvation and suffering are two very big parts of Gnosticism and Proto-Orthodox Christianity. Both had different views on both aspects of their religion. Gnostics believed that they suffered because of something that Yaltabaoth did, not necessarily something they themselves did. Proto-Orthodox believed quite the opposite, in that they suffer because they commit sin, which is a separation from God. Both roads of suffering lead to salvation, but even that differs between religions. The main reason for this difference would goes back to their creation stories and how those define what each religion believes.
A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Each civilization has its myths about the creation of the world and its human race. Most speak of “gods” who perform feats far beyond that of humankind. Most are legends passed down through oral tradition, and embellished along the way. The book of Genesis is one of the most significant books in the Bible and is sacred scripture for Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. The Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish, is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview. Hesiod’s Theogony is a poem describing the origins and genealogies of
Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, or Constantine, is commonly referred to as the fist Christian emperor of the Roman Empire and as the defender of Christianity. Such grand titles are not necessarily due for the reasons that people commonly think of them today.
Many scholars, once the Enuma Elish was discovered, began to perceive Genesis as simply “another creation story.” Study of the Enuma Elish finds many similarities throughout both itself and the Bible. The Enuma Elish begins “when on high” whereas Genesis begins “in the beginning,” both show strong connection by the bestowing of names to show importance, both have a darkness and emptiness perceived as a chaos before both stories, water is divided into upper and lower bodies, The Enuma Elish is written on seven tablets and Genesis takes place over seven days, and finally both works detail how man is created on the sixth installment. While the similarities are numerous it must be taken into account that God from Genesis is the sole higher power and comes with terms of peace and composure whereas, the Enuma Elish is based upon many Gods and maintain the world with war and violence. When considering how early man may have conveyed early Christianity it seems as a simpler and more enjoyable way to live life. From looking at these similarities one can conclude how the Bible, with a more approachable method to living well, became the more popular of the two resulting in its long stance as one of the world’s most popular systems for living ethically. (King;
The creation myths that I have studied are similar in many ways. They also have differences that show an inherently different way of thinking about the world. All have creators-gods that make the world into what is now. There are conflicts within their world, and these conflicts change the face world. God to god or human to god maybe be involved in these conflicts. Their bloody struggles prove who is more powerful, causing change in the control of the world. Some gods are beneficial to man and others are self-serving, using man only as a tool.
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
So it can be said that gnosis is secret knowledge revealed to man hat only get by someone or a
Every ancient society and civilization has creation myths that were passed down and keep alive throughout the passing of time by word of mouth. These myths are the world’s oldest stories and are vital to these cultures because they explain their beginnings and give purpose to their existence. By analyzing and interpreting different creation myths it becomes easier to understand different cultures and their connections and relationships with heir beliefs and god(s).
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.
As human beings, we are designed to belive in something. Although the belief in a higher power or religion is diverse, many theologies share common themes. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and the Hebrew book of “Genesis” are seemingly polar opposites. Christianity, demonstrated in Genesis, is monotheistic, and the Hebrews base their faith on their relationship with God. On the other hand, Sumerian philosophy, found in Gilgamesh, is polytheistic, and the Sumerian people base their theology on fear. Ancient polytheistic literature forms an archetypical pattern of the mortals trying desperately to please the gods. A mortal’s entire existence rests in the hands of the sometimes childish gods. In spite of this, these two stories
The two creation myths chosen to compare and contrast focuses on the Norse culture of Iceland Vikings and the Genesis creation of the Hebrew origin of Christian culture. Both creation myths begin with an empty void where chaos or conflict develops. The Norse myth narrates a conflict between the fiery realm of Muspell and the dark, cold realm of Niflheim within the emptiness called ginnungagap and where nothing could grow. The Genesis conflict was between God and nothing, loneliness, and the need to create something beautiful.
Sophia produces Yahweh, who then creates matter and in turn creates humanity through Adam. This world, however is extremely corrupt due to the nature of Yahweh, a lesser god that has emanated from the First Principle, and due to its creation through matter, a substance that is considered the antithesis to the spirit. Because this world and humanity are so corrupt, The First Principle sends Jesus as the Divine Spark to save humanity from their own evil. The Gnostics were also very anti-traditional towards the Church as an institution. “Those other Christians stressed personal spiritual development – usually by means of visions – as more important than, or even as a replacement for, apostolic tradition” (Cahana 53-54). Instead of following the Churches laws as guidance, they trusted their own beliefs and even placed their relationship with God over the church, something that was uncommon in the second
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
In the Bible and Greek Mythology both were the believe of us to God(s). In biblical stories, christians believe that the lord God created the world; he created birds, animals, and humans. Similarly, in Greek mythology, Zeus and his forces established the mount olympus to be there Eden, and he ordered to create all alive things in earth, even though he doesn’t want mortals, but the mortals still appears. Therefore, Biblical stories and Greek mythology have many similarities, both have the stories of the creation of human. In particular, the three examples that have the closest similarities are The Creation of woman, How god's punish those who don’t worship them and reward those who worship them. and The Kingdom of God.
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
While the Hebrews and Egyptians creation theories bear resemblances and differences, the study and comparison of both the Egyptian myths and the biblical account allow us to comprehend the religious views of ancient civilizations in a better light. One may come to the conclusion that the Hebrews were influenced by the cultures of Egyptians by creating similarities in their own beliefs, or by drawing a line of defense of what is in their terms true, by separating from the mass ideals of the Egyptians and establishing distinct