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 right (King, p.1)
The term “knowledge” is translated from the Greek word gnosis, but Gnosticism has become to be known as false knowledge also known as heresy. Gnosticism can be used to refer to certain types of ancient Christian heresy but also takes a role in area of Philosophy, literary studies, politics, and psychology. Other areas that are connected with Gnosticism is Buddhism, nihilism, and modern movements such as progressivism, positivism, Hegelianism, and Marxism. The early Christians thought of Gnosticism as a heresy (King, p.7).
A feature of Gnosticism is, “a dualistic way of looking at God, humanity, and the world, involving a radical reinterpretation of earlier traditions (Birger, p. 12).” This means that Gnostics views things having two sides. God is believed to be a super- transcendent supreme God who is alien to the world, and a lower deity who is responsible for creating and governing the world in which we live. (Birger, p. 12). Humans have split personalities. The true human ...
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...made these teachings known and argued against them so he could help fight against Gnostic development.
Another opponent of Gnosticism was Irenaeus.
These were a few out of many Orthodox Christians among others who were against Gnosticism. Gnosticism is not around today because of how the opponents made sure to fight against these mythological ideas and stories of what they thought was not the truth and how people should not live to follow these ideas which they believed as heresies. The Gnostics ideas were not strong enough to overcome those of Christian beliefs.
Works Cited
Birger, Pearson A. Ancient Gnosticism. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.
King, Karen L. What is Gnosticism? London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
Stravinskas, Peter M.J. Catholic Dictionary. Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1993.
Richmond, B.A. "Deism: It's History, Beliefs, & Practices." Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. 25 July 2000. http://www.religioustolerance.org/deism.htm.
Simon Magus was a major ancient Gnostic teacher. Simon was believed to be the founder of Gnosticism, but it could never be proved with the evidence that we have from his time. His last name Magus also means magician so we don’t know if it is just irony or if Magus really is his last name. Magus was said to be from Samaria and then later on went to school in Alexandria. He studied Arabic-Jewish magical medicine. Magus would refer to himself as “the Great Power of God” and was also accompanied by a female that went by the name of Helen who was a former prostitute. He believes that God didn’t create the world instead he thought that a perfect being created the world. He also believed that there was a perfect being in males and females and those females created the physical world. So in concordance we can view Gnosticism as a dualistic heresy.
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
Gnosticism evolved since the beginning of the gospel is preached. This is caused due to accumulation
Deus is the Latin word which means god, most of our translations are decedents from the Latin language. The theory of Deism is the belief in a single creator god, yet they reject revealed religion. Instead, they believe that the knowledge of this god comes from rationality and experience with the created world. Another common belief among Deist, is the rejection of the idea of a personal god. Deist affirms the existence of God but believes that after creation, God lacks the ability to interfere with his creation (such as granting miracles or creating prophets), and he does not desire worship. The deistic approach is not as pessimistic as the protest atheists view, though it shows another view that opposes theism and that contradicts a full atheistic approach such as protest atheism.
At times, the specific religious traditions, practices, and beliefs of the past are not enough to fill the spiritual void of the modern human being. Even more, a single religion alone may not hold all of the answers to satisfy one’s desire for enlightenment, and many choose a new path. This is the path that led to the creation of the religious denomination of Unitarian Universalism.
"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites”(Jefferson). Atheism is the belief that God does not exist and Judaism believes in only a unitary God and Christianity believes in the Trinity of God. This natural progression might be thought of as the stair steps to truth, but whose truth is the real question we need to answer, and I can assure you that it cannot be answered in a mere 8 pages. Disregard you’re current opinion and give merit to each point of view, and then decide which is right for you.
Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods, a particular system of faith and worship or a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). From religion, many new groups, communities and further derived religions have formed. Closely related to religion and with endless controversies surrounding it’s classification as a religion is the concept of Atheism- which is defined as the disbelief or rejection of a deity. Descending from this is a social and political movement in favour of secularism known as New Atheism. Understanding the historical content concerning the emergence of atheism, this essay will then address how various aspects within the field inclusive the goals, structures and approaches have emerged and developed over time in comparison to the original atheist ideals.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
preached against abuses in the church and attempted to shift the focus of religious faith
But it seems that something has happened that has never happened before: though we know not just when, or why, or how, or where. Men have left GOD not for other gods, they say, but for no God; and this has never happened before that men both deny gods and worship gods, professing first Reason, And then Money, and Power, and what they call
Calvinism is the theological system of John Calvin who exerted international influence on the development of the doctrine of the Protestant Reformation (Warfield, 2004). Calvin and his followers marked by strong emphasis on the sovereignty of God, the depravity of mankind, and the doctrine of predestination. This system was developed as a biblical Christianity. It has stirred countries such as Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, England and America. Calvinist theology spread rapidly, and became the basis for many protestant denominations. These included the Swiss Reformed Church, The Dutch Reformed Church, The English Puritans, The French Huguenots, The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, The Baptist Churches, and through them the Pentecostal Churches and Assemblies of God. Jansenism, a Catholic form of Calvinism, was condemned as heretical in 1653.
“Agnosticism is the philosophical position that it is impossible to know about the nature or existence of God.” The term was invented in 1869 by Thomas H Huxley from the Greek “agnostos”. So one can define the difference between an Atheist and an Agnostic is simply as the Atheist emphasizes that there is no God, whereas the Agnostic maintains only that he does not know. Agnosticism is not a position one can take like theism or atheism, rather it’s more like an rational process.
The middle ages saw the rise of many “cults” or “sects;” most notably the Cathars and the Flagellants. The Cathars appeared in 1143 and were subject to rumors about their supposed immoral acts such as consuming the ashes of dead babies. They became so influential that they were considered to be a major threat to the dominant Church. After the Cathars managed the assassination of one of Pope Innocent III’s legates, a crusade was organized against them and they were eventually wiped out. Their views were partly Gnostic and their view of dualism was varied from radical to moderate. They subscribed to high ethical standards, rejected the Old Testament and denied the Trinity.
Throughout history, Christianity has been molded, hardened, melted, refined and shaped into the different sects that are witnessed today. While many different controversies and thinkers have influenced Christianity, Gnosticism contains the supreme importance in influencing Christianity. The Gnostic Conflict influenced church history into the culture it is today by spurring much of the intellectual foundations of faith by making claims in the subordinationism of the trinity and the incarnation of Christ, as well as producing some of the first sects in Christianity through Marion. By claiming that there are lesser and higher divinities in the universe, this set the tone for much of the arguments made for subordinationism in the upcoming centuries.