Gnosticism is defined by Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 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 pg. 5) After reading several books, you will realize that Gnosticism is a really difficult term to define and most people have not been successful with coming up with a definition that fits what Gnosticism really is. Gnostics believed that there was no physical resurrection of Jesus Christ and that there was no way that such a good God would create evil so they believed that Jesus was adopted or transcended by God. Gnosis comes from the Greek word meaning knowledge which explains why most Gnostics believe that true salvation comes from some sort of special knowledge.
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.
The next major Gnostic teacher was Valentinus. He was born ...
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... exist. The Nag Hammadi contained 52 documents which gave researchers 40 more documents that they have never seen or heard of before. This discovery definitely made history and is keeping Gnosticism alive in today’s world.
In conclusion, Gnosticism has been proven to be a very difficult heresy to define and explain because it has so many different meanings and teachings that one definition doesn’t really define what Gnosticism really is. There have been many people that have been recognized for there works on Gnosticism and making it a remarkable heresy that has definitely made a name for itself. There have also been people that have been acknowledged for making Gnosticism disappear and not have it be considered a religion anymore. Overall Gnosticism is a unique heresy that has a very different view about God and how he has created the world that we live in today.
He believes that something must have created the universe, as it could not have come from nothing. He believed that God was the creator. In Exodus 20:11, we read that God created everything in just six days - and that this was inscribed with God's own finger onto a stone tablet.
Magliocco defines "Neo-Paganism" as others have before her as "a movement of new religions that attempt to revive, revitalize, and experiment with aspects of pre-Christian polytheism" (Magliocco 4). She continues to tell us that the Neo-Pagan goal is to gain a "deeper connection with the sacred, with nature, and with community" (4). This definition does not include any acts performed in the religion that may turn off any scientific readers from the start. Instead it is a broad yet exact definition that describes the religion from a rational standpoint.
Paganism had three main beliefs in the Greek/Roman time periods. First, is being the sense of piety. Piety meaning the natural religious instinct to respect something greater than yourself, and that humility plays a role in order to understand man's subordinate place in the great scheme of things. Moderation and temperance went along with this. In classical civilizations, some had mottos “Nothing too much” and “Know thy self”. To man, Pagan as well as Christian, moral rules were absolute. They were unyielding and unquestionable. This ...
...nt theme in many Gnostic writings. Some Gnostics have hatred for flesh based on the importance of the outer realm rather than the inner realm. The gods of the inner realm know that we have spirit and they want to keep us from understanding this. They are jealous of us and want to steal the spirit from us because it is the only thing in the inner realm that is worth anything. Having spirit is the only way to have access to the outer realm, which is perfect in every way. Our bodies keep us from realizing that we have something inside us that is more important. The world around us keeps us from looking inside ourselves. A docetic Christ, shows the importance of the word rather than earthly actions. By examining Christ's journey, we can have a better idea of our own soul's journey. When we achieve gnosis, we will gain entrance to the kingdom with God as well as Christ.
Many do not welcome this belief because it is controversial to orthodox beliefs. The Gospel of Thomas was found among Gnostic writings as part of a collection, needless to say this the interpretations of this gospel stirs chaos among traditional Christians.
Religion is “the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship.” (Cambridge Dictionary) Many people believe in something else out of the evidential or scientific view, thinking that good things happen because God says so, or that the universe was not made by the Big Bang. Even though is something that was more present in history years ago, a lot of people still believe and practise a religion. According to Stephen Juan there are about 4,300 religions in the world. About a 75 per cent of the population of the world practises a religion and the two religions most widely spread are the Christianity and the Islam. (2006) They can be divided in believers, adherents or not adherents, agnostics and atheists. People who are believers are the ones who have faith in something great beyond and
Let’s first start by defining Paganism. Paganism: the simplest way to describe Paganism is that Paganism is a religion of place or a native religion, for example the Native American's religion is Pagan, and also Hinduism is one religion within the Paganism religions. ("What is paganism?" ) All Pagan religions are characterized by a connection and reverence for nature, and usually have many Gods and/or Goddesses.
Buddhism rejects the idea of immortality of life and Gods. The founder of Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama was an Indian aristocrat, also referred to as the Buddha or the Enlightened One. After Siddhartha’s death, his followers made him a God into eternal life. Buddhism is the third largest membership of its faith after Christianity and Islam. This belief was highly democratic and like Christianity no one was excluded. Anyone (male, female, young, old, the rich or the poor) can follow in the Four Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path was to allow spiritual bliss whereas, Nirvana simply demanded “The Right,” the right way to; ideas, thought, speech, actions, living, efforts, consciousness and meditation. Buddhism’s popularity stems from the “democracy of spirit.” Buddhism split into two major branches: the Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is the strict version of Buddhism as is the life of a Catholic priest; they live their life in a monastery (Sangha), whereas, a Catholic priests and Nuns live in a Rectory. Both men and women can partake in nirvana; the purest form of Buddha’s teachings. The Mahayana Buddhism is more liberal than its counterpart. Theses followers believe that there are many Buddha’s not just the founder himself. So in fact Buddhism can be either polytheistic or monotheistic depending on who you talk to.
There ware many of gnostic teaching and led into what we know know as the Gnostic Gospels.
Paganism is a broad group of indigenous and historical polytheistic religious traditions—primarily those of cultures known to the classical world. In a wider sense, Paganism has also been understood to include any non-Abrahamic, folk, ethnic religion. Modern ethnologists often avoid referring to non-classical and non-European, traditional and historical faiths as Pagan in favour of less ambiguous labels such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, and animism. [Wikipedia p.1] Paganism is the oldest religion in human history, originating with Vikings and Celts. Monotheism is widely rejected in the followers of Paganism and while the use of magic is a stigma usually tied to Paganism and various other occult religions, not every Pagan practices ritualistic magic. Through the various topics and examples, Pagan culture, different deities, and practices will be explained and shown.
Paganism is a loose word for the large variety of polytheistic, shamanistic, and mystical non-monotheistic religions. Paganism exists in all cultures, from paleolithic to technological, but has historically waxed and waned. The ancient Egyptians are an example of a highly pagan society; so are the ancient Romans; and all paleolithic cultures from the Old Stone Age to the present have strong pagan elements. An example of a less pagan culture would be the West for the last thousand years or so, since the centuries following the Fall of Rome. The domination of the Middle East by Christians and Moslems has also largely shut out paganism.
...eing, who is not identified but it is known there is some higher power. In Christianity there is one God, they are monotheistic and in the afterlife the have a last judgement which depending on the events and choices made during your life decide if you are sent to eternal happiness in Heaven, or are sent to hell. in addition homosexuality is acceptable in paganism, where in christianity homosexuality is strongly looked down on. one thing held in common in christianity and paganism: women are held in equal value to men.
Mysticism, mystic experiences, and encounters with the divine are important—and even integral—to many religions throughout the world. Mysticism, defined as experiencing the divine, should have a special importance in Christianity. Christianity posits a God who is transcendent, yet immanent, and as Christians we believe we can have a relationship with the Deity. Because of this we should have a unique conception of mystical experiences as significant to our spiritual lives.
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
Regarding the crux of studies in Gnosticism, most modern scholars agree that “the most significant discovery was the cache of papyrus books found in 1945 near Nag Hammadi” (King 6). In this collection of writings we find a variety of mystical and mythological treatments of Christ and Christianity. The word Gnosticism is not used formally as a way of categorizing these writings. Rather, the word gnosis, Greek for knowledge, has come to represent a body of extracurricular Christian documents that tend to focus on personal mystical experience as opposed to official doctrines of salvation.