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Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gnosticism Gnosticism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gnosticism (Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) refers to Gnosticism diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that the cosmos was created by an imperfect god, the demiurge with some of the supreme God's pneuma; This article is part of a series on Gnosticism this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God, (as opposed to the Gospel according to the Hebrews) and is contrasted with a superior entity, referred to by several History of Gnosticism terms including Pleroma and Godhead.[1] Depictions of the Early Gnosticism demiurge—the term originates with Plato's Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism Timaeus[2]—vary from being as an embodiment of evil, to Gnosticism in modern times being merely imperfect and as benevolent as its Proto-Gnostics inadequacy permits. Gnosticism was a dualistic religion, Philo influenced by and influencing Hellenic philosophy, Judaism Simon Magus [3] (see Notzrim), and Christianity; however, by contrast, later Cerinthus strands of the movement, such as the Valentinians, held a Valentinus monistic world-view.[4] This, along with the varying Basilides treatments of the demiurge, may be seen as indicative of Gnostic texts the variety of positions held within the category. Gnostic Gospels The gnōsis referred to in the term is a form of mystic, Nag Hammadi library revealed, esoteric knowledge through which the spiritual Codex Tchacos elements of humanity are reminded of their true origins Askew Codex within the superior Godhead, being thus permitted to Bruce Codex Gnosticism and the New Testament escape materiality.[5] Consequently, within the sects of gnosticism only the pneumatics or psychics obtain gnōsis; Related articles the hylic or Somatics, though human, being incapable of Gnosis perceiving the higher reality, are unlikely to attain the gnōsis Neoplatonism and Gnosticism deemed by gnostic movements as necessary for salvation. Mandaeism [6][7] Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects Manichaeism as an embodiment of the supreme being who became Bosnian Church incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth.[8] In others (e.g. the Esoteric Christianity Notzrim and Mandaeans) he is considered a mšiha kdaba Theosophy or "false messiah" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist.[9] Still other traditions identify Gnosticism Portal Mani and Seth, third son of Adam and Eve, as salvific figures.[10] Whereas Gnosticism has been considered by scholars to originate as a branch of Christianity, alternate theories have proposed traces of Gnostic systems existed some centuries before the 1 of 33 03/12/2010 07:23 PM Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gnosticism Christian Era, thus predating the birth of Jesus.[11] The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths [12], and the Persian Empire; it continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the second and third centuries. Conversion to Islam and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though a few isolated communities continue to exist to the present. Gnostic ideas became influential in the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups. Contents 1 Nature and structure of Gnosticism 1.1 The main features of gnosticism 1.2 Dualism and monism 1.3 Moral and ritual practice 2 Major Gnostic movements and their texts 2.1 Persian Gnosticism 2.2 Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism 2.2.1 Syrian-Egyptic scripture 2.3 Later Gnosticism and Gnostic-influenced groups 2.4 Kabbalah 3 Important terms and concepts 3.1 Æon 3.2 Archon 3.3 Abraxas/Abrasax 3.4 Demiurge 3.5 Gnosis 3.6 Monad (apophatic theology) 3.7 Pleroma 3.8 Sophia 4 History 4.1 The development of the Syrian-Egyptian school 4.2 The development of the Persian school 5 Neoplatonism and Gnosticism 5.1 Historical relations between antique Greek Philosophy and Gnosticism 5.2 Rejection by antique Greek Philosophy 5.3 Philosophical relations between Neoplatonism and Gnosticism 5.4 Criticism of gnosticism by antique Greek Philosophy 6 Buddhism and Gnosticism 7 Christianity and Gnosticism 8 'Gnosticism' as a potentially flawed category 9 Gnosticism in modern times 10 See also 2 of 33 03/12/2010 07:23 PM Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gnosticism 11 Footnotes 12 References 12.1 Books 12.1.1 Primary sources 12.1.2 Secondary sources 13 External links Nature and structure of Gnosticism The main features of gnosticism Gnostic systems (particularly the Syrian-Egyptian schools) are typically marked out by: 1. The notion of a remote, supreme monadic divinity, source - this figure is known under a variety of names, including 'Pleroma' "And the Sophia of the (fullness, totality) and 'Bythos' (depth, profundity); Epinoia [...] brought forth. 2. The introduction by emanation of further divine beings, which And [...] something came are nevertheless identifiable as aspects of the God from which out of her which was imperfect and different they proceeded; the progressive emanations are often from her appearance, conceived metaphorically as a gradual and progressive because she had created distancing from the ultimate source, which brings about an it without her consort. instability in the fabric of the divine nature; And it was dissimilar to 3. The introduction of a distinct creator God or demiurge. Which is the likeness of its mother, an illusion and as a later emanation from the single monad or for it has another form. source, this second God is a lesser and inferior or false God. "And when she saw (the This creator god is commonly referred to as the demiourgós (a consequences of) her technical term literally denoting a public worker the Latinized desire, it changed into a form of Greek dēmiourgos, δημιουργός, hence "ergon or form of a lion-faced energy", "public God or skilled worker" "false God" or "God of serpent. And its eyes were [14] like lightning fires which the masses"), used in the Platonist tradition. flash. She cast it away The gnostic demiurge bears resemblance to figures in Plato's from her, outside that Timaeus and Republic. In the former the demiourgós is a place, that no one of the central figure, as benevolent creator of the universe who works immortal ones might see to make the universe as benevolent as the limitations of matter it, for she had created it will allow; in the latter, the description of the leontomorphic in ignorance." 'desire' in Socrates' model of the psyche bears a resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the From The Secret Book of lion; the relevant passage of The Republic was found within a John (long version), Nag Hammadi Library, Codex major gnostic library discovered at Nag Hammadi,[15] wherein II, trans. Frederik Wisse.[13] a text existed describing the demiurge as a 'lion-faced serpent'.[13] Elsewhere this figure is called 'Ialdabaoth',[13] 'Samael' (Aramaic: sæmʕa-ʔel, 'blind god') or 'Saklas' (Syriac: sækla, 'the foolish one'), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior God, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. 3 of 33 03/12/2010 07:23 PM Gnosticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gnosticism The demiurge as a tyrannical God having caused the imperfect material world and all of its suffering, is as the creator God of the pagan philosophers (Zeus) and the Judaeo- Christian-Islamic creator God (Yahweh or Adonai) not real but a construct or illusion of the human mind (as nous). Since no secondary creator God is necessary or of high importance as everything is eternal or emanated and can not be created or destroyed. The demiurge typically creates a group of co-actors named 'Archons', who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it;[13] 4. The estimation of the world, owing to the above, as flawed or a production of 'error' but possibly good as its constituent [The demiurge] is blind; [4] because of his power material might allow. This world is typically an inferior and his ignorance and simulacrum of a higher-level reality or consciousness. The his arrogance he said, inferiority may be compared to the technical inferiority of a with his power, "It is I painting, sculpture, or other handicraft to the thing(s) of which who am God; there is those crafts are supposed to be a representation. In certain none apart from me." other cases it takes on a more ascetic tendency to view When he said this, he material existence, negatively. Which then becomes more sinned against the entirety. And this extreme when materiality, and the human body, is perceived speech got up to as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants; incorruptibility; then 5. The explanation of this state through the use of a complex there was a voice that mythological-cosmological drama in which a divine element came forth from 'falls' into the material realm and lodges itself within certain incorruptibility, saying, human beings; from here, it may be returned to the divine "You are mistaken, realm through a process of awakening (leading towards Samael" - which is, "god of the blind." salvation). The salvation of the individual thus mirrors a concurrent restoration of the divine nature; a central Gnostic From The Hypostasis of innovation was to elevate individual redemption to the level of the Archons or The a cosmically significant event; Reality of the Rulers, Nag Hammadi Library, The model limits itself to describing characteristics of the Codex II, trans.
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