Gnosticism

The noun 'Gnosticism' and the adjective 'Gnostic' - both pronounced with the initial 'g' silent, NOS-ti-sizm, IPA: /'nɒs tɪ ,sɪ zəm/, and NOS-tik, IPA: /'nɒs tɪk/ - may be applied to any of a great number of systems of belief which flourished in the Ancient World and had in common certain distinctive claims, namely:

• that there is a fundamental conflict in the universe between the material (or physical) and the immaterial (or spiritual), the former being seen as evil and the latter as good;
• that salvation for the individual human being, as the possessor of a material body and an immaterial spirit, lies in freeing the spirit from subordination or subservience to the body;
• that this salvation is to be achieved through coming to know certain spiritual truths contained in secret scriptures which are in the possession of the relevant sect and will be revealed to those of its members who have made sufficient spiritual progress. (The word Gnosticism derives from the Greek word γνῶσις‚ (gnosis), which means: knowledge.)

Clearly these general claims may be developed in a variety of different ways, and there were in the Ancient World a great many Gnostic movements or sects, some, though by no means all, of which combined Gnosticism with the central beliefs of Christianity and claimed to be Christian. In fact Christian Gnostic sects were particularly common in the first two centuries of the Christian era: they were challenged by many of the Early Church Fathers, such as Ignatius of Antioch (c35-c108), Irenaeus (?115-c202) (who insisted that the so-called Gnostic Gospels should be excluded from the canon of the New Testament), and Tertullian (?160-?225). Gnosticism was eventually condemned as heretical by the Church.

Gnosticism conflicts with orthodox Christianity in a number of ways, for example:

• The Gnostic view of the world is incompatible with the Christian view that the physical world, as God's creation, is essentially good.
• Insofar as Gnostics insist that salvation does not depend on believing that Jesus died for the sins of the world but on other beliefs (i.e., those revealed in the secret scriptures of the relevant sect), they deny the Christian doctrine of salvation.
• In appealing to secret scriptures in addition to the books contained in the New Testament, i.e., those recognised as canonical by the Catholic Church, Gnostics are at variance with orthodoxy about the sources of religious truth.

See further Manichaeism.