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Definition: Gnosticism from Philip's Encyclopedia

Religious movement, embracing numerous sects, based on gnosis (Gk. 'knowledge'). This was occult knowledge that released the spiritual part of human beings from the evil bondage of the material world. Gnosticism became widespread by the 2nd century ad.


Gnosticism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(nŏs'tĭsĭzӘm), dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D. ; they all promised salvation through an occult knowledge that they claimed was revealed to them alone. Scholars trace these salvation religions back to such diverse sources as Jewish mysticism, Hellenistic mystery cults, Iranian religious dualism (see Zoroastrianism ), and Babylonian and Egyptian mythology. The definition of gnosis [knowledge] as concern with the Eternal was already present in earlier Greek philosophy, although its connection with the later Gnostic movement is distant at best. Christian ideas were quickly incorporated into these syncretistic systems, and by the 2d cent. the largest of them, organized by Valentinus and Basilides , were a significant rival to Christianity. Much of early Christian doctrine was formulated in reaction to this movement. Until the discovery at Nag Hammadi…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained
A group of religious systems active in the first few centuries ad around the Mediterranean and in central Asia. The beliefs of the various Gnostic groups, such as their doctrine of salvation by mystical knowledge rather than by faith and works, differed from mainstream Christian thought in several…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From The Edinburgh International Encyclopaedia of Psychoanalysis
One of three major Near Eastern religions, it flourished between 80 and 200 ce , along with Judaism and Christianity. More a philosophy than a religion, Gnosticism insists that self-knowledge is knowledge of God; thus the self and God are identical. Knowing God is experiencing the divine presence…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From Encyclopedia of World Religions: Encyclopedia of Catholicism
Greek: gnosis , “knowledge,” “insight.” The word gnosticism has the same Indo-European root as the English verb to know . In the context of the early Christian era, gnosis meant revealed sacred knowledge accessible only to those who had been initiated into secret teachings. Christian Gnostics…
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Full text Article GNOSTICISM

From Global Dictionary of Theology
Gnosticism is the modern term used for a religious and philosophical movement that originated in the first or second century AD, and was especially strong in the second and third centuries AD. It was considered heretical by both the majority of Christians at that time (proto-orthodox) as well as the…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(nŏs'tĭsĭzӘm), dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D. ; they all promised salvation through an occult knowledge that they claimed was revealed to them alone. …
| 506 words
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology
The development of the earliest forms of Christian theology can only be properly understood when considered against the backdrop of contemporary movements associated with the claim to be in possession of a special salvific knowledge (Greek gnosis ). The Gnostic movement never reached the level of…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Religious and philosophical movement popular in the Roman world in the 2nd–3rd century ad . The term, based on the Greek gnōsis (“secret knowledge”), was coined in the 17th century, when it was applied liberally to ancient Christian heretical sects, especially those described by their orthodox…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome
The beliefs of a sect that splintered from CHRISTIANITY, taking shape in the second century C.E. Gnosticism first appeared as a very unorthodox form of spirituality in numerous Christian schools, which were influenced by Neoplatonism and views held by previous pagan philosophers. Such associations…
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Full text Article Gnosticism

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Esoteric cult of divine knowledge (a synthesis of Christianity, Greek philosophy, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the mystery cults of the Mediterranean), which flourished during the 2nd and 3rd centuries and was a rival to, and influence on, early Christianity. The medieval French Cathar heresy and the…
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Full text Article Gnostics

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Various sects, mainly of Christian inspiration, which arose and flourished in the 2nd century with offshoots surviving into the 5th century. The name derives from the Greek word gnōsis , ‘knowledge’, but it was usually used by the Gnostics in the sense of ‘revelation’, which gave them certain mystic…
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