when was gnosticism declared a heresywhen was gnosticism declared a heresy

Influenced by such philosophers as Plato, Gnosticism is based on two false premises. The origins of Gnosticism are still a bit unclear. On the other hand, his genius led him down some dubious paths. Much the same case can be made with regard to the other texts that some scholars have pointed to as being the products of Jewish Gnosticism or Platonic Gnosticism, such as the Revelation of Adam, the Reality of the Rulers, the Gospel of the Egyptians, Allogenes, Zostrianos, Marsanes, and even Eugnostos the Blessed. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment. How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. In the farming community of Dirt Town Valley, family friends grapple with a difficult truth: One ancestor was enslaved by another. p. 55-86. Whereas formerly Gnosticism was considered mostly a corruption of Christianity, it now seems clear that traces of Gnostic systems can be discerned some centuries before the Christian Era. Only such sensible revelations of God confer perfection upon the Christian. "between 1,250 and 1,750 million adherents, depending on the criteria employed": McGrath, Alister E. "2.1 thousand million Christians": Hinnells, John R. Rose book of Bible charts, maps, and timelines, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Outline of the Catholic ecumenical councils, "Church Fathers: Church History, Book VI (Eusebius)", "Jesus' Teaching on the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount", "Transcript From The Council of Diospolis (Lydda) Against Pelagius, 415AD", "6 Catholic Nuns Excommunicated For Heresy", Modernism (Roman Catholicism)#Official Church response, Doctrinal Note of the Catholic Bishops of Canada concerning the Army of Mary, "Santa Muerte is no saint, say Mexican bishops", "U.S. Bishops join Mexican colleagues, denounce 'Santa Muerte', "Death to Santa Muerte: The Vatican vs. the Skeleton Saint", "Have you heard of Saint Death? Hanson, R. P. C. "The Doctrine of the Trinity as achieved in 381". 1990. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Other scholars believe gnosticism started as a Christian heresy. 2:6, 15). For example, the heresiologists non-Gnostic Christian writers who denounced the Gnostics and other rival Christian groups all treat Gnosticism as a movement within Christianity rather than as an external threat. A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticism. The elements of the Secret Book of John that strike a modern reader as being immediately, unmistakably Christian, such as mentions of Jesus and his apostles, are largely confined to a few particular sections of the text. The beliefs of Montanism contrasted with orthodox Christianity in the following ways: Pelagianism was attacked in the Council of Diospolis. From late in the seventh century onwards some parts of the Greek Church reacted against the veneration of, Leo III may have been motivated by the belief that the veneration of icons, particularly in the excessive form it often took, was the chief obstacle to the conversion of Jews and Muslims. There are "over 33,000 denominations in 238 countries". [T]he desire to limit the value of the Old Testament within a religion that nevertheless preserves it explains, and is the only thing that can explain, the structure of the Gnostic myth.[48]. The idea that they would have turned against the central pillar of Judaism in the process is absurd. Edited by Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. The creator god the demiurge had a host of minions called archons (from a Greek word for ruler[38]) who helped him administer his horrible rule. Edited by Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. A term adopted by Nazi leaders to refer to a model of Christianity consistent with Nazism. [37] Ehrman, Bart. It is the teaching based on the idea of gnosis (a Koine Greek word meaning "secret knowledge"), or knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of internal, intuitive means. Fortress Press. Whatever ones views of his theology, his life was utterly dedicated to Christ. "Antinomianism". [50] However, the early Reformers warned against private interpretation, emphasizing, instead, the connection and continuity with the ancient church, and its dogma. And in 250, during the violent persecution of Decius, he was imprisoned and tortured so severely that he never recovered. [34] Ehrman, Bart. Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions and Literature. 1990. He also reports on the teachings of other deviant movements, such as those of Simon Magus, Menander, Satornil (or Saturninus) of Antioch, Basilides, Carpocrates, Marcellina, Cerinthus, Cerdo, Marcion of Sinope, Tatian, and the Ebionites. [18] As Pearson points out, it would then read much like another Gnostic text, Eugnostos the Blessed, which was later worked into a more obviously Christian piece called the Wisdom of Jesus Christ.[19]. As Karen L. King writes in her magisterial book-length study of the text, Just because the [Secret Book of John] in many respects presents a type of Christianity that was largely rejected, we cannot assume that it was not regarded as Christian in its own day.[20] She notes that all of the contexts from which the Secret Book of John is known are Christian contexts: the form in which its come down to us, the characterization of it by the heresiologist Irenaeus, and its discovery in a library of mostly Christian texts that was buried in the Egyptian desert, probably by the monks of a nearby Christian monastery. Oxford University Press. Instead, Ill present an argument for why we can now be reasonably certain that Gnosticisms origins are to be found in Christianity and specifically the Christianity of the late first century AD. [46] Galatians 2:11-21, NRSV. p. 42. In addition to the Five Solas, most Protestants disbelieve transubstantiation. ; Livingstone, E.A., eds. [25] Ehrman, Bart, 2014. p. xxxii. At the root of these controversies is Origens use of the Bible. In the first two or three centuries of the early Church, heresy and schism were not clearly distinguished. Heresy has been a concern in Christian communities at least since the writing of the Second Epistle of Peter: "Even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them" (2 Peter 2:1). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+17%3A25&version=NRSV Accessed on 3-15-2019. Originally titled Exposure and Refutation of Knowledge Falsely So-Called, this extraordinarily influential work was studied, adapted, and expanded upon from the late 2nd through the 4th century by Christian writers including Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, and Epiphanius of Constantia. Thrived between the 3rd and 7th centuries and appears to have died out before the 16th century in southern China. If the heresiologists had suspected that Gnosticism originated outside of Christianity, or if they had known of any non-Christian Gnostics, then surely they would have pointed this out, because it would have done much to advance their cause of portraying Gnosticism as something foreign to true Christianity. The pluralism of early Christianity in regional faith and praxis, as well as the shifting lines of authority within the first and second centuries, make it difficult to draw the sharp boundaries required to exclude a particular opinion or group as heretical. By the end of the second century there was considerable debate among Christian teachers, theologians, about how best to articulate Christian belief. Harper San Francisco. Browse 60+ years of magazine archives and web exclusives. Harper San Francisco. These changes in the Christian message over the course of the first century. "Heresy". He allegedly declared that Christians could earn their way into Heaven by doing good deeds, without the need of divine grace. Bauer endeavoured to rethink early Christianity historically, independent from the views of the church. 1990. Subscribe to CT The Gnostic Gospels: Despite the fact that the Gnostic Gospels are ancient in origin and deal with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, most modern Christian find these works to be heretical. Issue 51: Heresy in the Early Church, 1996, Heresy in the Early Church: Recommended Resources, Heresy in the Early Church: Christian History Timeline, Generations After Slavery, Georgia Neighbors Find Freedom and Repair in Christ, The Word Made Fresh: Taglish Bible Translation Brings Streets of Manila into Church, Subscribe to CT magazine for full access to the. Date: 101 - 200 Areas Of Involvement: gnosticism Related People: Marcion of Pontus See all related content Marcionite, any member of a gnostic sect that flourished in the 2nd century ce. For convenience the heresies which arose in this period have been divided into three groups: Trinitarian/Christological; Gnostic; and other heresies. for less than $4.25/month. A similar overlapping occurred in medieval scholasticism. The Gnostic Religion is an interesting book on Gnosticism as a whole. [6] Here it is used in the restricted, narrow sense. Belief that certain people are or can be reincarnations of, The Threefold God transformed himself into a single. p. 15. Leaving aside the question of whether or not the most transparently Christian segments of the Secret Book of John are later additions to the text, theres no particular reason to believe that even the stripped-down version of the text postulated by Turner and Pearson would have been written by anyone other than Christians, and there are good reasons to believe that it was, in fact, written by Christians. The specific pagan tradition the Gnostics drew from was Platonism, the philosophical school of thought that had grown around the philosophy of Plato. Donatism (MP3), by David Calhoun Background "The schism arose when certain Christians protested the election of the bishop of Carthage, charging that his consecration by Felix, bishop of Aptunga, was invalid because Felix was considered a traditor (i.e., one who turns over sacred books and relics to the civil authorities during a persecution). [26] Ehrman, Bart. Founded in 210276 AD by Mani: Condemned by Emperor Theodosius I decree in 382 Later in life, the church historian Eusebius reported, he castrated himself in literal obedience to Matthew 19:12. Theres no Gnostic text thats explicitly non-Christian, and no ancient writers who wrote about the Gnostics describe them as self-identifying as anything but Christians. A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticism. Translated by Carol Harrison. [19] Pearson, Birger A. Harper San Francisco. (May 2023) A heresy is a belief or doctrine that is considered to be false or erroneous by the mainstream Christian church. While accepting the divinity of Jesus Christ as affirmed at Nicea in 325, they denied that of the Holy Spirit which they saw as a creation of the Son, and a servant of the Father and the Son. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity. Consider his words preserved in the earliest surviving gospel, Mark (8:38-9:1): Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of that one will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Gnosticism Explained strives to provide a reliable, accessible, and engaging introduction to the type of early Christianity known as Gnosticism, with scholarly sources cited throughout. The encouragement of ecstatic prophesying. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. The Colossian heresy is composed of two elements, either as taught separately by different people, or fused into one idea structure containing elements of legalistic Judaism and ascetic oriental Gnosticism. Neo-Platonism taught that physical objects acted as symbols of spiritual reality and so contained a double meaning. Plattner, Marc F. and Costopoulos, Philip J. Because gnosticism is a disputed term, and the groups conventionally considered gnostic were not part of a single movement, treating their belief systems as uniform is problematic. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+20%3A16&version=NRSV Accessed on 3-15-2019. [42], But how could the Gnostics identification of this evil one with the Hebrew god possibly have arisen directly from within Judaism? But Origens interpretations pushed the boundaries of orthodoxy. Yet Origen said, I want to be a man of the church to be called of Christ. His Contra Celsum, a defense of Christianity, helped Christians endure physical and intellectual persecution. [2] Ptrement, Simone. Hendrickson Publishers. Issue 51: Heresy in the Early Church, 1996, How Archaeology Affirmed the Historic Stature of a Biblical King, The Word Made Fresh: Taglish Bible Translation Brings Streets of Manila into Church, Subscribe to CT magazine for full access to the. At this point, you, dear reader, may be thinking something along the lines of, But Gnosticism is so different from any form of Christianity that Ive ever encountered that it intuitively strikes me as highly unlikely that Gnosticism could have originated within Christianity. Such an intuition is entirely understandable. 2005, S. Runciman, The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy (Cambridge, 1947), Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion by William L Reese, Humanities Press 1980 p.421, Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. But they would add that if a text does show lots of Jewish and/or Platonic influence yet contains no Christian elements, or only superficial ones that read as if they were added by editors after the texts initial composition and use, then its more plausible that the text was originally composed and used by Jews or Platonists than by Christians. Held all things in common, even wives and children, Were also called "Compliers" due to their love of sensual pleasures, Donatists were rigorists, holding that the church must be a church of saints, not sinners and that sacraments administered by, Donatists were a force at the time of Saint, A Jewish sect that insisted on the necessity of following, In 375, Epiphanius records the settlement of Ebionites on Cyprus, later, Bishop Flavian of Antioch condemned them about 376, The group might have continued for several centuries, influencing the Bogomils of Bulgaria, the Bosnian church, the Paterenes and. Thus, despite how bizarre Gnosticism may seem in comparison with what we today call Christianity, that apparent strangeness vanishes when its considered in the context of the Christianity of the late first and early second centuries, from which it seems to have emerged. 1999. p. 2-3. What its missing, however, is a recognition that the Christianity of the late first and early second centuries was still a young and unsettled movement. The Sadducees and Pharisees were sects within Judaism. However, these groups mythologies tended to differ thematically from Christianity in their characterization of God and in their focus. Reconciled to the main body of the Church after a council in 250 led by. It is uncertain whether the sect survived beyond the 9th century. His late first-century followers answered that question with a resounding No. They came up with new interpretations of Jesuss message that drew further and further away from what the historical Nazarene had actually said and meant, but which enabled them to make sense of the historical, existential, and spiritual predicaments of their own lives. In other words, creation and The Fall coincide. [16] It spread through the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, becoming a dualistic heresy to Judaism (see Notzrim), Christianity and Hellenic philosophy in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths (see Huneric), and the Persian Empire. Adamas is united with a consort, Perfect Knowledge (gnosis). A stronger emphasis on the avoidance of sin and church discipline, emphasizing chastity, including forbidding remarriage. Edited by Marvin Meyer. Descendants of this movement still exist. Belief that Augustine had gone too far in attacking Pelagianism and taught that some come to faith by mercy and grace but others through free will alone. The meaning of the term is, however, disputed, and there is little scholarly consensus on whether these movements are in fact related and, if so, how. Socially, this may have been a radical step. [32] John 15:18, NRSV. 4, pp. [27], Take, for example, John 3:36: He who believes in the Son has eternal life. Or 5:24: He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Or 12:31: Now is the judgment of the world. Or 3:18: He who believes in [Christ] is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already.[28], Jewish apocalypticists like Jesus had taught that the world was basically good, but the age in which they were living was evil. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Once appropriated by Christianity, however, the term heresy began to convey a note of disapproval. The classic source for ancient controversies regarding groups conventionally classified as gnostic is Adversus haereses (Latin: Against Heresies), a five-volume work written in Greek about 180 ce by the Christian bishop Irenaeus of Lyon. [15] Pearson, Birger A. However, the weight of the evidence we now possess falls on the side of those who see in Gnosticism a thoroughly Christian movement. p. 58. Sign up for our newsletter: 2009. Forms of Gnosticism return with Paulicians (800s) and Albigensians (1200s) QUARTODECIMANISM The summary of the myth is ambiguous at points, but it begins with a primordial aeon (eternal entity or age) named Barbelo and an unnameable Father, perhaps to be understood as female and male aspects, respectively, of the highest god. The last divine entity to emerge is Wisdom. And, indeed, if those sections were removed, the remaining work could stand on its own as a free-floating revelatory monologue. Translated by Carol Harrison. Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Greek: gnosis, knowledge) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some early Christian and non-Christian groups called "gnostic" ("knowing") by Irenaeus and other early Christian leaders. [36] Ptrement, Simone. With time, some of these views were seen as inadequate. In the course of now centuries-old history, Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of the Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the pertinacia characteristic of heresy. He argued that originally unity was based on a common relationship with the same Lord rather than on formally defined doctrines and that a wide variety of views was tolerated. Christianitys intellectual debts to Platonism and Judaism are relevant to our purposes here for another reason as well. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. The first holds that Gnosticism originated outside of Christianity and later came to wrap itself in a Christian form. Thus, the writings of John already contain, in a nascent form, the central idea of Gnosticism: a form of dualism known as anticosmicism. As the word anticosmicism implies, the Gnostics were against (anti-) the world (cosmos) as such, not just a particular aspect or time period of the world. It just demonstrates that theres no clear evidence that Gnosticism was ever anything but a Christian phenomenon. Hendrickson Publishers. St. Irenaeus of Lyons in 190 A.D. wrote against it in his book, Against Heresies. In. Of course, a song can be thoroughly Christian without even once explicitly invoking the name of Jesus and so, too, can an ancient text. Edited by Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. Little-known or fascinating facts about Eastern Orthodoxy. Scholars who argue that Gnosticism existed apart from Christianity at some point, such as John D. Turner[9][10][11] and Birger A. Pearson,[12][13] often point to the fact that some Gnostic texts show considerable Jewish and/or Platonic influence as evidence that specifically Jewish and/or Platonic forms of Gnosticism once existed. Gnosticism is a philosophical worldview that stresses special knowledge. Translated by Carol Harrison. Heresies: Arianism The doctrine known as Arianism actually began early in the 3rd century, and was the product of speculation into the nature of Christ. Oxford University Press. The groups conventionally classified as gnostic did not constitute a single movement with relatively homogeneous organization, teachings, and rituals. Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civlization, University of Washington, Seattle. [51] One of these varieties was the one that we today call Gnosticism or Gnostic Christianity.. Savonarola left many admirers throughout Europe, in particular among religiously pious humanists. Condemned by Emperor Theodosius I decree in 382. Edited by Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. [4] This article contains the movements and denominations which have been declared as heresy by the Catholic Church. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+john+2%3A15-16&version=NRSV Accessed on 3-15-2018. They depended on a background of Judaism and the Jewish scriptures, but presented that background as something incomplete at best that needed to be corrected. Cross, F.L. Edited by Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson. But it logically followed from prevalent Christian views of the day views that are nowhere to be found in any form of first-century Judaism that shows up in the historical record. [6] There are recorded instances of non-Jewish Christians studying with Jewish teachers,[7] so why would studying with Platonist teachers have been off-limits, either? Perhaps we may here invert a saying of St. Augustines: that an old schism becomes a heresy. Both schools of thought have had numerous great minds enter the fray on their side, and arguments from both sides must be taken seriously. A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticism. Calvinism forms the basis of the doctrines of the, Protestant groups display a wide variety of different doctrines. p. 171-172. Indeed, apocalypticism was a movement that did feature some semi-anticosmic traits relative to the prevailing pro-cosmic religious sensibilities of the day. The following listing contains those opinions which were either explicitly condemned by Chalcedonian Christianity before 1054 or are of later origin but similar. Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! It became heretical when pushed to the extremes indicated. Copyright 1996 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Click here for reprint information on Christian History. Only a ruse by his motherwho hid his clothesprevented his leaving the house! [30] John 17:25, NRSV. The designation gnosticism is a term of modern scholarship. Take, for example, a work that both Turner[14] and Pearson[15] characterize as originally Jewish Gnostic and subsequently Christianized: the Secret Book of John. [17] Turner, John D. 1986. [46], The Gnostics broadened this existing Christian criticism of the Law to include the god who had given the Law to Moses. ; Livingstone, E.A., eds. All the evidence points to Christian contexts.[22]. Her attempt to find one, though well intentioned, leads her away from the supernal realm to lower regions, and she generates an inferior first ruler who then creates the material world. Whereas some researchers argue that the term gnostic should be restricted to the sects or schools that called themselves by that name, others extend the category to include additional religious movements that allegedly shared various distinctive features. p. 11. Table of Contents. Founded by Marie Paule Gigure in Quebec in 1971. Omissions? Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism. Here "matters of faith" means dogmas which have been proposed by the infallible magisterium of the Church[2] and, in addition to this intellectual error, "pertinacity in the will" in maintaining it in opposition to the teaching of the Church must be present.[3]. [20] King, Karen L. 2006. After all, if Gnosticisms origins lie outside of Christianity, then surely those pre-Christian forms of Gnosticism have left traces somewhere. gnosticism, any of various related philosophical and religious movements prominent in the Greco-Roman world in the early Christian era, particularly the 2nd century. The first Christian writer to mention them by name was Irenaeus in the late second century. He created controversy when he tried to explain the gospel in terms his culture could grasp. Introduction to Gnosticism: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds. This is what prompted the addition of "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son is equally worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets", into the Nicene Creed at the second ecumenical council. The contradictions in Origen are due in great part to his genius as well as the cultural tensions he faced. [53], Many Protestant sects do not accept Mormons as true Christians, however, and no major Christian group accepts the validity of Mormon baptisms a former Mormon would need to be re -baptized.[55]. p. 1. p. 2. Cross, F. L., ed. Irenaeuss use of gnostikoi is somewhat confusing, however, since he sometimes seems to apply it to all of the groups he condemns rather than to only one or two sectsas when he refers to Marcion or Valentinus or Basilides or Carpocrates or Simon or the rest of the falsely called gnostics. Furthermore, it is uncertain from his report how many of those movements called themselves gnostic and whether those that did intended the term as a proper name indicating sectarian identity or merely as the assertion of a general quality (informed or enlightened). Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. The Secret Revelation of John. Gnosticism was perhaps the most dangerous heresy that threatened the early church during the first three centuries. Life in this imperfect world does contain inklings of truth; human wisdom does have a relation to divine reality. Some believe the great diversity of Protestant doctrines stems from the doctrine of private judgment, which denies the infallible authority of the Catholic Church and claims that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself. c. 450 Gnostic sects diminish. Furthermore, she points out that the entirety of the text not just a few portions portrays Christianity as infallible, yet portrays all of the other religious traditions it draws from, including Judaism and Platonism, as fallible, and, indeed, profoundly wrong on crucial points. Some teachings identified with gnosticism may have emerged before Christianity did. [4], In the third century, the Gnostics drew the attention and condemnation of the pagan Platonic philosopher Plotinus and his students. How Did Gnosticism Originate in Christianity, Then? Among those spiritual entities is a perfect human named Adamasa divine prototype of the earthly Adam of Genesis. [21] She concludes: [T]here is no evidence that Jews composed or used this work. However, the apocalypticists boldly asserted Jewish identity in the face of Roman suppression. CTWeekly delivers the best content from ChristianityToday.com to your inbox each week. But take courage; I have conquered the world![33], The book of 1 John, which was written by the same author,[34] takes an equally emphatic stance (in 2:15-16): Do not love the world or the things in the world. Belief that Jesus is "merely human": either that he never became divine, or that he never existed prior to his incarnation as a man. [14] Turner, John D. 1986. [1] Formal heresy is "the wilful and persistent adherence to an error in matters of faith" on the part of a baptised person. Theodotus was excommunicated by Pope Victor and Paul was condemned by the Synod of Antioch in 268. Translated by Carol Harrison. Hendrickson Publishers. The movement believes that its elderly founder, Marie Paule Gigure is a "reincarnation" of the Virgin Mary. Belief that the soul perished with the body, and that both would be revived on Judgement Day. Of course, nothing in whats been said here so far conclusively demonstrates that Gnosticism was always a Christian phenomenon. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.[24]. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, Third Edition. Tertullian wrote, Belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three independent and distinct divine beings as opposed to three persons of one being and one essence. Condemned by Popes Leo XIII and Pius X in a series of encyclicals between 1893 and 1910. Others may have developed apart from Christianity, in heterodox Jewish circles, and then been adapted by groups that considered themselves to be Christian. p. 129. 1990. In short, he faced the tensions of every Christian: to be both relevant to, and separate from, the world. Updated on September 14, 2019 Gnosticism (pronounced NOS tuh siz um) was a second-century religious movement claiming that salvation could be gained through a special form of secret knowledge.