Gnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Orthodoxy and heresy=== {{See also|Diversity in early Christian theology}} The Christian [[Heresiology|heresiologists]], most notably [[Irenaeus]], regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th{{nbsp}}century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence.{{sfn|Pagels|1979}}{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3519}}{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3529}}{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=36}} Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|pp=3529β3530}} According to Walter Bauer, "heresies" may well have been the original form of Christianity in many regions.{{sfn|Bauer|1979}} This theme was further developed by Elaine Pagels,{{sfn|McVey|1981}} who argues that "the proto-orthodox church found itself in debates with gnostic Christians that helped them to stabilize their own beliefs."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=36}} According to Gilles Quispel, Catholicism arose in response to Gnosticism, establishing safeguards in the form of the [[Episcopal polity|monarchic episcopate]], the [[creed]], and the [[Christian biblical canons|canon]] of holy books.{{sfn|Quispel|2004|p=9}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page