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! ===Jewish Christian origins=== {{See also|Origins of Christianity|Split of Christianity and Judaism}} Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has [[Jewish Christian]] origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}}{{sfn|Magris|2005|pp=3515–3516}}{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}{{refn|group=note|name="Cohen"}} [[E. S. Drower|Ethel S. Drower]] adds, "heterodox Judaism in [[Galilee]] and [[Samaria]] appears to have taken shape in the form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era."<ref name=Drower1960/>{{rp|xv}} Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some gnostic systems.<ref name="JE-G">{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Joseph |last1=Jacobs |first2=Ludwig |last2=Blau |year=1906 |title=Gnosticism |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6723-gnosticism |access-date=2023-09-10 |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref> The [[religious cosmology|cosmogonic]] speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in [[Maaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavah|''Maaseh Breshit'' and ''Maaseh Merkabah'']]. This thesis is most notably put forward by [[Gershom Scholem]] (1897–1982) and [[Gilles Quispel]] (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish ''gnosis'' in the imagery of [[merkabah mysticism]], which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to [[History of the Jews in Alexandria|Alexandrian Jews]], to which group Valentinus was also connected.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3534}} Many of the [[Nag Hammadi texts]] make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God.{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}{{refn|group=note|name="Cohen"|Cohen & Mendes-Flohr: "Recent research, however, has tended to emphasize that Judaism, rather than Persia, was a major origin of Gnosticism. Indeed, it appears increasingly evident that many of the newly published Gnostic texts were written in a context from which Jews were not absent. In some cases, indeed, a violent rejection of the Jewish God, or of Judaism, seems to stand at the basis of these texts. ... facie, various trends in Jewish thought and literature of the Second Commonwealth appear to have been potential factors in Gnostic origins.{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}}} Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism".<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-503607-7 | last = Gager | first = John G. | title = The origins of anti-semitism: attitudes toward Judaism in pagan and Christian antiquity | page = 168 | date = 1985 }}</ref> Professor [[Steven Bayme]] said gnosticism would be better characterized as [[anti-Judaism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bayme |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56QJ9O7MFJ4C&dq=gershom+scholem+gnosticism+anti-semitic&pg=PA122 |title=Understanding Jewish History: Texts and Commentaries |date=1997 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc. |isbn=978-0-88125-554-6 |language=en}}</ref> Research into the origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly from [[Hekhalot literature]].<ref name="Kabbalah New Perspectives">{{Cite book |last=Idel |first=Moshe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utWy5kz5K7IC&pg=PA31 |title=Kabbalah: New Perspectives |date=1988-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-04699-1 |page=31 |language=en}}</ref> Within early Christianity, the teachings of [[Paul the Apostle]] and [[John the Evangelist]] may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to the world of inferior, worldly powers (the ''[[Archon (Gnosticism)|archons]]''), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term ''gnostikos'' may have acquired a deeper significance here.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3516}} Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ''ecclesia'' (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic [[apocalypticism]], [[Wisdom (personification)|speculation on divine wisdom]], Greek philosophy, and [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Hellenistic mystery religions]]."{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3516}} Regarding the angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes: {{blockquote|[Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The [[Elchasaites]], or at least Christians influenced by them, paired the male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the ''Testament of Solomon'' held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of ''De Centesima'' and Epiphanius' "[[Ebionites]]" held Christ to have been the highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the ''Ascension of Isaiah'' and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hannah|first=Darrell D.|title=Michael and Christ: Michael Traditions and Angel Christology in Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKtXVU9EQTIC&pg=PA214|year=1999|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=978-3-16-147054-7|pages=214f}}</ref>}} The [[Pseudepigrapha|pseudepigraphical]] Christian text ''[[Ascension of Isaiah]]'' identifies Jesus with angel Christology: {{blockquote|[The Lord Christ is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens...<ref>{{cite book|author=M.A. Knibb (trans.)|editor=James H. Charlesworth|title=The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RU77ekrD_vIC&pg=PA173|volume=2|year=2010|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|isbn=978-1-59856-490-7|page=173|chapter=Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah}}</ref>}} [[The Shepherd of Hermas]] is a Christian literary work considered as [[biblical canon|canonical scripture]] by some of the early [[Church fathers]] such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when the author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit".<ref name="Papandrea2016">{{cite book|last=Papandrea|first=James L.|title=The Earliest Christologies: Five Images of Christ in the Postapostolic Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_akCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|date=2016|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-5127-0|page=29|quote=The most prominent example of Angel Adoptionism from the early Church would have to be the document known as ''The Shepherd'' of Hermass. In ''The Shepherd,'' the savior is an angel called the "angel of justification", who seems to be identified with the archangel Michael. Although the angel is often understood to be Jesus, he is never named as Jesus.}}</ref> 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