Gnosticism

E98431

Gnosticism is a diverse set of early religious movements that emphasized secret spiritual knowledge (gnosis) as the path to salvation and often presented a dualistic view of the material and spiritual worlds.

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Christian Gnosticism 1
Gnostic tradition 1

Statements (52)

Predicate Object
instanceOf esoteric belief system
religious movement
religious tradition
aimsAt escape from material world
liberation of the soul
developedIn Hellenistic world NERFINISHED
Roman Empire NERFINISHED
distinguishes material world
spiritual world
emphasizes secret spiritual knowledge
hasConcept demiurge
hasCoreConcept gnosis
hasKeyFigure Basilides NERFINISHED
Marcion NERFINISHED
Simon Magus NERFINISHED
Valentinus NERFINISHED
hasModernRevivalIn esoteric movements
neo-Gnostic churches
hasMythicTheme cosmic ignorance
emanations (aeons)
fall of Sophia NERFINISHED
hasWorldview dualism
includesMovement Basilideanism NERFINISHED
Ophite sects NERFINISHED
Sethianism NERFINISHED
Valentinianism NERFINISHED
influenced Bogomilism NERFINISHED
Catharism NERFINISHED
Manichaeism NERFINISHED
early Christian theology
isAssociatedWith early Christianity
late Second Temple Judaism
isDiscussedBy Epiphanius of Salamis NERFINISHED
Hippolytus of Rome NERFINISHED
Irenaeus of Lyons NERFINISHED
Tertullian NERFINISHED
isKnownFrom Nag Hammadi library NERFINISHED
heresiological writings
oftenTeaches creator of material world is a lesser deity
divine spark in humans
true God is transcendent
oftenViewsMaterialWorldAs evil
imperfect
originatedIn 1st century CE
seeks revelation of hidden God
teaches salvation through knowledge
usesTextType apocryphal gospels
cosmological myths
revelatory dialogues
viewsHumanityAs ignorant of true divine origin
wasCondemnedBy early Church Fathers NERFINISHED
wasOpposedBy proto-orthodox Christianity NERFINISHED

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

this entity surface form: Christian Gnosticism
Carl Jung influencedBy Gnosticism
Hermeticism influencedBy Gnosticism
Manichaeism influencedBy Gnosticism
Theosophy influencedBy Gnosticism
Western esotericism influencedBy Gnosticism
Irenaeus of Lyons opposed Gnosticism
Docetism relatedConcept Gnosticism
Neoplatonism relatedMovement Gnosticism
this entity surface form: Gnostic tradition