Origin of Gnosticism
The word “Gnosticism” derives from the word gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge. Gnosticism has its roots in pre-Christian Jewish and Hellenistic pagan thought that emerged around the Mediterranean in the first centuries CE. Christian Gnosticism is based on the belief in secret knowledge as a means to salvation, not the death and resurrection of Jesus. This belief made Christian Gnostics heretical in the eyes of the early church.
When the Gnostics spoke of knowledge, it was specifically the knowledge of God to which they were referring. They refer not to an objective knowledge of God, but a profoundly subjective knowledge in which the knower is radically transformed both by God and by the very experience of knowing. German philosopher Hans Jonas (1903–1993) wrote one of the first texts on Gnosticism, The Gnostic Religion (1958), written before he had access to the Nag Hammadi scrolls. He writes:
“Knowledge” is not just theoretical information about certain things,...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Bibliography
Hoeller, S. (2000). Jung and the lost Gospels: Insights into the Dead Sea scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library. Wheaton: Quest Books.
Jonas, H. (2001). Alien God and the beginnings of Christianity: The gnostic religion. Boston: Beacon.
Pagels, E. (1979). The gnostic Gospels. New York: Random House.
Pagels, E. (1992). The gnostic Paul: Gnostic exegesis of the Pauline letters. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International.
Patterson, S., & Meyer, M. (1992). The scholars translation of the Gospel of Thomas. Retrieved from http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/Thomas
Robinson, J. M. (Ed.). (1990). The Nag Hammadi library. San Francisco: Harpers.
The Holy Bible, Revised standard version. (1972). New York: Thomas Nelson.
Valantantasis, R. (1997). The gospel of Thomas. New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Green, M. (2020). Gnosticism. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_264
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_264
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24347-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24348-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences