Gnosticism Part I

Gnosticism is an ancient belief system, with roots in the pre-Christian era, that has been far-reaching and influential on other belief systems including Christianity. It embraces the idea that an individual can become liberated from the material world through the acquisition of hidden ‘gnosis’ - or knowledge. Through this knowledge, one can access the divine and transcend the physical plane. Throughout history, Gnosticism has been incarnated in various movements and iterations, each with its own beliefs, practices, core teachings and relationships to Christianity. 

The spectrum of movements and sects throughout history which can be called Gnostic is vast; however, within this, there are some distinct types which stand out as particularly influential, and remain relevant to Christianity today.

Valentinians were an influential early Gnostic sect, which reached its height of power in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. They believed that the source of divine was within each individual, in the form of a divine spark, or ‘Godseed’, and that by recognizing, harnessing and utilizing it, one could ascend to a higher spiritual level and connect with the divine. Valentinians also held a special reverence for Mary, venerating as a mediator between the human realm and the heavens. This can be seen to be extremely close to similar beliefs and figures held in Christianity today.

Another notable type of Gnosticism is that of the Sethians. The Sethians shared many of the core beliefs in the power of hidden knowledge and personal spirituality with the Valentinians, but diverged in two particular ways. Firstly, they emphasized the idea that the Gnostic journey was only achievable through asceticism, or abstinence and deprivation from worldly desires. Secondly, they claimed that their knowledge came directly from Seth, the son of Adam and Eve, who was said to have inherited a special divine spark from God.

The Bogomils are a Gnostic sect that flourished in the Balkans in the 10th-14th centuries. They were influenced heavily by the Valentinians and Sethians, but introduced their own non-dualistic vision of the universe. In their teachings, both good and evil did not exist as strict opposites, but rather as twin forces inextricably linked to one-another. They also rejected the physical world as being fundamentally false, and instead embraced an idea of the spiritual realm being the ultimate source of knowledge and truth.

Finally, there are the Gnostics of the twentieth century, who emerged again in the twentieth century, inspired by the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library in 1945. They claimed to have recovered ancient material containing long-forgotten Gnostic teachings, and used this as the basis for modernizing their beliefs and practices. The Nag Hammadi materials often appealed to Christian readers, as they validate many ancient themes and figures related to Christianity, such as the Virgin Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist.