mckeeman@wivax.UUCP (12/05/84)
Gnosticism was a first and second century heresy firmly
stamped out by the growing catholic church.
The principal gnostic belief was that the new age had come.
One group of gnostics responded by saying there were no
limitations on behavior - the law was dead and all was
forgiven. Another group responded by accepting the gifts
of the spirit and publicly doing miracles.
The church didn't much like either approach. Once it was
perceived that the second coming wasn't necessarily
tomorrow, the church became concerned with the processes of
building an institution that would withstand a frequently
hostile secular environment. There are passing references
to the false teachings in Paul's writings (First Timothy
for example). It is clear that the gnostics were
considered disruptive and dangerous.
There are two recent books on the subject: One is an
English translation of the (coptic) Gnostic Gospels
discovered in Egypt and the other is a discussion of them
(by Elaine Pagels). About 40 years elapsed from the
discovery of the manuscripts until their open publication,
partly due to political and academic wrangling.
>From my (lay) reading of the texts, they are pretty tough
going. Many times they seem to be closer to liturgical
chants than biblical writings. I found it hard to get much
out of them.
/s/ Bill McKeeman.Wang-Inst at CSNet-Relay
...decvax!wivax!mckeeman
Wang Institute of Graduate Studies, Tyngsboro, MA 01879