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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission
It emphasizes personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions.

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That's pretty much the way I see it.

I would just add, that such spiritual knowledge is knowledge of God, not "Self" as someone suggested. I think that other idea may relate to Hinduism or Buddhism, not to Gnostic Christians.

Jesus addressed the concept of a seed of divine life within each person, which might be cultivated under the right circumstances, in his Parable of the Sower.

211 posted on 10/11/2023 2:57:15 PM PDT by Disestablishmentarian (Deeper we go, the more unrealistic it all becomes.)
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To: Disestablishmentarian

Gnosticism involved secret knowledge that the regular believer did not supposedly to which but which the gnostics would teach you for a fee. It usually have elements of Platonism. That is why the early church regarded it as heretical.


272 posted on 10/11/2023 6:47:02 PM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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