[RobbyS]

You might want to check out Menno Simons (16th century Anabaptist) who held to the doctrine of the celestial flesh of Christ [i.e. Jesus brought his flesh from heaven and was born in but not of Mary]

Isn't this also an early(2nd century) gnostic teaching?

[drstevej]

I'm not sure. My recollection is that gnosticism viewed the material world as evil/inferior and Menno did not have this perspective. Any similarity may arise from different rationales.

However, it has been a while since I read Menno. I am much more familiar with his doctrine of salvatin and ecclesiology since my dissertation dealt with these topics. Menno was one of the brighter lights among the Anabaptists.