Anyone Gnostic? What does it mean?

Answer 1

Yes, I am a practising Gnostic. This means that my religious practise consists of both public (communal) and private rituals designed to facilitate an openness of consciousness that will (hopefully) lead to "Gnosis," which specifically means spiritual knowledge arrived at directly and intuitively. There are many churches and organizations out there claiming to be Gnostic, however, it is important to remember that not all that glitters is gold. There are a few reputable Gnostic organizations that actually walk their talk. The link below is one of them. This is a nutshell answer, so if you want more information, drop me an email.

Answer 2

Gnosticism is a term created by modern scholars to describe a collection of religious groups, many of which thought of themselves as Christians, which were active in the first few centuries AD.There has been considerable scholarly controversy about exactly which groups to describe with this term. There is dispute among scholars on the extent to which early groups may have described themselves using the term "gnostikoi". Sometimes the term gnosticism is reserved for groups that might have used it to describe themselves, but often the term is used more widely to identify groups emphasizing the salvific benefit of individual wisdom.

Answer 3

Both a specific sect mentioned by heresiologists, and a category for a number of sects that believed "Gnosis" had a salvational purpose.
www.kheper.net/topics/Gnosticism/glossary.html

from the Greek gnosis ("knowledge"); a belief system that flousrished in Hellenistic culture. It had a profound influence on Christianity, particularly in the Johannine tradition (ie, the gospel of John, the letters of John, the gospel of Thomas). Gnostics held that the physical world of matter was corrupt and evil, and that salvation could be attained only through the embracing of the eternal goodness of the spiritual. ...
staff.jccc.net/thoare/glossary.htm

someone who claimed to have special knowledge, particularly of a religious nature, such as passwords for getting into the heavens or for controlling angels.
www.drshirley.org/helps/gloss.html

of or relating to Gnosticism; "Gnostic writings"
an advocate of Gnosticism
possessing intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Gnosticism is a blanket term for various mostly mystical religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic


Gnosticism is a term created by modern scholars to describe a collection of religious groups, many of which thought of themselves as Christians, which were active in the first few centuries AD.[1] There has been considerable scholarly controversy about exactly which groups to describe with this term. There is dispute among scholars on the extent to which early groups may have described themselves using the term "gnostikoi".[2][3] Sometimes the term gnosticism is reserved for groups that might have used it to describe themselves, but often the term is used more widely to identify groups emphasizing the salvific benefit of individual wisdom.

The term gnosis is a Greek word expressing a type of understanding or consciousness gained through personal experience. It is through this type of transcendental experience that followers of Gnostic belief systems seek escape from ignorance. Although many Gnostic movements identified with the teachings of Jesus Christ and were Christian by their own definition, there remains widespread variation in the particular religious orientations of many Gnostic groups. Especially notable for their extended and uninterrupted presence up until the modern era are the followers of the Persian Prophet Mani, the Manicheans; and the Pre-Christian Mandaeans who still survive in Iraq and Iran.

Particularly with the rise and fall of the Albigensian "Cathar" movement, European Gnostic thought became heavily influenced by the idea of a mythological struggle between competing forces of light and dark. This viewpoint would lead to the development of a strongly dualistic system in which there was a marked division between the higher celestial realms, and the material realms, the latter of which were thought to be under the governance of an ignorant entity known as the Demiurge who created the material universe or world. Influenced by more widespread branches of Christianity, the Demiurge was eventually conflated with many of the properties of Satan. One potential source of this newfound dualism is directly from the other Near-Eastern schools of Gnosticism, possibly via the influence of the Bogomils.

Answer 4

Gnosticism is a philosophical and religious movement which started in pre-Christian times. The name is derived from the Greek word "gnosis" which literally means "knowledge." However, the English words "Insight" and "enlightenment" capture more of the meaning of "gnosis." It is pronounced with a silent "G" (NO-sis). Gnosticism is not factual, intellectual, rational knowledge, such as is involved in mathematics and physics; that would have been more accurately represented by the Greek world "episteme." Rather, Gnosticism involves the relational or experiential knowledge of God and of the divine or spiritual nature within us. A visitor to this web site wrote: "...we believe that gnosis-knowledge requires ultimate transcendence of the merely intellectual to be actualized." 1

Answer 5

Around AD 177, Irenaeus of Lyons, a student of John’s disciple Polycarp, warned Christians about some Gnostic heretics who “adduce an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of such as are ignorant of the Scriptures of truth” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.20.1). Irenaeus clearly limited the authentic gospels to four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and noted that some heretics accepted one gospel but reject others, or they tried to pass off their own fictions as fact. He wrote, “It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are” (3.11.8).

Irenaeus also mentioned several Gnostic writings that were being passed around in his day. Some of these were found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. With reference to the followers of the Gnostic teacher Valentinus, Irenaeus wrote, “Indeed, they have arrived at such a pitch of audacity, as to entitle their comparatively recent writing ‘the Gospel of Truth,’ though it agrees in nothing with the Gospels of the Apostles, so that they have really no Gospel which is not full of blasphemy” (Against Heresies 3.11.9). And in April 2006, the National Geographic Society will be publishing an English translation of the recently discovered Gospel of Judas. However, Irenaeus referred to this false gospel as a writing of the Cainites, who claimed that Judas Iscariot, “knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas” (Against Heresies 1.31.1). We learn from the writings of the early church father Irenaeus that heretics have always tried to add to or take away from the authentic writings of the apostles and prophets. Today these ancient forgeries may tell us what early heretics believed, but they give us no reliable information about Jesus, nor do they have any spiritual value for true Christians.
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Answer 6

A Gnostic is a person who has secret spiritual knowledge.

Answer 7

ag‧nos‧tic  /ægˈnɒstɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ag-nos-tik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. a person who holds that the existence of the ultimate cause, as God, and the essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, or that human knowledge is limited to experience.
2. a person who denies or doubts the possibility of ultimate knowledge in some area of study.
–adjective 3. of or pertaining to agnostics or agnosticism.
4. asserting the uncertainty of all claims to knowledge.


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[Origin: < Gk ágnōst(os), var. of ágnōtos not known, incapable of being known (a- a-6 + gnōtós known, adj. deriv. from base of gignskein to know) + -ic, after gnostic; said to have been coined by T.H. Huxley in 1869]

—Related forms
ag‧nos‧ti‧cal‧ly, adverb


—Synonyms 1. See atheist.
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Answer 8

Here is your source of information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic

The Gnostic's are mostly ancient history.

Answer 9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism

Answer 10

Jesus was Gnostic