me of gnosticism. Here's one from a few years ago that makes that claim, and there have been several more since.Gnosticism is a long-standing religious predilection, popular in Jesus' day, and popular in our own as well. While it can be its own religion, per se, it is more often manifested as a flavor within a particular religion. Kabbalah, for instance, is a gnostic Judaism.
The primary characteristic of gnosticism is that there is a secret, mystical knowledge about something -- God, humankind, the universe -- that is available only to particular individuals. In Zoroastrianism, it is available to those who good good works and stave off sadness with happiness. In Scientology, it's done through a process of spiritual "auditing" and walking the "bridge to total freedom." In Eckankar, "soul travel" opens new chapters of truth leading to further spiritual liberation.
In all cases, more "truth" is available to those who have progressed in the secret knowledge of that particular religion.
It seems to me that conservative Christians aren't all that different. Some say that special things happen when a person prays with glossolalia or uses the phrase "In Jesus' Name" almost like a magical incantation. Others say it comes via the rite of the Eucharist. Still others claim that it's belief in a certain set of doctrines that ushers one into the special knowledge.
But orthodox Christianity has always shunned anything like gnosticism. In the earliest days of the church, Christians were often accused of being similar to the very popular cult of Mithra, a gnostic sect of the time. But even while Christians were being persecuted pre-Constantine, they did not hide what they knew or believed. (E.g., contrary to popular belief, early Christians did not hide and worship in the catacombs outside of Rome. They dug the catacombs so they could bury corpses, as opposed to cremating them, because they believed that the resurrection of the dead was just around the corner. They held their memorial meals for the dead above ground, just like everyone else of the day.) Early church fathers like Tertullian and Justin Martyr fought these accusations.
There's nothing secret about Christianity. There never has been. Let's make sure there never will be.
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I guess I'm a bit confused as to how a more 'conservative' approach to Scripture (i.e. beleiving that the message of the authors constitutes a divine revelation) is the same thing as having a 'secret' knowledge, or is 'spiritual' as opposed to 'honoring creation'. Isn't the affirmation that human texts communicate divine revelation a primarily incarnational understanding of Scripture? Don't conservatives believe, in some way, that 'the message is all right there in the Bible--you can read it for yourself'?
I am not a defender of all aspects of more conservative evangelical theology, but I'm getting a bit confused as to how the concepts and terms overlap here.
Eastern Orthodoxy is profoundly mystical, but it has always steadfastly opposed Gnosticism.
Gnosticism has two core elements - elevating the spiritual above the physical and gaining secret SPIRITUAL knowledge.
Conservatives, on the other hand, teach that one must come into a relationship with Christ via spiritual and physical elements (such as using our reasoning) and believe in a fully incarnation Christ. This isn't secret knowledge either as conservatives teach that this is available to all if they so choose to accept. "Secret" knowledge is only available to those who have already been enlightened (according to Gnosticism) and a strong distaste for the physical. Though some conservatives do actually border on that, so do some emergents and liberal Christians (of course, as of late that is becoming more and more redundant).
Conservative beliefs, however, are antithetical to Gnosticism. For instance, look at how they stress the historicity of Jesus and miracles. They want to believe that he is fully human and fully God - that is antithetical to Gnosticism. The EC, however, has many adherents who deny the miracles and treat Jesus as though he were nothing but an enlightened human (such as Caputo). Thus, I'm not too sure a Gnosticism charge against conservative Christians is really warranted.
Gnosticism was "label" attached to the original followers of Jeshua ben Joseph. Loosely translated meant "the knowledgeable ones" or the "ones with Knowledge". Born Jeshua ben Joseph, baptized by John the Baptist, he went out into the desert for 40 days and thru His Intent, His effort, and with help of the angels He connected with his "higher self", his Christed Self. The battle with the "devil" or "evil" was nothing more than the battle with His EGO. (Go read the scripture with this insight and see what you think)Upon His return from the desert, eveyone saw the change in Him and started calling Him Isis, which morphed to Jesus over the millenia. The original followers were the Essenes. In the bible they were referred to as "The Elect". After the crucifiction and pentacost, the Essenes went about sharing the knowledge that the "Christed" One had imparted to them. The knowledge was not secret or special. The knowledge was how to connect with one's "higher self (soul)" and live in that vibration. We are now, nothing more than our 'future Christed Selves". Once we (as all of humanity)remember this everything with change. We are the ones we have been waiting for.
There is more than a single meaning to the word "Gnostic". A person might be talking about: 4. (initial capital letter) a member of any of certain sects among the early Christians who claimed to have superior knowledge of spiritual matters. By extension, the subject would be "A person who speaks of having SUPERIOR, spiritual knowledge.
Another definition of "Gnostic" is: 1. Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge. Of course we all have intellectual knowledge, that might not apply to physical things. For example, "John and Mary argue constantly" or "Bill and Jerry make great music".
Scientology is about knowledge, but specifically it is method to understand knowledge utterly and thoroughly that spiritual knowledge becomes possible. This is not widely understood and people who don't understand the idea group the religion's 35,000,000 words into the first definition. "esoteric, superior, or special knowledge".
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