SECTION IV
Chapter 3 - Gnosticism

  Gnosticism is generally believed to have evolved from an amalgam of
Persian beliefs, combined with a Greek platonic view of the universe.  There
was believed to be a supreme divinity or God who held the highest position
in the heavens. Below him were emanations--giving rise to good and evil
"powers". In some cases, evil was viewed as the contamination of these
emanations with animated matter. Other times, evil was seen to have emerged
through gradations into lesser worlds/dimensions, separated by great
distances from the world where dwelled the godhead. The earth was held
sway by these evil emanations.

Difference Between Gnosis and the Mystery Religions

   BOTH the gnostics and the mystery religions believed in a divine savior
who would "redeem" mankind—i.e., to liberate mankind from evil powers, forgive
them from their sins, and help them to personally achieve eternal divine life.


   The primary difference between gnosis and the mystery religions lay in
the NATURE of the redeemer himself.  As we have seen, the mystery religions
generally viewed their redeemer as a divine being who had descended from the
heavenly realm, and had SUFFERED in the "flesh" on earth.  After dying from
his wounds, the divine redeemer was resurrected to eternal life. Believers,
through enactment of various sacraments, could symbolically partake in the
suffering of the savior, and in this way share in the experience of rebirth
after death.

  Gnostics, believed in a divine redeemer--but viewed him as imparting
"special knowledge" (called "gnosis") that would offer believers salvation
and the promise of immortal life.  Because the redeemer was viewed as "divine",
gnostics reasoned that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for him to PHYSICALLY "suffer"--
as was believed by the mystery religions.

  Gnostics were probably influenced by such Indian figures as Buddha, Jina,
and Tirthankara--individuals who were believed to have taught the secrets
of enlightenment to humans, out of compassion for the suffering of mankind.

  Gnostics believed that all matter of the world was evil, and only the
spirit was good. They believed that the highest God dwelt in the highest realm
of the universe, in a vast everlasting light.  The material world was, in turn,
controlled by an evil lesser God. The human spirit existed as a spark of light
(arising from the original light of God's highest realm), but which was
trapped inside a base body on an evil earth. Knowledge of this inward light
could help man make spiritual contact with the one true God. The individual
who lived a life of ascetism could prepare his trapped soul to ascend to the
highest realm of the all knowing, all powerful God. The techniques for
achieving this ascent and union with God made up the bulk of the religious
activity of this time.

    Sophia (meaning Wisdom in Greek) was an important divine intermediary
worshiped by the Gnostics.  An emanation of the divine, she descended
into the realm between evil matter and divine spirit.  There are various
variations after this point--In one she descends into the lower world,
in order by her great beauty to provoke the angels of the lower world to
yield up their powers--and is punished by being transformed into mere matter.
In another version, she is held prisoner against her will by the lower powers--
as Ishtar was kept in Hades by Allat. Another emanation or aeon, named Sotor,
answers Sophia's prayers, and descends through the spheres of the worlds to
obtain her rescue.  (Legends of Sotor borrowed heavily from the stories of
Osiris, Attis, Mithra, and other gods.  Shortly after Christianity emerged,
many Gnostics began to identify Sotor as Jesus.)

  Gnosticism was a popular force in its days, and scholars can find examples
of where it influenced the Jews--especially the hellenized Jews who lived
outside Palestine, in such areas as Alexandria, Egypt.

Jewish Gnosticism

  After the Babylon exile, when Jehovah was perceived as a more distant
but universal god, some Jewish writings (such as those in the book of Wisdom
dating from around the first century B.C.E.) spoke of divine intermediaries
between God and man.  In the book of Wisdom, God's "Spirit" or "Word",
personified a FEMALE spiritual being from the first creation.

  Although Jews, for the most part, refused to interpret their one God
Jehovah as being anything other than one all-powerful God, traces of
gnosticism can be seen in the writings of certain Jewish sects, dating from
around the third B.C.E. to the first century C.E.

  During the hellenistic age, the Torah was translated into the Greek
Septuagint, and in the process, common Jewish words acquired subtle
hellenistic twists in meaning. For example, in Psalm 33:6 where the Lord
established the heavens "by a word", the Hebrew term "davar" was translated
into the Greek as "logos". "Logos" was used by Greeks, to describe the order
and structure which was manifested in the universe. Stoics referred to
Logos as the divine "reason" of the world. Later hellenized Jews referred to
Logos as a divine being, an Image of God, who acted as God's intermediary in
ordering the world to come into existence through the divine Law or nomos.

  Also, the Greek concept of "mystery" (meaning "divine secret) appears to
have been borrowed by Jews--since it only appears in those books which are 
believed to have been written during the hellenistic period of Israel--(ie 
the books of Daniel, Judith, Tobit, Sirach, Wisdom and 2 Maccabees) 

Wisdom, Emanation Spirit of God

  The Jews had a tradition of interpreting the term God's "Word" as having a
great power in and unto itself--(for example verses such as, "By the Word of
the Lord were the heavens made." See Psalm 33:6) In later Judaism, this 
became identified with God's "Wisdom"--a term that later became personified 
and was given an existence of its own apart from God. (Philo depicted Wisdom 
in the form of an archangel.)  In Greek, the term for this was called "Logos", 
which as was mentioned above, was used to describe the rational principle or 
spirit that was believed to permeate around the world.

   The books of Enoch and Wisdom are two Jewish works (circa 100 B.C.E.)
thought by scholars to have been heavily influenced by Greek gnosticism--
and its belief in the existence of various divine intermediaries between
God and man. One of the most important intermediaries--God's "Spirit" or
"Word" was personified as a FEMALE divine being named Wisdom:

  "[Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God and a pure emanation from the
  glory of the Almighty; therefore can nothing defiled enter her.  She is
  a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and
  an image of his goodness." (Wisdom 7:25-26)

  Depicted as an immortal spirit, Wisdom was first believed to have dwelled
in heaven as God's companion.  Then in her medium role as a revealer of
"all things that are either secret or manifest" (Wisdom 7:21), she entered
the world in search of those who would receive her revelations.  Rejected
by mankind, she returned to live with God in heaven. (See also 1 Enoch,
chapters 42:1-2).( This theme of a descending and ascending savior was common
in the mystery religions during this time in the hellenized ancient world.)

  The concept of HUMAN immortality makes an appearance at this time in
hebrew writings:

  "God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own
  eternity; nevertheless, through envy of the Devil came death into the
  world, and they that do hold of his side do find it."

  The concept of the Messiah is also developed in these works during this time:

  "Ere the sun and the signs were made, ere the stars of the heavens were
  created, his name was pronounced before the Lord of the spirits.  Before the
  creation of the world he was chosen and hidden before Him, and before Him
  he will be from eternity to eternity."

  The Messiah is described not only as existing from the beginning, but as
possessing the spirit of wisdom and comprehension. This supernatural
personality of the Messiah is not Christian at this point, but Gnostic or
Essenic--For there is no reference to a messiah that would become flesh and
live among men! (Most probably this book was written by a Jewish Gnostic,
possibly roughly 100 B.C.E.).

  Many scholars also believe that the Jewish concept of heaven and an
immortal soul was influenced by Greek philosophy.  As we shall see in
a later section devoted to the development of this theme, nowhere
in the books of Moses is there any indication that the ordinary person
might live an afterlife existence in heaven with God. Individuals (such
as Elijah) who reportedly went to heaven were transported BEFORE they died.
(For example, Elijah traveled up to heaven from earth in a chariot of fire.)
The belief that an ordinary person might also participate in a spiritual
immortality did not emerge in Jewish writings  until AFTER the Jews came into
contact with the Greek civilization and Platonic philosophy.

  Philo, a Hellenized Jew who lived in Alexandria around 20 B.C.E. - 45 C.E.
clearly wrote in a manner that combined Platonic philosophy with Jewish
biblical traditions. According to Philo, man's spirit existed before birth,
and only resided during a relatively short time within a human body, before
returning to the spiritual world upon the body's physical death.  The souls
of those caught up in the material world would be unprepared for their
journey to the highest levels of heaven and become lost, while the
philosophers' souls would find its way to "a higher existence immortal and
incorporeal". (Philo, ON THE GIANTS, 15) According to Philo, only the soul
of Moses was able to ascend to the very highest realm where God Himself
lived.  Other great spirits, such as that of Enoch must reside on a somewhat
lower level of pure ideas. Philo lived an introspective ascetic life that
prepared for his soul's celestial ascent upon bodily death.

  Essene dualism imagined the world as an evil place, dominated by the
children of darkness.  Only an apocalyptic battle whereby the sons of
light would overthrow the forces of evil, would restore the earth. As
mentioned in an earlier section, the main importance on the discovery
of the Dead Sea scrolls (which included writings by the Essenes), is that
it shows that many doctrines and terminology that had earlier been believed
to have originated with Jesus, were in fact also held by the Essenes.

Increase of Gnosticism and Mysticism in the Aftermath of a Destroyed
  Jerusalem and Ravaged Palestine (70 C.E. and after)

  In the aftermath of the destruction of Palestine after the Jewish
revolts of 66 C.E. and 132 C.E., the door was open for a large number
of alternative religious views and mysticism.  Some manuscripts that
have been discovered show a bitter disillusionment with Jehovah, the Creator.
They sometimes mocked the Creator as a lesser God and wrote on deities
(Sophia, Pistis, Zoe, etc) that clearly show they were influenced by the
Platonic belief in the emanation of divine beings from a universal God.

  The Jewish teacher, Yohannan ben Zakkai, who wrote in the years after
the Jewish revolt of 70 C.E., issued a series of warnings on how the
Old Testament should be taught: the laws on incest should only be taught to
more than two people at a time; the stories of Genesis should only be taught
to more than one person at a time; and the fantastic visions of God's
throne chariot from the book of Ezekiel should not be taught at all,
unless it was to a knowledgeable sage. It was also better to have never
lived, than to speculate on what is above, below, beyond, and in the opposite
beyond. Concluded Zakkai, "And whosoever has no regard for the honor of his
Creator, it were better for him had he not come into the world." (THE JESUS
OF HERESY AND HISTORY, p 53)

  Some scholars have interpreted Yohannan ben Zakkai's admonishments to be
proof that gnostic beliefs had penetrated within the Jewish community in
first century C.E. Palestine.  We know that Essene Jewish writings from
around this time speak of apocalyptic aspirations. But it has been very
controversial whether gnostic beliefs were also picked up among Jews LIVING
IN Palestine.  Zakkai's reference to those who had "no regard for the honor
of his Creator" would seem to be a clear reference to Gnosticism and its belief
that the creator of this world was a lower, meaner god that the good God who
existed at the highest levels of the universe. (Ibid)

   The late Gershom Scholem, (considered by many to be the leading authority
on Jewish mysticism) believed that some of the elaborate Kabbalah mysticism
of medieval European Jews, had roots going back to Palestine in the first
century C.E.. (Ibid, p 53)  Therefore, even though the Pharisees came into
power in the void following the Jewish defeats by the Romans in 70 and 132
C.E., and attempted to reform and purify their religion from its non-Jewish
roots--still traces of these gnostic beliefs could be found in Jewish
mysticism.

Were Paul and other early Christians Influenced by Jewish "Wisdom" Literature?

  Some scholars believe that Paul and other early Christians were likely
influenced by Jewish "wisdom" literature.  The writings of the Jewish writer
and philosopher Philo, who lived in Alexandria Egypt, were mistaken as
"Christian" because of their strong similarities to early Christian views.
However Philo (who was a contemporary of Jesus) probably had never even heard
of Jesus during his lifetime.

  Some scholars believe they see strong similarities between the Jewish
Wisdom legends and Paul's version of Jesus:  According to Paul, Jesus (like
Wisdom) is a part of God and all creation. There are also strong parallels
between the rejection and suffering of Wisdom and Jesus while on earth, and
their later return to heaven. Paul even employs the term "wisdom" in a
similar fashion as the Wisdom literature.  For example, in 1 Corinthians
1:23-5, Paul calls Jesus "the power of God and the Wisdom of God." (Francis
Young, THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE (London: 1977, p21)

  It is true that the Jewish wisdom literature does not directly state
that Wisdom took the form of HUMAN FLESH during her stay on earth.
However certain gnostic texts speak of Wisdom "setting up its tent" on earth.
Readers thus could have interpreted this to mean that Wisdom had assumed
human flesh.  Paul probably understood the meaning of the term "tent" or
"tabernacle" in just this way--as he used the term "tabernacle" in exactly
this way to signify man's human earthly form. (see 2 Corinthians 5:1 and 4.
GA Wells, THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR JESUS,  p 40).

  Another wisdom story, the WISDOM OF SOLOMAN tells of a "just man" who
is persecuted and then condemned to a "shameful death".  After passing
God's tests, he is found worthy and receives great blessings, including
the gift of immortality. He was to be "counted one of the sons of God"
and would receive "a fair diadem from the Lord himself".

  It has also been argued (see Georgi ZEIT AND GESHICHTE, Tubingen,1964, p271 as 
referenced by GA Wells, HISTORICAL EVIDENCE FOR JESUS) that the wisdom image of 
the "just man" was influenced by the older story of the "suffering servant" of 
God that can be found in the book of Isaiah. The servant was similarly despised, 
rejected, and killed by men --but his death served to atone for their sins.

   Some scholars have argued that Paul originally believed that Jesus was
a person who was born human, but was later influenced from Wisdom literature
to see Jesus in terms of a super being.  Still, Paul retained enough of his
Jewish background to actually avoid calling Jesus "God".  Instead, he was always
careful to state that "God raised" Jesus from the dead.

  As hellenized concepts began increasingly to take hold in Christian
doctrine during the next century, some Christian writers would see no
conflict in equating Jesus with "God." For example, Titus 2:13 (see also 2
Peter 1:1) calls on "our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."  Thus these
authors believed Jesus used his own powers in raising himself from the dead.
(Francis Young, THE MYTH OF GOD INCARNATE, ed J. Hick, (London, 1958) p 20-1)

Christian Gnosis

  As mentioned above, Gnosis was the special knowledge acquired in a mystical,
magical manner, which could be used by the initiate in his spiritual journey--
whereby he is freed from the domination of the lower elements of the earth to
approach the pure personage of the high God in the universe. The savior to
the gnostics was one who would impart this knowledge ("gnosis") of the one
good God in the higher realm of the universe--to those who were fit to receive
it.  (It thus did not depend on the personal sacrifice of the savior to impart
salvation, unlike the mystery cults, where adherents shared in their savior's
death and resurrection.)

   When many gnostic groups converted to Christianity, they did so by
basically keeping their same doctrines, with the main difference being
to now identify the bringer of "gnosis" to redeem mankind--as Jesus Christ.
Christian Gnostics interpreted sayings of Jesus in the gospels as imparting
gnosis or "knowledge" of salvation from the archons of this evil world. One
favorite passage was Mark 4:11,where Jesus explained to his disciples (see
Mark 4:11) that the reason he spoke in parables was because "Unto you (the
disciples) it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables." (Also see
Matthew 13:11, Luke 8:10) Here "mystery" connotes a hidden revelation that
is known only to the select—that is, the disciples).

  Christian gnostics took issue with the suffering, "sacrificial" image of
Jesus as atoning for man's sins  (which as we have seen was the central belief
of competing religious groups--specifically the mystery religions.) In their
minds, Jesus was a purely spiritual god!--Therefore it was IMPOSSIBLE for his
suffering on the cross to have been real.  Christian gnostics argued that
Jesus only "APPEARED" to have suffered on the cross.  Some gnostic writings
depicted the spirit of Jesus as laughing in triumph at the scene of his
crucifixion because as a god,  he felt no pain. This gnostic heresy was
termed Docetism which came from a Greek word meaning "to appear" or "to seem".

Similarities of the gospel of John, with Gnosticism

  The gospel of John has been recognized for centuries for being founded
on religious doctrines--that were significantly different from those
presented in the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  The writer
of John poetically portrays Jesus as a pre-existing heavenly being who
descended to earth to spread knowledge and redeem mankind.  The nature
of the universe is portrayed in dualistic terms--God and devil, light and
darkness, good and evil.  (For example in John 12:35-6, we are told "The
light is with you for a little longer.  Walk while you have the light, lest
the darkness overtake you...While you have the light, believe in the
light, that you may become sons of light.") Knowledge is synonymous with
faith--those who see and understand the truth, and those to whom it has
not been "revealed".

 Jesus' crucifixion is presented as a sacrifice of a lamb for the sins of
mankind.--Yet John's Jesus does not seem to suffer as much as in the
other gospels.  That is, missing is the portrayal of Jesus' agony on
the cross, and his crying out, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me."  Instead, the gospel of John depicts a Jesus, who stoically concludes
with the words, "It is done."

 This theme occurs in certain of the gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi.
For example, in a discovered fragment of the Gospel of Peter, Jesus says
on the cross: "My Power, Power, thou hast forsaken me", instead of "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"


Early Christian Gnostic Heresies

   Gnosticism was a competing religion with Christianity.  Although a
sizeable number of gnostics were among the first groups successfully
converted to Christianity (as we have seen by largely identifying Jesus
as the bringer of "gnosis"), still they held fundamentally different
beliefs than other Christian groups. These differences represented vastly
variant views regarding the nature of Jesus, God, and the universe.

  Many Christian scholars have observed that the God of the Old Testament
appears much different than the one presented in the New Testament.--That is,
the God of the Old Testament is more commonly depicted as a God of power
and obedience, while the God of the New Testament is depicted as a God of love.

  Prior to the arrival of Christianity, Gnostics explained the existence
of good and evil in the world by supposing that a genuinely good, all powerful
God ruled over the universe, while a lower-level demon-like God controlled
the lower regions of the universe--including the earth.  When gnostics
began converting over to Christianity, they took the Old Testament stories
relating God's anger and jealously to be proof that the God of the hebrews
was in reality this lower evil divine being--known as the Demiurge. This
also seemed to explain how an "all powerful" God would create a world full
of suffering, pain, and disease.

  The SECRET BOOK OF JOHN argued that because the Old Testament God
had declared to the hebrews that he was a jealous God--that this "proved"
the presence of other divine beings:

  "in his madness ... he said ' I am God, and there is no other god
   beside me,' for he is ignorant of the place from which he had come...
   And when he saw the creation which surrounds him and the multitudes of
   angels around him which had come forth from him, he said to them, 'I am a
   jealous God, and there is no other god beside me.' But by announcing this
   he indicated to the angels that another God does exist; for if there were
   no other one, of whom would he be jealous?"

   Gnostics also pointed to Genesis verses where God says in the plural,
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26) and
"Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,"
(Genesis 3:22) to prove that he was speaking to other lower divine beings
such as himself.

  Gnostics argued that the Old Testament God was really evil for destroying
the earth with a Flood.  Their position that the God of the Hebrews was
in reality the demiurge led them to an especially heretical interpretation
of the Adam and Eve story.  In the gnostic work THE TESTIMONY OF TRUTH
(found with the Nag Hammadi texts) the author repeated the story of how
God had become so angry that Adam and Eve had listened to the serpent
and eaten from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that He cast Adam
out of Paradise "lest he take from the tree of live and eat and live forever."

The author continued then with the following heretical analysis:

 "But of what sort in this God?
  First [he] maliciously refused Adam from eating of the tree of knowledge.

  And secondly he said, 'Adam, where are you?' And God does not have
  foreknowledge; (otherwise), would he not know from the beginning?
  Afterwards he said, 'Let us cast him [out] of this place, lest he
  eat of the tree of life and live for ever.' Surely he has shown himself
  to be a malicious grudger.

  And what kind of God is this? For great is the blindness of those who
  read, and they did not know him.  And he said, 'I am the jealous God; I will
  bring the sins of the fathers upon the children until three (and) four
  generations'. [see Exodus 20:5].

  And he said, 'I will make their heart thick, and I will cause their mind
  to become blind, that they might not know or comprehend the things
  that are said' [see Isaiah 6:10]

 But these things he has said to those who believe in him [and] serve him!"

  These gnostics in analyzing the Adam and Eve story in Genesis, went on to
argue that the demiurge forbade Adam to eat from the fruit of the tree of
knowledge, to prevent Adam from obtaining knowledge (giving him enlightenment
or gnosis).  The highest good God, saw what was happening and sent the serpent
to the Garden to induce Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge, thus
escaping from his bondage of ignorance to the demiurge.

Jesus as the bringer of Christian "gnosis" or knowledge

  Gnostic Christians believed that it was through the passion and death of
Jesus, that victory of the true God was established (ie the one God who
was ABOVE Jehovah), and the salvation of mankind obtained. Many gnostics
believed that the resurrection was "spiritual" in nature-- and that when one
was "born again" it represented a spiritual resurrection. They were thus
accused by non-gnostic Christians of preaching that the resurrection of the
dead had already passed, which detracted from Jesus' true meaning.

  One of the most intriguing books found at Nag Hammadi was THE GOSPEL OF
THOMAS, which some scholars believe may contain sayings from Jesus written down 
around the same time as the other gospels (possibly even earlier) and therefore 
might be closer to the actual utterances from Jesus himself. Unlike the 
canonized gospels, the GOSPEL OF THOMAS never calls Jesus the Messiah or Christ, 
nor does it describe his death. Instead, it is arranged around over one hundred 
"saying of Jesus".

 There are two, rather bizarre verses from the Gospel of Thomas:

 * Jesus said, 'Whoever does not hate his father and his mother in my way
   cannot be my disciple.  Every woman who makes herself male will enter
   the kingdom of heaven.

 * When the disciples ask Jesus 'When will you be revealed to us, and when
    will we see you?' Jesus replies, 'When you take off your clothing without
    shame, and like little children, put your clothes on the ground and
    tread on them.  Then you shall see the son of the Living One and not
    fear'"

  (Verses such as this last one explain why Orthodox Christians would consider
this writing heretical.)

Anti-Gnostic Reaction by Other Christians

 In the opinion of many of the early Church fathers, Christian gnostics
posed one of the greatest threats for the hearts and souls of the common
people.  Gnostics had posed a problem to some Christian congregations--even
during the time of St. Paul.

  St. Paul had denounced the Gnostic beliefs as "seducing spirits and
doctrines of devils...profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of knowledge
falsely so called."  Other early Christian fathers denounced Gnostics as
"servants of Satan, beasts in human shape, dealers in deadly poison, robbers
and pirates" and again, motivated "by pride, disappointed ambition, sensual
lust and avarice." (Homer Smith, MAN AND HIS GODS, p 215)

  Irenaeus wrote passionately against the gnostics and their heresies such
as the demiurge concept.  Irenaeus insisted that the serpent was none other
than the Devil-- a rebel angel that was caused to "fall" from heaven and
grace by his envy of God's creation. (Adv. her., No 40). (Note: The Genesis
stories never identifies the serpent as the Devil, so this matter was open
to interpretation).

   Irenaeus, did however, agree with the gnostics regarding Jesus' role
in the salvation for mankind. As this was before the dominance of orthodox
Christianity--there was a divergence of ideas on some very basic aspects of
Christian doctrine: For example, The Church father Origen believed that Jesus'
sacrifice at the cross was NOT to atone for man's sins, but to "pay off the
Devil". Jesus was set up as bait. The devil falls for the trap and unwittingly
allows Jesus to die on the cross.

   The first letter to Timothy concludes with a warning against the
gnostics who "falsely" believed they held the key to real knowledge:

  "O Timothy ... avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is
falsely called knowledge."

  (Fundamentalists sometimes quote this verse out-of-context to mean
secular or scientific "knowledge" -- not realizing that the author was
directing his invective against gnosticism—i.e., "knowledge" through
the mystical force of "gnosis").

How Gnosticism Forced Their Orthodox Christian Opponents to Define
  Doctrines in Order to Distinguish Themselves.

  Even though the early Christian fathers fought passionately against the
intrusion of gnostic beliefs into mainstream Christianity, there is
evidence that Christian doctrine was indeed influenced by gnosticism--
even if much of this influence was NEGATIVE, and not positive in nature.
Indeed, it appears that the early Catholic church formed some of its religious
doctrines based on its OPPOSITION to targeted "heretical" groups.

  For example, some scholars believe that the orthodox Christian creed which
begins with the words "I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was
conceived by the Holy ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried..."  were purposely formulated
to exclude gnostic sects by stating that God also created the physical
material world, and that Jesus was physically born and truly suffered on
earth.

  Some of the early Church's negative views of sex were also believed to
have been influenced by the Gnostic's revulsion of sex as worldly--and
therefore base and sinful.  St. Augustine had spent his early adult life
as an follower of the Persian gnostic sect of the Manichees.  Many scholars
believe that Augustine's doctrine of Original Sin--which viewed the world
as inherently corrupt and sinful (due to Adam's Original Sin)-- was strongly
influenced by his earlier contact with gnostic teachings.  The idealization
of Jesus' mother Mary as the "most chaste virgin", possibly also originated
from earlier gnostic beliefs.

  Another fascinating influence of Gnosticism on Christianity was by supplying
it with the divinely intermediate hierarchy of angels and demons--along with
absolute concepts of Good vs. Evil powers.  Originally, orthodox Christians
believed that, upon death, the soul waited in the underworld until the
Resurrection, upon which time its soul would rejoin the body.  In contrast,
the Gnostics (believing in the importance of the soul as the original spark
of creation light), held that upon death, the soul would ascend directly
into heaven.  (This doctrine of "immediate ascent" was opposed at by orthodox
Christians for many centuries--until ultimately it became the official view--
through the writings of St. Augustine, and others.)


  In the next section we shall look at the evolution of the early Christian
Church--and how Orthodox Christians clashed with gnostic Christians, and
other "heretical" Christian sects.