Lecture 4

The Diversity in Early Christianity and Later Heresies
Week 4
Overview
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: The Ebionites
Week 3: The Marcionites
Week 4: The Gnostics
Week 5: Nestorianism
Week 6: Catharism
Our Sources
Irenaeus: Bishop of Lyons, Gaul (France) about 180 A.D.
5 volume work Against Heresies
Tertullian: 160 A.D.

Wrote a five volume work The Five Books Against Marcion (earlychristianwritings.com)
Epiphanius: Bishop of Salamis, Cyprus around 340 A.D.

Compendium of heresies Panarion (Medicine Chest)
Persecuted non-Christians on the island of Cyprus
Spoke Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Egyptian and Latin
Athanasius of Alexandria: 296-373 A.D.

1st record of our 27 books of the New Testament and only those books 367 A.D. (catholic.org)
Prominent figure in the Council of Nicea (justus.anglican.org)
Eusebius of Caesarea: 260-341 A.D.

Father of church history
Wrote 10 volume work, Ecclesiastical History, covering the time between the time of Christ until
the Council of Nicea
Nag Hammadi Library
Discovered by Muhammad Ali in 1945

West Bank of the Nile
23 leather bound codices containing 52 Gnostic writings
Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Ancient Viewpoints (2nd and 3rd

Century)
How many Gods are there?
a.
b.
c.
d.
1 Proto-Orthodox & Ebionites

2 - Marcionites
30 Gnostic (Valentinians)
365 Gnostic (Basilideans)
Was Jesus human or divine?

a.
b.
c.
d.
Fully human, not divine - Ebionites

Fully divine, not human - Marcionites
Fully divine and human
Proto-orthodox
Jesus was human; Christ was divine - Gnostic
What was the purpose of Jesus death?

a.
b.
c.
d.
Died for our sins Proto-orthodox

Substitute sacrifice - Marcionites
Didnt die Gnostic
Death had no part in salvation - Gnostic
What was the nature of creation?

a. Created by the one true God Proto-orthodox & Ebionites
b. Created by the Wrathful god - Marcionites
c. Divine accident by the lowest of the gods - Gnostic
Gnostic Books
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of John
Apocalypse of Adam
Gospel of Truth
Secret Book According to
John (Apocraphon of John)
Coptic Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Mary Magdalene
Gospel of Judas
Book of Zoroaster
Gnostic Beliefs
Gnosis: knowledge required for salvation
Instead of following the law or belief in the resurrection, Gnostics obtained
salvation from acquiring and understanding the secret teachings of Jesus
Invisible Virgin Spirit: the unknowable God

Pleroma: Divine realm, the totality of the divine powers, fullness
Gnostics took the belief that God created us in his own image to mean our
minds, not our bodies
Aeon: aspect or thoughts of the unknowable God, lesser deity

Material World: Created by a Lesser God to trap Humanity
Call themselves the Immovable Race
Believed in reincarnation
Believe all can be eventually saved, except Gnostics who leave the church
Gnostic Creation Narrative

Narrative comes from the Secret Book According to John
Sophia decided to have a unpaired thought and that resulted in the
creation of the imperfect aeon Yaldebaoth
Yaldebaoth was cast out of the Pleroma where he created his own
imperfect realm, our universe, based on a dim memory
Yaldebaoth declared himself the only God
Sophia repented to the other Aeons
Sophia worked with Afterthought and Forethought to regain the divine
power from Yaldebaoth
They implanted a vision of a perfect human into Yaldebaoth
Yaldebaoth created an imperfect version, and it did not move
Sophia, Afterthought, and Forethought tricked Yaldebaoth into breathing
his divine power into the man (Adam) and he stood up.
Yaldebaoth realized that he had ben tricked and encased the man in
matter to cloud his mind
Gnostic version of Adam and Eve

Yaldebaoth commanded Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil
Adam eats from the tree
Yaldebaoth made Adam forgetful, but Epinoia hid deep within Adam
Yaldebaoth tried to capture Epinoia, but ended up creating Eve
When Adam saw Eve he awoke from his drunkenness
They immediately gained Gnosis, from an eagle, and realized that
Yaldebaoth was not the ultimate God, and Yaldebaoth cast them out
from the garden.
Before they left, they were given the waters of forgetfulness
Yaldebaoth attempts to rape Sophia
The rape produces Cain and Able
Adams true children begin with Seth; Gnostics are the Seed of Seth
Salvation comes from regaining and understanding this lost Gnosis
Gospel of Judas
Part of the Codex Tchacos, discovered in the late 1970s
near Al-Minya, Egypt
Translation finished in 2006; however more fragments
turned up several years later. 90% of the Gospel is now
preserved. (gospels.net)
In it, Judas, not Peter, identifies Jesus as the one sent by
the unnamable God from the realm of the Barbelo
(Gospel of Judas, scene 1)
Jesus instructs Judas privately (the secret teachings)
Ends with the betrayal by Judas
Has no narrative for Jesus trial, death or resurrection
Valentinianism
Valentinus
2nd Century Theologian, contemporary of Irenaeus and
Marcion
Born in 100 A.D. in Phrebonis, Egypt, likely lived for a while in
Alexandria before going to Rome (gnosis.org)
Arrived in Rome about 140 A.D.
Modified the Gnostic myth in order to further Christianize it
Gospel of choice was John
Labeled a heretic after his death
Teachings
Creator God is still imperfect, but not evil
Invisible Virgin Spirit is a male/female duality and Barbelo did
not exist
There were 30 Aeons (newadvent.org)
Connection between Gnosticism and Plato

Plato lived around 300 B.C.
In Platos book Timaeus, the
Craftsman creates the universe as
a copy of the ideal spiritual world
In Platos Republic, the physical
world is a prison to be escaped
For Plato, philosophical
understanding is what brings
escape from the physical world
Plotinus wrote books against
Gnosticism claiming it was a
heresy of Platos philosophy
Christology of Gnostics
Separation of Jesus and Christ
Jesus is the man inhabited by Christ
Son of Joseph and Mary
Christ is the Divine being that entered Jesus body at his baptism and
left just before his death on the cross
My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?
He came to bring gnosis of God for humanitys salvation

I have come to teach you about what is, and what was, and what will
be in order for you to understand the invisible world, and the world
that is visible, and the immovable race of perfect humanity. (Secret
Book According to John)
Belief in his death and resurrection play no part in salvation

Gospel of Judas excludes that entire narrative
Next Week:
Council of Nicea
& Nestorianism
Links
Gospel of Judas http://
www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/pdf/GospelofJud
as.pdf
Coptic Gospel of Thomas http://
www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html
Secret Book of John http://
www.gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn-davies.html
Infancy Gospel of Thomas http://
www.gnosis.org/library/infgos1.htm

Lecture 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 4

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lecture 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Diversity in Early Christianity and Later Heresies

Tertullian: 160 A.D.

Epiphanius: Bishop of Salamis, Cyprus around 340 A.D.

Athanasius of Alexandria: 296-373 A.D.

Eusebius of Caesarea: 260-341 A.D.

Nag Hammadi Library

Discovered by Muhammad Ali in 1945

Ancient Viewpoints (2nd and 3rd

1 Proto-Orthodox & Ebionites

Was Jesus human or divine?

Fully human, not divine - Ebionites

What was the purpose of Jesus death?

Died for our sins Proto-orthodox

What was the nature of creation?

Invisible Virgin Spirit: the unknowable God

Aeon: aspect or thoughts of the unknowable God, lesser deity

Gnostic Creation Narrative

Gnostic version of Adam and Eve

Connection between Gnosticism and Plato

He came to bring gnosis of God for humanitys salvation

Belief in his death and resurrection play no part in salvation

You might also like