Gnosticism

A radical current teaching that we are divine sparks exiled in a flawed creation.

c. 100 – 400 CE · Mediterranean & Near East · Iranian & Dualist

Gnosticism names a family of movements holding that the visible world was fashioned by a lesser, ignorant creator (the Demiurge), while true divinity lies beyond it — and that liberation comes through gnosis, saving knowledge of one's divine origin. Blending Jewish, Greek, Christian, and Iranian dualist ideas, it produced striking scriptures like those found at Nag Hammadi and shaped, and was fiercely opposed by, emerging orthodox Christianity.

Key figures

• The unknowable true God
• Sophia (Wisdom)
• The Demiurge, false creator

Texts

• Nag Hammadi library
• Gospel of Thomas

Beliefs

• The material world is a flawed prison
• A divine spark trapped in matter
• Salvation through secret knowledge (gnosis)

Rituals

• Initiatory sacraments
• Contemplation and secret teaching

Grew from

• Judaism
• Ancient Greek Religion
• Zoroastrianism
• Christianity

Connections in the atlas

• Mary Magdalene
• The Nag Hammadi codices
• Ouroboros
• ▶ Faiths of the Silk Road
• Anima and Animus
• The Silk Road
• Reincarnation
• Ancient Greek Religion
• Mani
• The Cologne Mani Codex
• Christianity
• Plato