Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: γνωστικός, romanized: gnōstikós, Koine Greek: [ɣnostiˈkos], 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects.

Aug 30, 2024 · Gnosticism was a second-century religious movement centered on the belief that salvation could be attained through secret knowledge. Gnostic beliefs often conflicted with early Christian doctrine, leading to their condemnation as heretical by church leaders.

Mar 19, 2025 · gnosticism, any of various related philosophical and religious movements prominent in the Greco-Roman world in the early Christian era, particularly the 2nd century. The designation gnosticism is a term of modern scholarship.

Jun 10, 2024 · What Was Gnosticism? Gnosticism was a notable heretical movement of the 2nd-century Christian Church, partially of pre-Christian origin. The gnostic doctrine taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge, and that Christ represented the remote supreme divine being.

Apr 9, 2021 · Gnosticism is the belief that human beings contain a piece of God (the highest good or a divine spark) within themselves, which has fallen from the immaterial world into the bodies of humans.

Jan 26, 2019 · Learn how Gnosticism refers to a very wide range of beliefs that is more a collection of beliefs than a religion and the two primary components of it.

What Is Gnosticism? Gnosticism is a type of early Christianity that taught that the material world was created by an evil being, and that Christ came to earth to liberate people from this evil world through the spiritual experience called “gnosis” – the root of the word “Gnostic.”

The meaning of GNOSTICISM is the thought and practice especially of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis.

Gnosticism embraces numerous general attitudes toward life: it encourages non-attachment and non-conformity to the world, a “being in the world, but not of the world”; a lack of egotism; and a respect for the freedom and dignity of other beings.

Gnosticism (after gnôsis, the Greek word for “knowledge” or “insight”) is the name given to a loosely organized religious and philosophical movement that flourished in the first and second centuries CE.