Editing Gnosis (section)

== Gnosticism ==
{{Main|Gnosticism}}
[[File:Lion-faced deity.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A lion-faced, [[Snakes in mythology|serpentine]] [[deity]] found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'' may be a depiction of the Demiurge.]]

[[Gnosticism]] originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical [[Judaism|Jewish]] and developed further within [[early Christianity]].{{sfn|Magris|2005|pp=3515–3516}} In the [[History of early Christianity|early years of Christianity]], various [[sectarian]] groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] by secret knowledge (''gnosis''), over [[faith]] (''pistis'') or [[Grace in Christianity|grace]] (gratia) in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians.<ref name="May 2008" /><ref name="Ehrman 2005" /><ref name="Brakke 2010" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Layton |first=Bentley |author-link=Bentley Layton |year=1999 |chapter=Prolegomena to the Study of Ancient Gnosticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GC4vwTXJSaMC&pg=PA106 |editor-last=Ferguson |editor-first=Everett |editor-link=Everett Ferguson |title=Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc |series=Recent Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays |pages=106–123 |isbn=0-8153-3071-5}}</ref> Gnosticism presents a distinction between the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|highest, unknowable God]], and the [[Demiurge#Gnosticism|Demiurge]], "creator" of the material universe.<ref name="May 2008" /><ref name="Ehrman 2005" /><ref name="Brakke 2010" /><ref name="Kvam 1999">{{cite book |editor1-last=Kvam |editor1-first=Kristen E. |editor2-last=Schearing |editor2-first=Linda S. |editor3-last=Ziegler |editor3-first=Valarie H. |year=1999 |chapter=Early Christian Interpretations (50–450 CE) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ux3bSDa2rHkC&pg=PA108 |title=Eve and Adam: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender |location=[[Bloomington, Indiana]] |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |pages=108–155 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt2050vqm.8 |isbn=9780253212719 |jstor=j.ctt2050vqm.8}}</ref> The Gnostics considered the most [[Essential property|essential]] part of the process of [[salvation]] to be this esoteric knowledge, in contrast to God's grace as an outlook in their [[Perspective (cognitive)|worldview]] along with faith in the [[Great Church|ecclesiastical authority]].<ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Ehrman 2005"/><ref name="Brakke 2010"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/>

In Gnosticism, the [[Serpents in the Bible#Eden|biblical serpent]] in the [[Garden of Eden]] was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (''gnosis'') to [[Adam and Eve]] and thereby freeing them from the [[Dystheism|malevolent]] [[Demiurge#Gnosticism|Demiurge]]'s control.<ref name="Kvam 1999"/> Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a [[dualistic cosmology]] that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the [[Salvation|liberating savior]] and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or [[creator god]], identified with the [[Yahweh|Hebrew God]] of the [[Old Testament]].<ref name="Ehrman 2005"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/> Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, [[false god]] and creator of the material universe, and the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|Unknown God]] of the [[Gospel]], the father of [[Jesus Christ]] and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God.<ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Ehrman 2005"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/><ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Valentinus and the Valentinians|author=Bousset, Wilhelm|author-link=Wilhelm Bousset|volume=27|pages=852-857|short=x}}</ref> In the [[Archontics|Archontic]], [[Sethianism|Sethian]], and [[Ophites|Ophite]] systems, [[Yaldabaoth]] (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he [[Creationism|created]].<ref name="Litwa 2016">{{cite book |author-last=Litwa |author-first=M. David |year=2016 |origyear=2015 |chapter=Part I: The Self-deifying Rebel – “I Am God and There is No Other!”: The Boast of Yaldabaoth |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwcBDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Desiring Divinity: Self-deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=47–65 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190467166.003.0004 |isbn=9780199967728 |lccn=2015051032 |oclc=966607824}}</ref><ref name="Fischer-Mueller 1990">{{cite journal |last=Fischer-Mueller |first=E. Aydeet |date=January 1990 |title=Yaldabaoth: The Gnostic Female Principle in Its Fallenness |journal=[[Novum Testamentum]] |volume=32 |issue=1 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |pages=79–95 |doi=10.1163/156853690X00205 |eissn=1568-5365 |issn=0048-1009 |jstor=1560677}}</ref><ref name="Arendzen4">{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Demiurge |volume=4 |first=John Peter |last=Arendzen}}</ref>

However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Logan 2002">{{cite book |author-last=Logan |author-first=Alastair H. B. |year=2002 |origyear=2000 |chapter=Part IX: Internal Challenges – Gnosticism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA923 |editor-last=Esler |editor-first=Philip F. |title=The Early Christian World |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Worlds |pages=923–925 |isbn=9781032199344}}</ref> For instance, [[Valentinianism|Valentinians]] believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="Logan 2002"/> All Gnostics were regarded as [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]] by the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] [[Early Church Fathers]].<ref name="May 2008"/><ref name="Ehrman 2005"/><ref name="Brakke 2010"/><ref name="Kvam 1999"/>

=== Mandaeism ===
{{Main|Manda (Mandaeism)}}

In [[Mandaeism]], the concept of ''[[Manda (Mandaeism)|manda]]'' ("knowledge", "wisdom", "intellect") is roughly equivalent to the Gnostic concept of gnosis.<ref name="Buckley 2002">{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Jorunn Jacobsen|title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people|publisher=Oxford University Press|publication-place=New York|year=2002|isbn=0-19-515385-5|oclc=65198443}}</ref> [[Mandaeism]] ('having knowledge')<ref name="auto"/> is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity.<ref name=McGrath>{{Citation|last=McGrath|first=James|title=The First Baptists, The Last Gnostics: The Mandaeans|website=YouTube-A lunchtime talk about the Mandaeans by Dr. James F. McGrath at Butler University|date=23 January 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvv6I02MNlc |access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=chWcZcYcyeQC}}|title=Iconography of Religions: An Introduction|editor-last=Moore|editor-first=Albert C.|date=1977|publisher=Chris Robertson|isbn=9780800604882|last=Rudolph|first=Kurt|author-link=Kurt Rudolph|chapter=Mandaeism|volume=21|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/iconographyofrel0000moor}}</ref>{{rp|15}} [[Mandaeans]] formally refer to themselves as ''Nasurai'' ([[Nazarene (sect)#Nasoraean Mandaeans|Nasoraeans]]) meaning guardians or possessors of secret rites and knowledge.<ref name=RudolphEI>{{cite web|last=Rudolph|first=Kurt|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/mandaeans-2-religion |title=MANDAEANS ii. THE MANDAEAN RELIGION |access-date=3 January 2022|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica|date=7 April 2008}}</ref><ref name=HG>{{cite book|last=Drower|first=Ethel Stefana|title=The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa|publisher=Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana|year=1953}}</ref> The Mandaeans emphasize salvation of the soul through secret knowledge (gnosis) of its divine origin.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mandaeanism|title=Mandaeanism &#124; religion|website=Britannica|access-date=8 February 2022}}</ref><ref name=Drower1960>{{cite book | last = Drower | first = Ethel Stephana | author-link = E. S. Drower | date = 1960 | title = The secret Adam, a study of Nasoraean gnosis | location = London UK | publisher = Clarendon Press | page = xvi | no-pp = true | url = http://holybooks.lichtenbergpress.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Secret-Adam-A-Study-of-Nasoraen-Gnosis.pdf | access-date = 19 February 2014 | archive-date = 6 March 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140306132110/http://holybooks.lichtenbergpress.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Secret-Adam-A-Study-of-Nasoraen-Gnosis.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> Mandaeism "provides knowledge of whence we have come and whither we are going."<ref>Deutsch, Nathaniel. (2003) Mandaean Literature. In ''The Gnostic Bible'' (pp. 527–561). New Seeds Books</ref>{{rp|531}}