Gnosticism 1.Discovery in Nag Hammadi 2.Gnosticism: main features 3.Valentinus & his system 4. Modern Gnostics

Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library Discovered in 1945 in a jar in Egypt 12 codices containing 52 writings Major source of Gnostic texts Coptic Museum in Cairo

Main Features of Gnosticism 1.Intricate and obscure cosmology. 2.Syncretism: blending various religious world-views. 3.Fundamental questions of human existence. 4.Gnosis: secret knowledge as means of attaining salvation. 5.Dualism: spiritual/ material; soul/ body. 6.Docetic christology (some Gnostics). 7.Sense of non-belonging to the world. 8.Ethics: world-denying asceticism or extreme libertinism. 9.Three groups: spiritual (initiated Gnostics); psychic (ordinary believers); fleshy (unbelievers, those who will perish).

Valentinian ‘Pleroma’ = Fullness (see ANF 31, pp ) Ungenerated Father (= Profundity= first aeon) Sophia (= Wisdom = Mother) gave birth outside of the Pleroma to the imperfect creator (= Demiurge = Craftsman = Yaldabaoth) 30 divine beings called aeons

Seminar. Ptolemy’s letter to Flora. Study questions: 1. Identify the two positions against which the author’s argument is directed (par. 1-2)? 2. To what sources does the author attribute the Law? What theological rationale does he offer for his attribution. 3. What subdivisions does the author propose for the Law of God [the Demiurg]? 4. According to Ptolemy, what is the relationship between the God of the Law and God the Father of Jesus? 5. Do you agree with the author’s view of the Old Testament?

Gnosticism today Christian science New Age movements Neo-Pagan religions