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Gnosticism |
Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.01 sec. |
Gnosticism [ˈnɒstɪˌsɪzəm] n (Non-Christian Religions / Other Non-Christian Religions) a religious movement characterized by a belief in gnosis, through which the spiritual element in man could be released from its bondage in matter: regarded as a heresy by the Christian Church Gnosticism the beliefs and practices of pre-Christian and early Christian sects, condemned by the church, especially the conviction that matter is evil and that knowledge is more important than faith, and the practice of esoteric mysticism. — Gnostic, n., adj. See also: Mysticismthe beliefs and practices of pre-Christian and early Christian sects, condemned by the church, especially the conviction that matter is evil and that knowledge is more important than faith, and the practice of esoteric mysticism. Cf. Cainism, Manichaeism, Valentinianism. — Gnostic, n., adj. See also: Heresythe doctrines of any of various dualistic sects among the Jews and the early Christians who claimed possession of superior spiritual knowledge, explained the creation of the world in an emanational manner, and condemned matter as evil. — Gnostic, n., adj. See also: Philosophy
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In addition to appreciating a good story, some listeners may be enticed into further study of these "lost gospels," Gnosticism, and the history of the early Christian church. Though generous in his praise of creative thought in Russian Orthodoxy, he inevitably discomfited traditionalists who saw him as a "victim of his time" who harbored, from his early Marxist days, anti-clerical sentiments, an excessive anthropocentric propensity to glorify human powers of creativity, a romantic inclination to blur the lines between flawed human nature and divine perfection, and an idiosyncratic tendency to hold views akin to Gnosticism. Many of these works were greatly influenced by what is today called Gnosticism, a term encompassing complex and varied theological and philosophical systems that involved secret or special knowledge (gnosis in Greek). |
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