Beyond the Johannine Community:

the Rise of Christian Gnosticism

Ehrman's Definition of Gnosticism "Gnosticism refers to a diverse set of views, many of them influenced by Christianity, that may have been in existence by the end of the first century but certainly by the middle of the second."

One of the most astounding revelations in the history of biblical studies was the discovery of the library of an ancient Christian monastery dating to the early 4th century CE. This library consisted of thirteen leather pouches containing 52 ancient  documents, most of which were Christian writings in the form of gospels, religious treatises, apocalypses, etc. These documents have long been lost and this discovery provides us with the only copies in existence for most of them. It may well be that this monastic brotherhood hid their precious bibles a distance away from their monastery because they were aware of a coming persecution at the hands of the proto-orthodox faction of early Christianity, which now called itself the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and which had just taken over the government of the Roman empire. The Christian Roman emperors had declared the Catholic Church the only legal form of Christianity and sent imperial troops to hound the criminal "heretics" out of existence. This included imprisonment confiscation of property, exile, execution, and, of course, banning and burning their writings.

There was an abundance of Early Christian Writings from various Christian sects. What has come down to us are the 27 books that were "canonized" by the Catholic Church in the 4th century. But this was the canon of only a particular faction of the Church and reflected the theology of that faction. Since the discovery of these new documents, known as the Nag Hammadi Library, scholars have been very busy trying to understand where these books and the community that hid them fit into the overall picture of ancient Christianity. Those of you who want more in depth information on this critical issue, read the excellent  online article by Elaine Pagels of Harvard University, one of the foremost authorities on the Gnostics:  From Jesus to Christ.

These newly discovered writings offer us a tantalizing glimpse into the world of earliest Christianity, before there was any "orthodoxy," before there was a Christian Bible, before there was a "church" even. We have seen that the "church" was the invention of Pauline Christianity, limited to the works of Paul and Luke. And there was no New Testament Canon; nor was there in existence any universal authority in the Christian world that could decide which books were in, and which were out of, any such Canon, and which were "orthodox" and which were "heretical." Below I have provided a few links to sources with general information on the Gnostics and their documents. But remember that today's Christians are descendents of Orthodox-Catholicism so the gnostics will seem strange. For an overview of Gnosticism and links to the major Gnostic writings see Gnostics, Gnostic Gospels, & Gnosticism.

Review my web page Whence Gnosticism? to see the background of the rise of Gnosticism. Did some of the Jews who survived the great holocaust of their war against Rome in 70 CE decide to reject their biblical God after 800 years of suppression by hostile foreign pagan empires? Did these Jews decide that the YHWH of the Hebrew Bible was the evil, fallen Creator (Demiurge) of this evil, fallen, corrupt world, and that the almighty, all-good, true God was represented in the Garden of Eden by the Serpent who spoke truth to Adam and Eve, and who tried to give them saving Gnosis (knowledge).

Of Current Interest

Gnosticism in the Matrix - Gnosticism and Star Wars