Stripping the Miracle From Jesus: Gnosticism’s Roots in Misinterpretation, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Gnosticism has been associated with everything between the early disciples Paul and John to such far-flung notions as mysticism in apocryphal writings. In truth, its meaning is not set through the use of any one working definition. One Gnostic Christian declares that the six celebrated tenets are: a) There is only one Father and Creator figure, b) The divine triad is composed of the Father, the Son, and the Church, c) Matter was produced by deficient word, d) The spirit-like Demiurge is not a demon but a tool of the word, e) Human responses to Jesus’ coming were earthly, psychic, and spiritual, and f) Psychic and spiritual people belong to the same religious order.[1] “Outsider” definitions may incorporate the impact which Middle Eastern countries had on its development,[2] may incorporate the emphasis upon spiritual knowledge in the books of John, the son of Zebedee,[3] or may attempt to persuade modern Christians that their New Testament beliefs are simply a Hellenistic philosophers’ allegorical adaptation of ancient mythologies.[4] However, there is an old saying that everything has been done or said before. With the exception of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, this premise may hold fast and thus present a challenge to the distinction between myth and God’s honest truth.

Origins

This coined term for these beliefs, Gnosticism, is based upon the root word gnosos, knowledge, which dominated the focus of these religious revolutionaries.[5] Enemies of Christianity actively sought to spread the confusion- both from without and within. Modern scholars have placed the heretical Acts of John to either Egyptian or Asian authorship.[6] While there is still some disagreement on the point, experts agree that it was not written in the appropriate time or place to be associated with any natural-born witness to the Biblical events.[7] Nonetheless, there are many unanswered questions about Gnosticism.[8] The recent discovery of the Gnostic Nag Hammadi texts presents a likely source of the sudden escalation in the Christian intraconflict.[9]

Development

In the Gnostic tradition, knowledge is the word, making it easily confused with the apostle John’s description of Jesus as the Living Word.[10] John’s elements of duality and logos often led less-informed early Christians to believe that the apostle subscribed to Gnosticism. One of the most dangerous Gnostic texts is Acts of John, an apocryphal text which combined elements of recorded Biblical fact and controversial writing by an unknown, new author.[11] The early Christian church reviled the work and even decreed that “possession and copying of it were forbidden”.[12] The Apostle John’s perceived association with Gnosticism had challenged the stability of Christianity.

Brown argues that Gnosticism merely carried on the Hellenistic roots of Johannine thought in an attempt to build credibility and influence.[13] At the time of the Letters of John, this rogue sect of Christianity had already gained a foothold, as we discover in John’s Third Letter.[14] Here we see the impact of the movement and the Christian attempt to spread their own bit of knowledge–that “the Gospel of John was not influenced by Gnostic thought but that, as the community fell into disunity, one direction some members of the Johannine community took was into Gnosticism”.[15]

Regardless, these perceptions should not be dignified with a response. If two Plato enthusiasts and authors in the same country during the same time period, it is not justifiable to assume that the middle author copied the work of the first or that he condones a fan’s interpretation of his works. In the same way, the perceived connections of the writings of the apostle John to previous religious beliefs or to Greco-Roman philosophy might have subtly influenced his theory development, which, in, turn, may have opened the door to the Gnostic assumption that the doctrines of Christianity are negotiable.

Gnostic Christians viewed these traditional belief systems as religious conservative oppressors who were threatened by challenges to their hold on the sacred texts.[16] They believed that there were latent references to the ‘Divine Being’ aspects of Jesus which clearly separated his role from that of part-man, part-God.[17] For one example, they interpreted John 8:23 as a Johannine record of Gnosticism.[i] Although these texts were often not translated into the common languages of the time,[18] the church maintained that there was no need, since they had already been established as heretical according to the description of Paul in I Tim 1:3-7.[19]

Conclusion

The principles of Gnosticism are secret for a reason; they are far more damaging to Christian doctrine than vague rumors indicate. I Tim 1: 3-7 specifically mention Macedonia, one of the Gnostic strongholds, as a base for the spreading of “wrong teaching”. After reviewing the six tenets listed in the introduction to the paper,[ii] it is clear that Gnostic Christianity strips the miraculous nature from the acts of Jesus and thus removes our cause for forgiveness. Is damnation the knowledge to be gained from Gnosticism?

Bibliography

“The Acts of John as a Gnostic text.” Evangel 20.1 (2002): 9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

“Gnosticism.” The Free Dictionary. Web. Viewed November 13, 2010 at <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gnosticism>.

Agourides, Savas. “Structure and Theology in the Gospel of John.” Greek Orthodox Theological Review 47, no. 1-4 (Spring-Winter2002 2002): 111-137. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 14, 2010).

Brown, Raymond.  An Introduction to the New Testament.  Doubleday Publishing, 1997.

Moloney, Francis J. “Raymond Brown’ New Introduction to the Gospel of John: A Presentation–Some Questions.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65, no. 1 (January 2003): 1. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 13, 2010).

Perkins, Pheme. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Fortress Press. 1993.

Wolfson, Elliot R. “Inscribed in the Book of the Living: Gospel of Truth and Jewish Christology.” Journal for the Study of Judaism: In the Persian Hellenistic & Roman Period 38, no. 2 (May 2007): 234-271. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2010).

[1] Pheme Perkins. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Fortress Press. 1993.

[2] Raymond Brown.  An Introduction to the New Testament.  Doubleday Publishing, 1997.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Gnosticism.” The Free Dictionary. Web. Viewed November 13, 2010 at <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gnosticism>.

[6] “The Acts of John as a Gnostic text.” Evangel 20.1 (2002): 9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

[7] Ibid., p. 10

[8] Savas Agourides. “Structure and Theology in the Gospel of John.” Greek Orthodox Theological Review 47, no. 1-4 (Spring-Winter2002 2002): 111-137. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 14, 2010).

[9] Elliot R. Wolfson. “Inscribed in the Book of the Living: Gospel of Truth and Jewish Christology.” Journal for the Study of Judaism: In the Persian Hellenistic & Roman Period 38, no. 2 (May 2007): 234-271. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2010).

[10] “Gnosticism.” The Free Dictionary. Web. Viewed November 13, 2010 at <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Gnosticism>.

[11] “The Acts of John as a Gnostic text.” Evangel 20.1 (2002): 9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

[12] Ibid., p.9

[13] Raymond Brown.  An Introduction to the New Testament.  Doubleday Publishing, 1997.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Francis J. Moloney “Raymond Brown’ New Introduction to the Gospel of John: A Presentation–Some Questions.” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65, no. 1 (January 2003): 1, p. 18. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 13, 2010).

[16] Pheme Perkins. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Fortress Press. 1993.

[17] Ibid.

[18] “The Acts of John as a Gnostic text.” Evangel 20.1 (2002): 9. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.

[19] Pheme Perkins. Gnosticism and the New Testament. Fortress Press. 1993.

[i] John 8:23: “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world”.

[ii] Perkins’ 6 tenets of Gnostic Christian beliefs: a) There is only one Father and Creator figure, b) The divine triad is composed of the Father, the Son, and the Church, c) Matter was produced by deficient word, d) The spirit-like Demiurge is not a demon but a tool of the word, e) Human responses to Jesus’ coming were earthly, psychic, and spiritual, and f) Psychic and spiritual people belong to the same religious order.