Crossword clues for gnosticism
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gnosticism \Gnos"ti*cism\, n. The system of philosophy taught by the Gnostics.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1660s, from Gnostic + -ism.
Wikipedia
Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "having knowledge", from , knowledge) is a modern term categorizing a collection of ancient religions whose adherents shunned the material world – which they viewed as created by the demiurge – and embraced the spiritual world. Gnostic ideas influenced many ancient religions that teach that gnosis (variously interpreted as knowledge, enlightenment, salvation, emancipation or 'oneness with God') may be reached by practicing philanthropy to the point of personal poverty, sexual abstinence (as far as possible for hearers, entirely for initiates) and diligently searching for wisdom by helping others. However, practices varied among those who were Gnostic.
In Gnosticism, the world of the demiurge is represented by the underworld, which is associated with flesh, time, and more particularly, the imperfect ephemeral world. The world of God is represented by the upper world and is associated with the soul and perfection. The world of God is eternal and not part of the physical. It is impalpable and timeless.
Gnosticism is primarily defined in a Christian context. In the past, some scholars thought that gnosticism predated Christianity and included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Neoplatonism, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, and Zoroastrianism (especially Zurvanism). The discussion of gnosticism changed radically with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library and led to a revision of older assumptions. To date, no pre-Christian gnostic texts have been found, and gnosticism as a unique and recognizable belief system is considered to be a second century (or later) development.
Usage examples of "gnosticism".
Homilies are surely the work of a Catholic convert to Ebionitism, who thought he saw in the doctrine of the two powers the only tenable answer to Gnosticism.
Because of the hostility of the Church, these movements had to remain underground, but the three main branches that flourished in secret were alchemy, hermeticism and Gnosticism.
It is impossible to draw a definite line between Gnosticism and hermeticism, just as it is impossible to draw a line between religion and magic.
As with alchemy, it was prudent to keep Gnosticism and hermeticism hidden from the eyes of the Church.
The former, first met with in the eleventh century, derived part of their doctrines from oriental Manichaeism, part from primitive gnosticism.
Docetism, Nicolaism, Gnosticism, Chiliasm, Manichaism, Monatism, Monarchism, Monophysitism, Monotheletism, Arianism, Nestorianism--every one of these terms means both a theory and a drama.
The Church is reproached for being exactly what the heresy was repressed for being The explanations of the evolutionary historians and higher critics do really explain why Arianism and Gnosticism and Nestorianism were born--and also why they died.
Was Pelagianism a new form of Gnosticism, or was it merely Arianism in disguise?
It is from this mixture of Orientalism, Platonism, and Judaism, that Gnosticism arose, which had produced so many theological and philosophical extravagancies, and in which Oriental notions evidently predominate.
The Lords of the Order, in the first year of their ascendency, found themselves squabbling endlessly over rules of order, protocol, religious and political definitions, and over creationism or cybernetic gnosticism or other ideologies.