Early Heresies and Movements

This word is taken from the Greek word, Gnosis, meaning 'knowledge'. In the concept of Gnosticism, it is the idea of secret knowledge, or hidden knowledge.

Discoveries at Nag Hammadi, in upper Egypt, in 1945. Has given us a new access to understanding Gnosticism.

Background in Judaism and Christianity: possible that some of the New Testament writings (for example, 1 John, Colossians and others) may reflect early contact. No NT canon, only prophets, so possible for new teaching to emerge without objective challenge.

Flourishing of Gnosticism from the mid-2nd century.

One supremely transcendent God – as with Greek philosophy. Did not create this imperfect world. The Demiurge: solves the problem of Evil.

Opens up the possibility of intermediate spiritual beings, spiritual planes, spiritual agencies between the transcendent God and this world. Lots of potential for secret and mysterious “knowledge” (gnosis).

Hooks into NT Christianity: non-political message, mysticism of Paul. New creation. Rebirth. Significance of why Jesus had come.

Jesus was not part of this imperfect creation, but a spiritual agency to 'undo' the damage done by the Demiurge.

Jesus was not really human, but just appeared (seemed) to be human. This belief is called Docetism (from the Greek verb dokein – to seem to be). Gnostics were docetists, but non-gnostics could be docetists too.

The challenge of Gnosticism led to the increasing importance of structures of accountability and validity (bishops) to ensure authenticity of the gospel in each church.

Some well-known Gnostic teachers:

Looked into the problem of the relationship between the OT (which clearly has a God who creates the world) and the Christian faith. What’s the relationship between Judaism and Christian belief?

Basilides: Yahweh, the God of the Jewish Bible, was a cruel god, from whom Jesus had come to rescue us. The Father of Jesus was the supreme God who gave birth to various spiritual entities (or emanations): first Thought, then Word or Reason (Logos) and then a whole succession of other emanations: Prudence, Wisdom, Power. And then from these emanations came the angels of the first heaven, under which were 365 other heavens, each populated by angels, until we arrive at our own world. God sent his Thought (Nous) into the world to liberate us from Yahweh. Jesus not really human and did not really suffer death.

Valentinus' system was a little more accommodating of the Jewish position. God emerged out of a primal Depth, which produced Silence, then all the rest came in gendered pairs of Aeons: Nous (m) and Truth (f), Word (m) and Life (f), Man (m) and Church (f) and these all make up the heavenly world or Pleroma (the Greek world for 'totality'). The last Aeon (ours), was that of Wisdom (Sophia). Sophia, in despair, gave birth to a malformed child who went on to create the imperfect creation we live in. Jesus was sent to Sophia/Wisdom to save the creation of her child. He separates Wisdom from her passions and gives rise to a path to Gnosis.

The importance of allegory to Valentinus' reading of the Old Testament.

Ptolemy’s Epistle to Flora, again addresses the issue interpreting Jewish basis for Christan belief to a philosophically-educated audience. The Jewish Law is not wrong, but it’s incomplete and needs to be corrected by Jesus' teaching. The commandments of the Jewish law were the work of a lesser god – a 'distant image' of the God and Father of Jesus. The lesser god was the creator of the present universe, with all its imperfections. (ie. A Demiurge). The significance of a woman being the recipient of this knowledge.

Gnostics vs Christians on the Doctrine of Creation, led to disagreement over the Incarnation. Christian theology maintained a struggle with the Problem of Evil. The Gnostics resolved it, but at the cost of relating to the Jewish background.

Born around AD85 in Sinope, in Asia Minor. His father was the bishop. Successful businessman, owning boats. Moved to Rome, around 135. May have fallen out earlier with Polycarp, who – we are told by Irenaeus – called him 'the first-born of Satan'. Gave money to the Church in Rome. Meeting with Cerdo – a Gnostic.

Marcion had certain things in common with the Gnostics: He believed that the creation was flawed. Like Basilides, he blamed this on the creator God, (the Demiurge) – who had created an inferior universe. Like the Gnostics, he believed that Jesus was not part of the imperfect creation, so only appeared to be of created flesh. In other words, Marcion was docetic in his understanding of Jesus – his Christology.

Had no time for Gnostic speculations. Did not use Gnostic allegory in his reading of the Old Testament. On the contrary – he read it very literally and rejected it as sub-Christian.

Marcion’s commentary on the Old Testament was detailed and literal: in a book called The Contradictions, he set out the ways the God of the Old Testament failed to live up to the teaching of Jesus.

Summary of his belief by Tertullian, one of his opponents:

'Marcion laid down the position that Christ, who in the days of Tiberius was, by a previously unknown god, revealed for the salvation of all nations, is a different being from him who was ordained by God, the Creator for the restoration of the Jewish state, and who is yet to come. Between these, he interposes a separation of a great and absolute difference as great as lies between what is just and what is good, as great as lies between the law and the gospel, as great as is the difference between Judaism and Christianity.' (Tertullian, Against Marcion IV.6).

Isaiah 45:7 'I make weal and I create woe, I am Yahweh, who do all these things.' This was the God of Israel self-disclosing as the Demiurge. As Jesus said, 'an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit' but there were evil things Yahweh did in the OT. For example, children who teased Elisha were eaten by bears (2 Kings 2:24) whereas Jesus had said 'let the little children come unto me' (Mat 19:14); in Joshua 10:13, Yahweh stopped the sun in order to allow Joshua extra time to slaughter all the Amalekites, whereas St Paul had said, 'do not let the sun go down on your wrath' (Eph 4:26) and Jesus had said 'if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other one also.' (Mat 5:39).

Yahweh’s limited knowledge in the Old Testament. Doesn’t know the whereabouts of Adam or Abel.

No Old Testament at all.

One gospel – Luke, but omitted the birth narratives and also the post-resurrection appearances.

The epistles of St Paul (except the pastoral epistles), but edited out anything which had reference to the Old Testament, for example Galatians 3:14 – 4:6 and 2 Thess 1:6-8.

Marcion was ejected by the Church in Rome, but had access to ships so could plant Marcionite congregations around the world. Tertullian: Marcion plants churches “as wasps make nests”.

Marcion forced the Church to act! What is the relationship between Christian teaching, which is rooted in the New Testament, and what the Old Testament says about God. How do we interpret? Typology (earliest interpretative method of the OT)? Allegory (Gnostics and Philo)? Literal (Marcion)?

The result of Marcion’s treatment meant that typology and allegory became the hallmark of the Church’s interpretation of the Old Testament for centuries, particularly when a literal interpretation seemed to contradict the teaching of the New Testament. Beginnings of Biblical Hermeneutics.

Marcion’s Canon forced the Church itself to clarify the nature of its own Canon. Add to this the fact that the Gnostics were producing a good number of new 'gospels' and writings in the name of the apostles, so a closed list of authoritative and ancient apostolic texts, to be treated as 'scripture', became vital. The New Testament Canon was a mater of convention, however, until the Council of Nicea 325, with one or two books disputed until then.

Around AD172, in Asia Minor, Montanus emerged as a prophet along with two women companions: Prisca and Maximilla. Prophesied the imminent Second Coming of Jesus.

Rigorous: sex was forbidden; Easter was to be celebrated on the Jewish passover and not on a Sunday if different; they, and the following they soon built up, went in for extreme fasting.

Montanus may have claimed to be the incarnation of the Paraclete, the Comforter, sent for the last days to prepare for the imminent Second Coming.

Problem for the Church: the mode of prophecy (ecstasy), the content of the prophecy (moral condemnation of the Church and extreme ethics). Women prophetesses. Prophecy probably getting less prominent in Church life.

Speaking as 'first person': 'I am the Father, the Son and the Paraclete'. Maximilla, complained against her detractors: 'I am driven as a wolf from the sheep. I am not a wolf. I am word, spirit and power.'

Essentially, the Montanist crisis was a crisis of authority. Death of apostles. Increasing institutional structures with power. Prophecy could subvert this, especially if wedded to a moral denunciation of the Church and extreme ethics.

Eventually Montanism petered out.

Montanism remained a force to be reckoned with for about fifty years, claiming its biggest convert with Tertullian, who we will study in the next session.