Literature. — There is, so far as known to the present writer, no satisfactory monograph on the subject, either in English or in German. W. Caspari, Die Bedeutungen der Wortsippe ^aD im Hcbrdiscken, Leipzig, 1908, is not without value for the student of the NT. H. A. A. Kennedy, St. PauFs Conception of the Last Things, London, 1904 ; P. Volz, Judische Eschato- logie, Tubingen, 1903 ; F. Weber, Jildisehe Theologie:-, Leipzig, 1897 ; B. Weiss, Bill. Theol. of XT, Eng. tr.3, Edinburgh, 1882-83, i. 396, ii. 187; O. Pfle'iderer, Paulinism, Eng. tr., London, 1877, i.l35. Commentaries: Sanday-Headlatn (51902), and Godet (1886-87) on Romans ; Erich Haupt, Die Gefangen- schajtsbneJeT, in Meyer's Krit.-Exeget. Kommentar, 1902 ; J. B. Mayor on James (31910), Jvde, and Second Peter (1907); artt. 'Glory 'in i/DB. ROBERT LAW.
GNOSTICISM.— Gnosticism (Gr. yvGicris, 'know- letlge ') is the name of a syncretistic religion and philosophy which flourished more or less for four centuries alongside Christianity, by which it was considerably influenced, under which it sheltered, by which at last it was overcome. Gnosis is first used in the relevant specific sense in 1 Ti 6-" : yvQcris \pev5wvviJ.os — 'science falsely so-called.' By Chris- tian writers the word ' Gnostics ' was at first applied mainly to one branch : the Ophites or Naasenes (Hippol. Philos. v. 2 : ' Naasenes who call themselves Gnostics ' ; cf. Iren. I. xi. 1 ; Epiphan. Hcer. xxvi.). But already in Irenjeus the term has a wider application to the whole movement. Gnosticism rose to prominence early in the 2nd cent, though it is much older than that, and reached its height before tlie 3rd century. By the end of the latter century it was waning.
The above description will require justification. What may be termed the popular view of Gnosti- cism has been to regard it as a growth out of Christianity, an overdone theologizing on the part of Christians, Avho under foreign influences simply carried to extreme lengths what had been begun by apostles. Meantime it may be said that, in the view of the present writer, such a theory is an entire misconception, and historically untenable. Gnosticism and Christianity are two movements originally quite independent, so much so that it would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that, had there been no Christianity, there could still have been Gnosticism, in all essentials the Gnosticism we know.
1. Authorities. — Of the vast literature produced by Gnostics little has sui-vived, and what has sur- vived is almost entirely from the last stages of the movement. We may mention as survivals Pistis Sophia, the Coptic- Gnostic texts of the Codex Brucianits, the two Books of Jeu, and an unnamed third book described by C. Schmidt, ' Gnost. Schrift- en in kopt. Sprache aus dem Codex Brucianus ' (TU viii. [1892]). Then we know something of works deeply tinged with Gnosticism, such as the Acts of Thomas. But our chief sources of know-
ledge are the writings of those Fathers who oppose Gnosticism, and who often give lengthy quotations from Gnostic works. These fragments have been carefully collected by Hilgenfeld in his Ketzer- geschichte. Most important of the Fathers for our purpose are Irenreus (adv. Hcer. i. 4), Hippolytus {Philosophoumena), Clement of Alexandria {Stro- 7nateis, Excerpta ex Theodoto), Tertullian [adv. Marcionem, adv. Sei'inogenem, adv. Valentini- anos), Epiphanius (Panarion).
2. Main features of Gnosticism. — Gnosticism has often been described as a hopelessly tangled mass of unintelligible fantastic speculations, the product of imagination in unrestrained riot, irreducible to order. In its various, and especially its later forms, it shows a wealth of details which are fantastic, but, if we do not lose ourselves in too keen a search for minutiae, we shall find in it an imposing and quite intelligible system. Probably Gnostics themselves regarded as unessential those details which to us seem so fantastic (cf. Rainy, Ancient Catholic Church, p. 119). Gnostic schools generally were at one in holding a system the main features of which were as follows.
(1) A special revelation. — The word yvCi(n% has misled many into thinking that Gnostics are essen- tially those who prize intellectual knowledge as superior to faith. By gnosis, however, we have to understand not knowledge gained by the use of the intellect, but knowledge given in a special revela- tion. Not greater intellectual power than the Christians possessed, but a fuller and better revela- tion, was what the Gnostics claimed to have. They took no personal credit for it ; it had been handed down to them. Its author was Christ or one of His apostles, or at least one of their friends. In several cases they professed to be able to give the history of its transmission. Thus Basilides claims Glaukias, an interpreter of St. Peter (Strom, vii. 17 [766], 106 f.), or Matthias (Hipp. vii. 20). Valen- tinus claims Theodas, an acquaintance of St. Paul's (Strom, loc. cit.). The Ophites claim Mariamne and James (Hipp. v. 7). Or they appealed to a secret tradition imparted to a few by Jesus Him- self (so Irenaeus frequently).
(2) Dualism. — This is the foundation principle of all Gnostic systems, and from it all else follows. In the ancient world we meet two kinds of dualism, one in Greek philosophy, the other in Eastern religion. Greek dualism was between ^aivd/neva and vov/j-eva, between the world of sense-appearance and the realm of real being. The lower was but a shadow of the higher ; still it was a copy of it. The contrast was not, to any great extent at least, between the good and the evil, but between the real and the empty, formless, unreal. Eastern dual- ism, on the other hand, drew a sharp distinction be- tween the world of light and the world of darkness, two eternal antagonistic principles in unceasing conflict. In Gnosticism we have a primarily East- ern dualism combined with the Greek form. The world of goodness and light is the PleroTna ('full- ness '), i.e. the realm of reality in the Greek sense ; the kingdom of evil and darkness is the Kenoma ('emptiness '), the phenomenal world of Greek philo- sophy. Hence the Gnostic dualism comes to be between God and matter, two eternal entities, and the uXt? (* matter ') is essentially evil.