Gnosticism and The New Testament - Gnosticism

Gnosticism

The Gnostics were a rather diverse group of early movements finding a basis often in Christianity or Judaism. These people did not refer to themselves as "Gnostics" but rather the label was applied mostly by their opponents and modern scholars. The movements were strongly associated with mysticism, and the thread connecting them was the concept of gnosis, which refers to an intimately personal kind of knowledge (as in the Spanish conocer rather than saber or German kennen versus wissen). The Gnostic movements were centered around gnosis of the divine rather than faith (pistis) and therefore are often associated with mysticism. The Albigensian and Cathar movements of the Middle Ages are often linked to Gnosticism. Many Gnostic movements made extensive use of allegory and metaphor in their interpretation of spiritual texts.