Gnosticism and Christianity - Essay Example

3 questions It would not be a mistake to suggest that Gnosticism is a rather peculiar phenomenon and it should be carefully examined in order to show its relationship with the early Christianity. According to the former, the visible world should be perceived as a lower world that was created by Demiurge. It is full of pain and imperfection; however, the path to salvation lies through understanding and embracing the spiritual world which is considered to be the upper one. In other words, I person should devote one’s powers to understand the world correctly to save one’s soul from ignorance.

In spite of the fact that this might be a rather sound philosophy, early Christianity opposed it much. To begin with, Gnosticism rejected the supremacy of the Creator which was one of the major postulates of Christianity. In addition to that, it claimed the world to be evil, but Christianity could not agree that God had created something evil for the people. That is why the latter often rejected the former, suggesting that it is incompatible with the genuine Christian beliefs. There are numerous dogmas in Christology that are of great important.

One of them is the teaching about the nature of Christ. According to it, Jesus is simultaneously a full human and a full God. This is a rather important reservation since it shows that the perfect balance in maintained. This doctrine was developed in response to various heresies which claimed that Jesus is either more human or more God. Another important dogma focuses on the significance of Resurrection. Indeed, this is one of the major event in the world history, as it seen by Christians, since after the Resurrection all the people in the world was provided with a chance to save their soul through genuine faith in Jesus.

The significance of it can hardly be exaggerated as it shows that God loves people so much that He was willing to sacrifice His own Son for the good of the people. Monasticism is an essential tradition without Christianity. Of course in the fest centuries it could not develop much because this religion was outlaw; however, when it was legalized monasticism was able to flourish. Thus, one of the reasons for that lies in the fact that it is the monks who are responsible for the development of Christianity as well as its dogmas.

Since this religion was no longer banned, a considerable number of obstacles were removed from its way and the representatives of it were eager to develop it. In addition to that, as people could exercise their faith without being sent to prison or executioned, many decided to choose monasticism is the way that would adequately reflect their inner spiritual zeal. In other words, there is a certain number of people who genuinely desired to give all their efforts to spiritual perfection and saw being a monk as the only logical way to organize their life.

Moreover, openly practicing their religion was no longer risky; so they saw it as a privilege.