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What interested these Gnostics far more than past events attributed to
“historical Jesus” was possibility of encountering risen Christ in present. They alleged that risen Christ continued to reveal himself to certain disciples, representing how Christ’s presence could be experienced individually in present moment. For Christians who wanted to know and experience Christ now, in there own individual present moment, this belief probably seemed like a quick fix. But I beg to differ.
It may be true that Christ’s resurrection is central to Christianity, but I want to take it further and say, putting our faith in occurrence of resurrection is actually more central that simply stating it happened. Anyone is capable of saying it happened; not everyone is capable of believing it happened. There is significant difference between two. One requires faith, other doesn’t. Here is where I believe Gnostics should not be considered Christian. In truth, we were not there two thousand years ago to see resurrected Christ; reality of issue says that we honestly do not know if event occurred or not. But isn’t this what our faith is all about, believing in something not seen? This is why Christian faith is so beautiful. The mystery of it gives us hope of salvation and eternal paradise. The Gnostic Christians were adamant about experiencing Christ’s resurrection in present moment, as opposed to relying on belief that it happened in past, a belief that requires central theme of Christianity: Faith. If a person experiences something in present moment, they don’t need to have faith that it happened because they were there to experience it. If Gnostics did not need faith, then I argue against their Christianity, for they did not find use for essential driving force behind a Christian’s whole existence. I believe that proof of their heresy lies in fact that Christian Orthodoxy, despite its evolution into many different denominations and doctrines, is still practiced by millions of people, whereas Gnosticism died out long ago. Although people in modern world did not witness Christ’s bodily resurrection they still, two thousand years later, put their faith in hope that it did. And sometimes, a simple hope is all a person needs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. The Gnostic Gospels, Pg 7 2. A History of Christian Thought, Pg. 33 3. Exploring Christianity, Pg. 40 4. The Gnostic Gospel, Pg. 4 5. Ibid, Pg. 5 6. Ibid, Pg. 11 7. Ibid, Pg. 12
REFERENCES 1. Tillich, Paul. A History of Christian Thought. Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York, NY. 1968.
2. Monk, Robert, and Joseph Stamey. Exploring Christianity: An Introduction. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1984.
3. Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. Random House:New York. 1979.
About the Author Kathy Simcox, Columbus, Ohio, United States hrdude28@hotmail.com
Kathy works as an Administrative Assistant in the College of the Arts at The Ohio State University. She holds a BA in Psychology and is currently working on a second BA in Religious Studies. In addition to writing, her passions include hiking, biking, kayaking, photography, and singing in her Lutheran church choir. She is also known to read an occasional book.
