Gnosticism
The Christmas story might have been ... different. (The Bus 2.21)
Welcome aboard The Bus!
The Stop
In the earliest days of Christianity, the many philosophical and religious movements embedded throughout the Greco-Roman world strongly influenced early Christian beliefs.1 In the first four centuries, Christianity as a movement was a vast, complicated network composed of different communities actively spreading across the countries bordering the Mediterranean. There was no central Church,2 no agreed-upon doctrine of faith, and no collective understanding of what - if anything - this new faith believed.3 Converts to the new religion came from dramatically varied backgrounds and brought their ideas with them. On one hand, this enriched the new faith, but on the other many believed that searching for truth in the name of Christ by ‘taking bits and pieces from various systems,’ would result in a weak, fragmented religion.
Posing a serious threat to the development of a holistic Christianity throughout the second century, Gnosticism is the name given to a ‘vast and amorphous movement that existed both within and outside the Church.’ It was not a well-defined organisation, but instead refers to ancient religious and philosophical groups who believed they would receive divine salvation through their possession of a ‘secret knowledge’ known to them alone.4 The Gnostics believed that all matter was evil - or at least unreal - and that we are spiritual (or part-spiritual) beings trapped in the prison of our bodies. For the Gnostics, the body not only imprisons us, but ‘misguides us to our true nature’ and is therefore evil.
Though there are many Gnostic myths, this one collates many of the varied beliefs:
Originally, all reality was spiritual, created by the One. Having no intention to create a material world, the One generated a number of spiritual beings known as ‘æons.’ These æons moved about and away from the One, with one æon moving so far away that it no longer had a context for its existence and so created the material world. This æon - the Demiourgos - ruled over this world and, according to some accounts, was cruel and demanding. Human beings were created in this evil material world, but as they were created by a spiritual being ‘sparks’ or ‘bits’ of spirit remained trapped inside. The One decided to liberate the spirit from inside these humans by sending a messenger to deliver to them the gnosis - the secret knowledge and inspiration required for their salvation. As above this world are the heavenly spheres - each ruled by an evil power determined to prevent progress to the spiritual realm - the only way to reach the One was to possess the secret knowledge that allowed one at death to progress upwards - much like a ‘spiritual password.’ The One’s messenger was sent to pass on this knowledge, for without it there would be no salvation achieved by returning to the One.
Christian Gnostics believed the One was the ‘loving’ God of the New Testament and the Demiourgous was the ‘cruel’ God of the Old Testament. The messenger - of course - was Christ, sent by the One to earth to ‘remind us of our heavenly origin, and to give us the secret knowledge without which we cannot return’ to where we came from. Those who were trying to establish Christian doctrine and thereby consolidate power in a centralised Church had numerous issues with these beliefs. Not only did they refute Christianity’s emerging claim that the Gods of the Old and New Testaments were the same, but the Gnostic belief that body and matter are evil meant they denied the central Christian doctrine of Incarnation. For the Gnostics this central doctrine of faith - that in Jesus, God was born a child who was both fully God and fully human - was false. For them, Jesus had to be nothing less than purely divine and - in a feat of divine sleight of hand - only appeared to be human. And for the early Church authorities this belief just wouldn’t do.5
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to a short (2:18) video from Panoply - Derealisation. Described as a psychological condition which causes its sufferers to ‘regard their surroundings as unreal, distant and distorted or in some way falsified,’ the film uses clever camera work and effects to ‘unsettle’ a viewer’s ‘perspective each time the scenes start to break down’ in order to give a flavour of this particular condition. It’s hypnotic and surprising. Let me know what you think of it!
The Recommendation
Today’s recommendation is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Written and produced by John Hughes6 and starring Chevy Chase, Beverley D’Angelo and Randy Quaid, it’s the story of well-intentioned, walking disaster Clark Griswold’s attempt to provide the ‘perfect Christmas’ for his entire, extended family. In the tradition of the Vacation films, if something can go wrong - it will. It’s a fun, laugh-out-loud film. And about as far away from Gnosticism as you can get!
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is available on DVD (I’m looking at a copy in my study at the moment) and streams on multiple platforms.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) Trailer
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is composed of five tracks that work well when you need to just sit down and get some mindless writing - diary, lists, bills, novel notes, whatever - done. While they’re unobtrusive and can serve as excellent background music - and I’m sure you know them all - each is excellent in its own right and thus worth a close listen: ‘Father and Son’ (Cat Stevens, 1970), ‘Across the Universe’ (The Beatles, 1969), ‘Little Wing’ (Jimi Hendrix, 1967), ‘Hey, Hey, What Can I Do’ (Led Zeppelin, 1970), and ‘Let It Loose’ (The Rolling Stones, 1972).7 Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from the French existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980):8
‘Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next stop …
Ideas such as the nature of time, creation, the soul, and divine mutability (changeability) were all influenced by these philosophies and religions as Christianity developed its beliefs. Typically, Gnosticism is yet another topic that can’t fit into a single Stop, so if you’re interested I’d suggest checking out today’s sources which include: Gnosticism (Britannica) and González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of Reformation. New York: Harper Collins, 1984.
Christianity was banned in the Roman Empire until Constantine the Great effectively legalised it in 312. It would continue to go through periods of changing legal status until the Fall of Rome in 410 when what had been the Roman Empire began to transform into what eventually became the Roman Catholic Church.
This included the identity of the central figure in Christianity - the Jewish Messiah, or Christ. Debates over his identity - was he human, divine, a mixture of both? - raged for centuries.
The term ‘gnostic’ (pronounced ‘noss-tick’), from the Greek for ‘those who have knowledge,’ was first used to describe these collective beliefs by the English philosopher of religion Henry More (1614-1687).
To be continued …
Writer, director and producer of such films as National Lampoon’s Vacation, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Home Alone - among many others.
In fact, all five I (vaguely) remember listening to closely in a dorm room my first year at college just before we left for Christmas break - and as such they bring a wintry atmosphere to mind. The Zeppelin track is one of my favourites, over the years the Cat Stevens track has grown in poignancy to almost unacceptable levels, and the Stones track is a standout among standouts from the inimitable Exile on Main Street. Hendrix and The Beatles, of course, need no other comment.
Sartre will be a topic for a future Bus Stop, but in the meantime for more information see: Jean-Paul Sartre (Britannica)
Wow, that Derealisation video was wild! Really enjoyed that, brought back memories of ... oh, never mind. :)
The video was interesting - and disturbing - but I found Sartre's quote even more disturbing!
I don't know much about the Gnostics so that made for interesting reading.