What Is Gnosticism?: Sunday Adult Religious Exploration Class 09/13/2026

As part of our mission to explore philosophical and religious ethical traditions, our topic for this Sunday's Adult RE is GNOSTICISM.

Gnosticism was a once widely popular collection of ancient religious and philosophical beliefs that emphasized secret, mystical  knowledge, or gnosis, as the path to salvation and enlightenment. Among its beliefs was that there are many levels of what we call "reality". Christian Gnosticism taught that Jesus's role was as a guide to inner spiritual awareness and was not as a "blood sacrifice" for our earthly, material sins.

Gnosticism was condemned as a dangerous heresy by 2nd- and 3rd- century proto-orthodox Christian church theologians.  In the 4th and 5th centuries as Christianity gained the support of the Roman authorities, Gnostic texts and gospels were burned and  believers were actively hunted down. Apart from an occasional emergence, it was largely forgotten in the West until the discovery of the Gnostic Nag Hammadi scrolls found buried in the Egyptian desert in 1945. Surprisingly, today there are still religious groups in the middle east who practice a form of Gnosticism.

Handouts will be provided and a short informative video will be shown.

Come share your thoughts. We meet in Room 121, behind the Fellowship Hall at 10:15 AM sharp.  See you there!