RUAHeretic?

We started a class today at the church I serve as pastor entitled "RUAHeretic?" We've been learning about the Early Church, how things grew and developed and how it all effects how we are and who we are together as Church today here in the East Bay.

Thought I'd upload as much of our class/discussion to my blog for others who might be interested:

Take the "Are you a heretic?" quiz at quizfarm.com HERE.

Our Discussion today was about Gnosticsm:

Gnosticism is an esoteric religious movement that flourished during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and presented a major challenge to orthodox Christianity. Most Gnostic sects professed Christianity, but their beliefs sharply diverged from those of the majority of Christians in the early church. The term Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis ("revealed knowledge"). To its adherents, Gnosticism promised a secret knowledge of the divine realm. Sparks or seeds of the Divine Being fell from this transcendent realm into the material universe, which is wholly evil, and were imprisoned in human bodies. Reawakened by knowledge, the divine element in humanity can return to its proper home in the transcendent spiritual realm.

Gnosticism was a religious philosophical dualism that professed salvation through secret knowledge, or gnosis. The movement reached a high point of development during the 2d century AD in the Roman and Alexandrian schools founded by Valentius. Scholars have attributed the origins of gnosticism to a number of sources: the Greek mystery cults; Zoroastrianism; the Kabbalah of Judaism; and Egyptian religion. The early Christians considered Simon Magus (Acts 8:9 - 24) the founder of gnosticism. His doctrine, like that of other gnostic teachers, had nothing in common with the knowledge of the mysteries of God that Saint Paul called wisdom (1 Cor. 2:7).

Christian leaders looked upon gnosticism as a subtle, dangerous threat to Christianity during the 2nd century, a time marked by religious aspirations and philosophical preoccupations about the origins of life, the source of evil in the world, and the nature of a transcendent deity. Gnosticism was perceived as an attempt to transform Christianity into a religious philosophy and to replace faith in the mysteries of revelation by philosophical explanations. (These descriptiions come from this helpful site.)

In our discussion we arrived at the conclusion that Gnosticism affirms the contrast/dualism between material vs. spiritual whereas "orthodox" Christianity affirm a dialectic/integration of the spiritual and the physical in that God in Jesus saves and redeems everything, giving every aspect of life infinite meaning and glory. Of course maybe the group that gathered at church today is all heretics too? :)

More online material (HERE)

If you liked the quiz try this one recommended by Deborah: The Belief O Matic: personality quiz about religious belief (HERE)

If you have thoughts or results from the quizes share them with the community by leaving a comment below!