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Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth. Different gnostic schools sometimes identified the demiurge as Adam Kadmon, Ahriman, El, Saklas, Samael, Satan, Yaldabaoth, or Yahweh. In most of the systems, this demiurge was seen as imperfect, in others even as evil. They saw the material world as created through an intermediary being ( demiurge) rather than directly by God.
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11 "Gnosticism" as a potentially flawed categoryĪ common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis (esoteric or intuitive knowledge) is the way to salvation of the soul from the material world.7.4 Criticism of gnosticism by antique Greek Philosophy.7.3 Philosophical relations between Neoplatonism and Gnosticism.7.2 Rejection by antique Greek Philosophy.7.1 Historical relations between antique Greek Philosophy and Gnosticism.6.2 The development of the Persian school.6.1 The development of the Syrian-Egyptian school.4.3 Later Gnosticism and Gnostic-influenced groups.4 Major Gnostic movements and their texts.2.1 The Greek adjective gnostikos, "learned".
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Although some scholars still postulate pre-Christian gnosticism, no evidence has been found to date. The discussion of gnosticism changed radically with the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library, and led to revision of older assumptions. Consequent discussions of Christian Gnosticism included pre-Christian religious beliefs and spiritual practices argued to be common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism (especially Zurvanism), and Neoplatonism. Gnosticism was primarily defined in Christian context, e.g., as "the acute Hellenization of Christianity" per Adolf von Harnack (1885), until Moritz Friedländer (1898) advocated Hellenistic Jewish origins, and Wilhelm Bousset (1907) advocated Persian origins. In the past many scholars believed that gnosticism pre-dated Christianity, but now it is generally accepted that gnosticism developed into a coherent movement only in the second century CE. Gnosticism (from gnostikos, "learned", from Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some early Christian and non-Christian groups called "gnostic" ("knowing") by Irenaeus and other early Christian leaders.