Gnostic Dualism. Historians gave the name
“Gnosticism” at first to a group of Christian heresies
which appeared towards the end of the first century.
These various and numerous heresies had in common
their rejection of the Old Testament and especially of
the biblical doctrine of creation. The world is neither
created nor governed directly by God, but by inferior
blind powers that do not know God. The Yahweh of
the Bible, creator of the world, is only the chief of
these lower powers; he created without knowing the
true Good. The world is not of God (directly), and the
soul, a spark of the divine, is not of this world. The
soul, enslaved in this world, can be freed, become
conscious of its origin, and ascend to God only by grace
of gnosis, the supernatural knowledge brought by the
divine Savior.
To some extent, therefore, the Gnostics attributed
an origin to the world different from the soul's origin.
Moreover, they employed the Greek dualism of soul
and matter. Yet they were not completely dualistic,
for according to them the Creator was somehow re-
lated to the true God, as one of His angels or as an
offspring in the genealogy of emanations. Besides, the
true God, if He had not wished the Creation, had at
least permitted it. Thus their dualism was neither ab-
solute nor systematic. It resided above all in a feeling
that the world is alien to God, and that there is between
God and nature a gulf which cannot be crossed except
by God.
Gnosticism was particularly vigorous in the second
century. But, condemned by the Church of Rome to-
ward the middle of that century, it became more and
more syncretist. The later Gnostics, inheritors of a
Christianity detached from the Old Testament, saw no
difficulty in uniting it with pagan traditions (Platonism,
the Mysteries, Oriental religions). On the other hand,
from about the middle of the second century, we meet
ideas of a Gnostic nature no longer only among the
Christians, but in writings which seem to be pagan,
for example, the Hermetica. Gnostic ideas are also
found later in Islam, and in Judaism in the Kabbala.
Thus, after a certain epoch, Gnostic ideas seem to
be no longer tied necessarily to Christianity. This per-
mits many modern scholars to hold that Gnosticism
was not essentially a Christian heresy; that from its
origin, contrary to what the Church Fathers believed,
it was a great current of thought which, while mingling
with Christianity, existed apart from it and perhaps
even before it. These scholars have searched for its
origins principally in Zoroastrianism, in Hellenism, or
in certain trends of Judaism. Nevertheless, these re-
searches have not yet resulted in conclusions of any
certainty. The problem of the origins of Gnosticism
is still ardently discussed. It is true that after a certain
epoch Gnostic ideas spread beyond Christian circles,
but still one cannot be at all sure that these ideas were
not born there. No Gnostic text before Christianity is
known, and the most ancient known Gnostics are
Christians. In addition, it seems even more difficult to
explain the profound opposition between God and the
world by Hellenism, Zoroastrianism, or Judaism than
by the New Testament. In the fourth Gospel, for exam-
ple, the opposition between God and the world is
already emphasized nearly as much as among the
Gnostics.
It is possible that the crucifixion of Christ, that is
to say, the defeat of the Just One in the world, caused
this deep pessimism with regard to the world. Besides,
the Paulinist and Johannist idea that one could not be
saved except by divine Grace means that there is a
deep separation between nature and salvation.
