I`ve read English translations of many of the Gnostic Gospels ( not all of them) themselves and yes I have read a few books on what others thought of them.
Just as I have the Bible.
Your opposition to the Gnostics is based in your current beliefs and echo some of the same reasoning the Orthodoxy used to proclaim them heretics.
The belief that all matter is evil doesn`t seem such a stretch to me considering the Christians today teach that all humans are born into sin.
Sin, Evil, the difference is relative.
You have to remember Scott I don`t give the Gnostics anymore validity than I do orthadoxy, I`m an Atheist, I think you`re both wrong.
The truth of the matter is that many of the very first people to call themselves followers of Christ believed in these gospels.
Just because Catholic canon denies them as heretics doesn`t make their beliefs invalid.
Just because they didn`t see him as you do doesn`t make their beliefs invalid.
... Gnostics did not have anyone running the sect because matter (ALL HUMANS) were evil....... women+men equally EVIL........ oh yeah..... that sounds JUST like the Christian Gospel.
Yes both were equally evil..
EQUALLY...not like the Christian ideology today where woman bears the greater burden of original sin.
The overall point is that men were not seen as superior to women as in todays Christian dogma...they were equals.
You are relating orthadox Christian dogma to Gnostic Christian dogma and yes they are worlds apart.
The Gnostics didn`t see the same things in the text as orthodoxy does they did`t believe the trinity, the did`t see Jesus as God himself and yes they thought God had female attributes.
Many of them disagreed with each other as Christians do today.
Women in leadership positions are a historical FACT in the CATHOLIC Church. Mary's influence has been the subject of several Catholic books...... suprised you don't know that reading about Valentinian....
Really?
Paul himself forbid women to speak in a Church, arguably the wives of the clergy.
If the wives of the clergy had no voice then how can the female clergy have a voice?
Oh..wait..I forgot, there is no female clergy.
Why is that?
I`ve been to quite a few Catholic masses in my lifetime and I have never..not once..seen a woman at the altar.
I`ve never seen a woman give sacrament, I`ve never seen a woman give Mass.
The leadership roles for women are inequitable, a woman can never bring herself to any position of power even close to that a man can.
You can`t even argue this point until there is a woman cardinal giving Mass.
Linwood...... you gotta read some stuff for yourself and not just take quips from questionable sources.
When discussing the Gnostic Gospels I don`t think the documents found at Nag Hammadi are considered "questionable" sources by any biblical scholar.
I have been reading these documents in their English translations
I read alot of stuff, if John Ashcroft had knowledge of the contents of my library the black helicopters would be hovering over my house right now.
The difference between what I read and what you read is that when I read something I don`t have to filter it through Catholic canon before I retain it.
"Matter is evil!" was the cry of the Gnostics.
"Knowledge will bring enlightenment!!" was another cry of the Gnostics.
The whole theology was based on a heirarchy of enlightenment, the more "truth" they became aware of the more spiritually powerful you became.
From the Gospel of Thomas...(This is one of my favorite all time Christian verses.)
Jesus said..
Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.
When he finds he will become troubled.
When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over all things.
Perhaps I am a bit biased towards these disowned Christians much of their dogma mirrors my own beliefs.