Definitions for Gnostic
ˈnɒs tɪkgnos·tic

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Gnosticadjective

   an advocate of Gnosticism

2. Gnosticadjective

   of or relating to Gnosticism

   "Gnostic writings"

3. gnosticadjective

   possessing intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Gnosticnoun

   A believer in Gnosticism

2. Gnosticadjective

   Of, or relating to, intellectual or spiritual knowledge

3. Gnosticadjective

   Of, or relating to Gnosticism

4. Etymology: From γνωστικός, from γνωστός, from γιγνώσκω.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. gnostic

   Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: γνωστικός, romanized: gnōstikós, Koine Greek: [ɣnostiˈkos], 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the Yahweh of the Old Testament) who is responsible for creating the material universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment.Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, when the Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy. Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians. Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such as Valentinus saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity. In the Gnostic Christian tradition, Christ is seen as a divine being which has taken human form in order to lead humanity back to recognition of its own divine nature. However, Gnosticism is not a single standardized system, and the emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such as Valentinianism and Sethianism. In the Persian Empire, Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via the related movement Manichaeism, while Mandaeism, which is one of the only two surviving Gnostic religions from antiquity, is found in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities. Jorunn Buckley posits that the early Mandaeans may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the early Jesus movement.: 109 For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of orthodox Christian figures such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome. There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt's Nag Hammadi library, a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocryphon of John. Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources from Hellenistic Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Platonism on the Nag Hammadi texts. Since the 1990s, the category of Gnosticism has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form of early Christianity, an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams and David G. Robertson contest whether "Gnosticism" is still a valid or useful historical category at all, or if instead it was simply a term of art of proto-orthodox heresiologists for a disparate group of contemporaneous Christian groups.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. gnostic

   Gnostic refers to relating to knowledge, especially esoteric mystical knowledge. It derives from ancient religious movements that emphasized the direct personal knowledge or experience of the divine mystery. In a broader sense, it's associated with spiritual insight, understanding, enlightenment and wisdom. It also describes certain sects among various early Christians who claimed to have superior knowledge of spiritual matters.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Gnosticadjective

   knowing; wise; shrewd

2. Gnosticadjective

   of or pertaining to Gnosticism or its adherents; as, the Gnostic heresy

3. Gnosticnoun

   one of the so-called philosophers in the first ages of Christianity, who claimed a true philosophical interpretation of the Christian religion. Their system combined Oriental theology and Greek philosophy with the doctrines of Christianity. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived from the Deity by successive emanations, which they called Eons

4. Etymology: [L. gnosticus, Gr. good at knowing, sagacious; as a n., man that claims to have a deeper wisdom, fr. gignw`skein to know: cf. F. gnostique. See Know.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Gnostic

   nos′tik, n. (theol.) one of a sect in the beginning of the Christian era which maintained that knowledge (gnōsis) and not faith (pistis) was the way of salvation, allegorised away the great facts of Christ's person and work, and represented individual life as the result of a process of emanation from the original essence.—adj. having knowledge: knowing, cunning: pertaining to the Gnostics.—ns. Gnō′sis, knowledge: mystical knowledge; Gnos′ticism, the eclectic doctrines of the Gnostics. [Gr. gnōstikos, good at knowing—gignōskein, to know.]

Anagrams for Gnostic »

1. contigs

2. costing

How to pronounce Gnostic?

1. Alex

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Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of Gnostic in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of Gnostic in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

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References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=Gnostic
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gnostic
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Gnostic
6. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=Gnostic