GNOSTICISM
593
GNOSTICISM
sought to account for the rise of Gnosticism by the in-
fluence of Greek Platonic philosophy and the Greelc
mysteries, while Ilarnack described it as "acute Ilel-
lenization of Christianity. For the last twenty-five
years, however, the trend of scholarship has steadily
moved towards proving the pre-Christian Oriental
origins of Gnosticism. At the Fifth Congress of Ori-
entalists (Berlin, 1SS2) Kessler brought out the con-
nexion between Gnosis and the Babylonian religion.
By this latter name, however, he meant not the orig-
inal religion of Babylonia, but the syncretistic religion
which arose after the conquest of Cyrus. The same
idea is brought out in his Mani" seven years later.
In the same }-ear F. W. Brandt published his "Man-
daische Religion". This Manda?an religion is so un-
mistakably a form of Gnosticism that it seems beyond
doubt that Gnosticism existed independent of, and
anterior to, Christianity. In more recent years ( 1897)
Wilhelm Anz pointed out the close similarity between
Babylonian astrology and the Gnostic theories of the
Hebdomad and Ogdoad. Though in many instances
speculations on the Babylonian Astrallehre have gone
beyond all sober scholarship, yet in this particular in-
stance the inferences made by Anz seem sound and
reliable. Researches in the same direction were con-
tinued and instituted on a wider scale by W. Bous-
set, in 1907, and led to carefully ascertained results.
In 1898 the attempt was made by M. Friedliinder
to trace Gnosticism in pre-Christian Judaism. His
opinion that the Rabbinic term Minniiyi designated
not Christians, as was commonly believed, but An-
tinomian Gnostics, has not found universal accept-
ance. In fact, E. Schiirer brought sufficient proof
to show that Minnim is the exact Aramaean dia-
lectic equivalent for eSvT). Nevertheless Friedlander's
essay retains its value in tracing strong antinomian
tendencies with Gnostic colouring on Jewish soil.
Not a few scholars have laboured to find the source
of Gnostic theories on Hellenistic and, specifically,
Alexandrian soil. In 1880 Joel sought to prove
that the germ of all Gnostic theories was to be found
in Plato. Though this may be dismissed as an ex-
aggeration, some Greek influence on tlie birth, but
especially on the growth, of Gnosticism cannot be
denied. In Trismegistic literature, as pointed out
by Reitzenstein (Poimandres, 1904), we find much
that is strangely akin to Gnosticism. Its Egyptian
origin was defended by E. Amelineau, in 1887, and
illustrated by A. Dietrich, in 1891 (Abraxas Studien)
and 190.3 (Mithrasliturgie). The relation of Plo-
tinus's philosophy to Gnosticism was brought out
by C. Schmidt in 1901. That Alexandrian thought
had some share at least in the development of Christian
Gnosticism is clear from the fact that the bulk of
Gnostic literature which we possess comes to us from
Egyptian (Coptic) sources. That this share was not a
predominant one is, however, acknowledged by O.
Gruppe in his "Griechische Mythologie und Religions-
geschichte" (1902). It is true that the Greek mys-
teries, as G. Anrich pointed out in 1894, had much in
common with esoteric Gnosticism; but there remains
the further question, in how far these Greek mysteries,
as they are known to us, were the genuine product of
Greek thought, and not much rather due to the over-
powering influence of Orientalism.
■Although the origins of Gnosticism are still largely enveloped in obscurity, so much light has been shed oil the problem by the combined labours of many schol- ars that it is possible to give the following tentative solution: Although Gnosticism may at first sight ap- pear a mere thoughtless syncretism of well nigh all religious systems of antiquity, it has in reality one deep root-principle, which assimilated in every soil what it needed for its life and growth ; this principle is philosophical and religious pessimism. The Gnostics, it is true, borrowed their terminology almost entirely from existing religions, but they only used it to illus- VI.— 38
trate their great idea of the essential evil of this pres-
ent existence and the duty to escape it by tlie help of
magic spells and a superhuman Saviour. Whatever
the}' borrowed, this pessimism they did not borrow —
not from Greek thought, which was a joyous acknowl-
edgment of and homage to the beautiful and noble in
this world, with a stmlied disregard of the element of
sorrow; not from Egyptian thought, which did not
allow its elaborate speculations on retribution and
judgment in the netherworkl to cast a gloom on this
present existence, but considered the universe created
or evolved under the presiding wisdom of Thoth ; not
from Iranian thought, which held to the absolute su-
premacy of Ahura Mazda and only allowed Ahriman a
subordinate share in the creation, or rather counter-
creation, of the world; not from Indian Brahminic
thought, which was Pantheism pure and simple, or
God dwelling in, nay identified with, the universe,
rather than the Universe existing as the contradictory
of God ; not, lastly, from Semitic thought, for Semitic
religions were strangely reticent as to the fate of the
soul after death, and saw all practical wisdom in the
worship of Baal, or Marduk, or Assur. or Hadad, that
they might live long on this earth. This utter pessim-
ism, bemoaning the existence of the whole imiverse as
a corruption and a calamity, with a feverish ci iving
to be freed from the body of this death and j mad
hope that, if we only knew, we could by some rr stic
words undo the cursed spell of this existence — is i.s
the foundation of all Gnostic thought. It hi tue
same parent-soil as Buddhism; but Buddhism i: eth'-
cal, it endeavours to obtain its end by the extinct'
of all desire; Gnosticism is pseudo-intellectual, ;
trusts exclusively to magical knowledge. Moreo\o. ,
Gnosticism, placed in other historical surroundings,
developed from the first on other lines than Buddhism.
When Cyrus entered Bab^-lon in 539 B.C., two great
worlds of thought met, and sj-ncretism in religion, as
far as we know it, began. Iranian thought began to
mix with the ancient civilization of Babylon. The
idea of the great struggle between evil and good, ever
continuing in this universe, is the parent idea of Maz-
deism, or Iranian dualism. This, and the imagined
existence of numberless intermediate spirits, angels
and devas, was the conviction which overcame the
contentedness of .Semitism. On the other hand, the
unshakable trust in astrology, the persuasion that the
planetary system had a fatalistic influence on this
world's affairs, stood its ground on the .soil of Chaldea.
The greatness of the Seven — the Moon, Mercury,
Venus, Mars, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn — the sacred
Hebdomad, symbolized for millenniums by the staged
towers of Babylonia, remained undiminished. They
ceased, indeed, to be worshipped as deities, but they re-
mained dpxovTfs and Svvdfieis, rulers and powers whose
almost irresistible force was dreaded by man. Prac-
tically, they were changed from gods to devas, or evil
spirits. The religions of the invaders and of the in-
vaded effected a compromise: the astral faith of Baby-
lon was true, but beyond the Hebdomad was the
infinite light in the Ogdoad, and every human soul had
to pass the adverse influence of the god or gotls of the
Hebdomad before it could ascend to the only good God
beyond. This ascent of the soul through the plane-
tary spheres to the heaven be,\'ond (an idea not un-
known even to ancient Babvlonianspeculations) began
to be conceived as a struggle with ad\-erse powers, and
became the first and predominant idea in Gnosticism.
The second great component of Gnostic thought is
magic, properly so called, i. e. the power ex opere
operato of weird names, sounds, gestures, and actions,
as also the mixture of elements to produce effects to-
tally disproportionate to the cause. These magic
formulse, which caused laughter and disgust to out-
siders, are not a later and accidental corruption, but
an essential part of Gnosticism, for they are found in
all forms of Christian Gnosticism and likewise in Man-
