WI: Gnostic Christianity

How could the establishment of the organized Orthodox Church be butterflied away, while still having Christianity -- that is, Gnostic Christianity -- become the dominant religion in the Mediterranean?

And how would Gnostic beliefs influence the culture and sociopolitical structure of Europe?
 
How could the establishment of the organized Orthodox Church be butterflied away, while still having Christianity -- that is, Gnostic Christianity -- become the dominant religion in the Mediterranean?

And how would Gnostic beliefs influence the culture and sociopolitical structure of Europe?

i think if the romans never accept christianity as the official religion, perhaps are simply tolerant of it, this will mean there won't be a council of nicea, or not as universal of a council, which will splinter the groups and allow them to survive, including gnosticism
 
One of the main problems with Gnostism, is that it is a very difficult term to define. Although stemming from the Greek word for (secret) knowledge, long before the conversion of Constantine, the term had come to be a slur which Orthodox theologians would throw at those who they viewed to be heretical. There was never an organized gnostic heirarchy trying to combat the Orthodox church (unlike later 'heresies' such as Arianism or Nestorianism which attempted to co-opt the Orthodox structure)

In fact, the Gospel of Thomas stands as a very good example. Those who used it in their worship, largely, did not see themselves as Gnostic, they say themselves as perfectly in accordance with Orthodox theology. After all, they did not disagree with Trinitarianism, nor did they deny the divinity of Christ. It was other theologians, who's views came to predominante, which labeled them as Gnostic. There were even those who claimed the Gospel of John to be Gnostic, and attacked it as such, before it was accepted as a true gospel (after a bit of constenation, due to the difference of its story struture to the three synoptic gospels)

I have to disagree with a previous poster who said you have to butterfly away Constantine and the Council of Nicea. That was far too late. Irenaeus of Lyons, for instance, was calling for the establishment of an official canon by 185 CE. It was he who first wrote of Matthew, Mark, Luke and, to an extent, John as containing the true words and ideas of Christ. His work was very influential and, by the time of Constantine, no one really contradicted his notion. Its important to remember that none of the major groups at the Council of Nicea followed any Gospels except these four.

Furthermore, one of the reasons that we ended up with a very strong Orthodox Church structure, prior to even Constantine, was because of the persecutions of Christians by Rome. A strong church was needed to maintain traditions and communication between communities of the faithful. In the face of oppression, too, it became essential to make sure that everyone was, more or less, on the same page about their beliefs. Conflicts within the church could lead to its collapse.
I think if we want to have a strong gnostic movement, what ever that would be, flourish in Christianity, we are going to have to get rid of the persecution. Which is an interesting idea, although I'm not sure how such a *Christianity would develope. Likely it would spread in much the same way as the Greek mystery cults (which many felt Gnostism was akin to in any case).

Thoughts?
 
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