A catch-all phrase used to described a multitude of prominent Christian sects during the first centuries after the death of Christ. Gnosticism took many forms, but a core set of beliefs made it antithetical to Catholicism. First of all, the Gnostics rejected religious hierarchy of any kind, preferring to believe people could have a relationship with God without the need for an intermediary in the form of a priest or a bishop. Gnostics also believed that true knowledge of God could only come from intense introspection, often times facilitated by a teacher, much like in Zen Buddhism. Gnosis means “knowledge” in Greek, and knowledge of God is what the Gnostics strove for. They believed that gnosis was the only means of salvation.
Gnostics claimed authority from gospels rejected by the Catholic authorities, among them the Secret Book of John, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip. These gospels portray the life of Christ very differently from the Synoptic Gospels.
Gnostics also believed that Jesus had secret teachings which he only imparted to certain disciples, the foremost of whom was Mary Magdalene. As to what these secrets were is impossible to ascertain-most of the Gnostic teachings were handed down orally, and were thus lost when the Roman Church exterminated gnosticism after Constantine’s alleged conversion to Catholicism in AD 337 (see Constantine, above).