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Gnosticism

The definition of gnosticism was a 2nd-century philosophy that believed that a lesser and imperfect divinity called the Demiurge created the world while Christ was a messenger for a supreme divine being.

(noun)

The existence of early Christian sects who believed divine knowledge of a supreme being was the way to redemption is an example of Gnosticism.

See Gnosticism in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

an esoteric system of mystical religious and philosophical doctrines, stressing gnosis as essential to salvation, viewing matter as evil, and variously combining ideas derived from mythology, ancient Greek philosophy, ancient religions, and, eventually, Christianity

See Gnosticism in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

The doctrines of certain pre-Christian pagan, Jewish, and early Christian sects that valued the revealed knowledge of God and of the origin and end of the human race as a means to attain redemption for the spiritual element in humans and that distinguished the Demiurge from the unknowable Divine Being.

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