Gnosticism: Christianity’s Hidden Tradition

Jesus inspired a lot of people during his time. There were many writings that came out of his teachings and experiences, and some of them are included in the Bible most of us know—namely the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But these weren’t the only gospels written about Jesus and his teachings.

The Divine Feminine in Gnosticism

Around the first and second century CE, Gnosticism emerged alongside the mainstream Christianity we know today. This belief system, which focuses on the divine spark within and the practice of gnosis, or inner knowing, was considered heretical. Gospels that contained too much of this alternative belief system were destroyed or hidden at the time—but some of these writings survived and were found much, much later.

In 1896, a text known as the Gospel of Mary was found, detailing the teachings of she who was likely Mary Magdalene. This text is the only gospel we know of written by and about a woman. In 1945, several more texts were found buried in a clay jar in the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt, and together, these texts became known as the Nag Hammadi Library. These writings show a different side of Christianity—one that includes feminine wisdom, shows a completely different perspective of sin, and appears to be greatly influenced by Buddhism and the Greek philosopher Plato.

The Basics of Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a highly complex philosophy, far too multifaceted to get into in one article, but there are some very interesting ideas within this belief system that are quite different from what most of us have learned from the Christian church.

God, for example, is understood to be such a supreme being that no individual could conceive of them in words or images. Yahweh, the god of the Old Testament, is a flawed minor deity, not a supreme being. In the Gospel of Mary, Mary teaches that “all nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots.” She also states that “there is no sin” except, essentially, what humans do when they are not in alignment with the spirit of God. In her beautiful, fictionalized memoir of Mary Magdalene called The Madonna Secret, author Sophie Strand imagines these teachings to be about the sacredness of nature, the divine that exists within everything, and the connection between us all.

Women also hold a more powerful role within Gnosticism, and the divine feminine is named as Sophia, the goddess of wisdom. It might be a stretch to say Gnosticism is a feminist philosophy, but we do see Mary Magdalene in a much higher position in Gnosticism than we see in the canonical gospels. She is seen as a special disciple of Jesus, the most beloved, with access to his secret teachings—and some suspect that is because she and Jesus were romantically involved. In any case, Mary and other women were allowed to preach alongside Jesus and perform baptisms and other ceremonies at the time. This would have been truly radical for the period, and it’s not such a surprise that it was only gospels written by men that were included in the canonical Bible, while the ones by or about women or that expressed different ideas about gender were excluded.

Gender and Gnosticism

There’s an interesting moment in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas where Simon Peter says, “Let Mary go forth from among us, for women are not worthy of the life.” Jesus responds, “Behold, I shall lead her, that I may make her male, in order that she also may become a living spirit like you males. For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

It’s a strange moment, and could be interpreted in a few different ways. One is that Jesus is rebuking the idea that gender has anything to do with whether someone is beloved by God. It could certainly be read literally—that transgender men are as welcome into heaven as anyone else. Either way, it seems clear that Jesus is correcting Simon Peter’s idea that women are not “worthy of the life.”

Sophia, the goddess of wisdom, is the spiritual twin of Jesus as well as the Holy Spirit (part of the great Christian trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). She was the divine creator, in a sense, creating everything, including God—but the Gnostic story of her origin doesn’t cast her in such a positive light. She was the first emanation of the divine, but it was her desire for knowledge that led to the creation of the material world, which was a bad thing in the Gnostic view. Her actions created the flawed God who then created a flawed world, and it is our inner gnosis that can help us escape this cycle and return to our innate divinity.

The Power of Gnosis

The foundational creation myth in many parts of the world is simple. It can be summarized often as “the One was lonely, so the One created Two.” Some traditions see this as a miracle, others as a drag. In Buddhism, the constant cycle of life, death, and rebirth are the cause of suffering, and the meditation practices of Buddhism can help us find enlightenment and escape this cycle of suffering.

In some variations of Hinduism, the divine feminine principle is maya, the illusion of the material world that our devotional practices help us see past. Similarly, gnosis, found through prayer and meditation, can help us escape the flaws of the created material reality and ascend to the true realm of knowing.

Hidden Knowledge, Reborn

Gnosticism is fascinating in its beliefs in addition to its history of being hidden away, secreted, and rediscovered in an era where it was safer to have alternative beliefs. The story of the rediscovery of Gnosticism has a hint of Indiana Jones-style adventure to it: seemingly mystical, sacred ancient texts found after being hidden for centuries in clay jars. Christianity has always had this hidden tradition living alongside it, often in contention with it, and it may even hold the divine feminine piece that many find missing from the canonical Christian tradition.

One author journeyed to France to learn more about the mystic Mary Magdalene.