I know, an odd thread to start out with, but I really do love studying the Gnostics, so it's a good introductory post for me. I'll keep it brief, and just answer questions from there, since I'll probably have to research them since I'm new to this. This will sound like ancient mythology. However, I am posting it because some of it is a great new spin on some Christian beliefs, and really helped me make connections and figure some of my own beliefs out. I'm hoping it might do the same for you guys.

Terms:

Gnosis--Empirical knowledge that is needed to free the Spirit from the Demiurge and return to the True God. Literally means 'knowledge'.
Sophia--An emanation of God. Her name means "Wisdom", and is vital to Gnosticism.
Demiurge--The half-creator that was formed when Sophia emanated by herself. Typically seen as evil.
Aeons--The overarching term for the Emanations of the God (most famous being Christ)
Syzygies--The male/female pairing Emanations often come in as
Archon--a title for the several servants of the creator-god, the Demiurge. These are the gnostic equivalents to Angels and Demons.
Monad--A name for God, along with The One
Plemora--"Fullness". The place where the Aeons come from. Region of Light.

Brief History:

"Gnosticism is a descriptive term used to identify a common belief among various religious movements and groups that likely originated in prehistory and became most active in the first few centuries AD/CE. Throughout history, followers of various incarnations of Gnosticism (particularly Christian persuasions) were persecuted by those who held the opposing belief that salvation came through faith in particular religious concepts or figures rather than personal knowledge of them. There is no evidence that followers of these earlier Gnostic belief systems ever characterized themselves with the word 'Gnostic.' The term has become widely used by modern scholars and others as a way to identify an emphasis placed on the salvific benefit of individual wisdom" (Introductory sentences on Wikipedia entry: Gnosticism)

Gnostics aren't necessarily Christian. The term is very loose, and used mainly by modern scholars and modern followers (Neo-Gnostics). They emphasized personal knowledge as the means to salvation, not faith in a particular religion.


VERY basic overview of Origin of the World:

Gnostics believe in a True God which emanated Himself into Aeons--male/female pairs, generally, that are a Divine Expression of the True God. It'd be as if we created a painting--it's an extension of ourselves. Only these Aeons were sentient beings. The lowest two Aeons are Sophia and The Christ who constitute the male/female pairing. However, there were complications...

Sophia emanated by herself. This caused her to birth the creator-god, the Demiurge, to make up for the lack of her partner. This being thought he was God, and went around and created the Physical World, trapping souls into bodies on Earth. The True God, to help correct this and free the souls, sent The Christ and The Holy Spirit to Earth. The Christ taught humans 'gnosis', or knowledge, so that if they follow it and know it well, upon their deaths, they can escape the Demiurge and return to the True God, instead of being reincarnated and being continually trapped.

We thus get a rather Platonic view that material is bad. However, Gnostics take it a step further: The Demiurge is usually seen as an evil antagonist to the True God. The world and the beings in it are imperfect...not because of Original Sin (the Fall was a good thing to Gnostics), but because the world was created in a flawed fashion. The blame is on the Demiurge, not on the humans who have been trapped here.

Gnostic Texts:

The Nag Hammadi Library contained many of the Gnostic Gospels, and more have been found around the area. Some of the more well-known ones include The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Phillip, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and the recently released Gospel of Judas. All of these are open for debate among the Christian Theological Community, while many of the other Gnostic texts are overlooked completely.

Church Heresies AKA Why the Church and the Gnostics can't play nice:

Gnostics advocated that Jesus (The Christ) was not truly human, but rather was in a "human skin" per se. Also, Gnostics claim that to return to the True God, you must have a special knowledge, or 'gnosis', which contradicts the Church's standpoint that Salvation is out in the open for anyone and everyone. Early on, the Gnostics had no clergy, and taught that you must seek your own personal salvation through a personal, inner journey. You had your own direct link to the True God. This, of course, threatened the Church since they advocated you can't be saved through your own efforts, and that you can't connect to God without going through the Church. They attempted to wipe out the Gnostics and burn all texts. But as history shows...copies remained, and are now translated and readily available.