Originally posted by Leveller
ML. I'm referring to the Old Testament.
Ah, ok, I was referring to the Christian Canon, i.e. the one organized by Rome.
Could you also shed light on your statement that the first Gnostics were Christians? Weren't there Jewish Gnostics as well?
To the best of my knowledge (which certainly isn't infallible; I'll have to do more research on the topic), the original Gnostics were Christians.
There were several different splinter groups, which disagreed on doctrine. One group accepted the Old Testament, as well as the Gospel; another group
did not, and sorely vexed the non-Gnostic Christians with their doctrines, viz., that the God of the Old Testament was actually an evil god or devil
("Ialdoboath"), and that Christ as the Logos was the embodiment of the principle Sofia.
As you state, the Essenes could well have influenced later Christian groups, and isn't it possible that amongst the Essene sects, there were
gnostics? Certainly the texts discovered at Qumran seem to have a gnostic flavour to them. And the most likely originators of those texts were the
Essenes.
I would concur that there were many similarities in ritual between the two. However, the Essenes were generally a pre-Christian movement, while the
Gnostics were Johannites.
So although the Essenes may not have directly influenced the Catholic Church, maybe indirectly they had far more input than you are giving them
credit for?
It is possible that their influence was immense, especially if the Baptist and Jesus were Essenes. However, most historians and anthropologists concur
that the Canon itself began to be organized in reaction to Gnostic "heresy".
Evidence also seems to suggest that before Paul and Rome, gnosticism was roughly half of the early Christian belief.
Absolutely, if not more.
As for the question of Jesus being an Essene. I believe that the corruption of "Jesus of Nazereth" which was almost certainly "Jesus the
Nazorean" shows him to be an Essene.
Is it therefore possible that the Essenes were the first Christian gnostics?
I would say that it is possible that some Essenes became Gnostics, and perhaps even that Gnosticism evolved from Essenianism. My only real distinction
between the two sects is that the Essenes, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, was a strictly Jewish sect, while the Gnostics embraced at least some
early form of Christianity.
