Heresies Regarding the Humanity of Christ: Docetism and Gnosticism

Vocabulary flashcards covering early Christian heresies regarding the humanity of Christ, focusing on Docetism, Gnosticism, and Gnostic cosmological concepts.

Docetism

An early Christian heresy declaring that Jesus was merely a phantom or spirit rather than having a true, physical human body.

1 John

The New Testament epistle written to refute the claim that Jesus was merely a ghostly figure without a real physical body of flesh and blood.

Gnosticism

A religious system asserting that the material world is evil or bad while the spiritual realm is good, emphasizing salvation through secret, higher knowledge.

Gnosis

The Greek word meaning "knowledge" or "to know."

Special Knowledge

In Gnosticism, the secret spiritual insight or revelation believed to be required for salvation and communicated through private rituals.

Demiurge

In Gnostic theology, the lesser creator being who fashioned the physical, material world.

Pleroma

The fullness of the divine realm in Gnostic cosmology.

Aeons

Divine emanations or spiritual beings descending from the Pleroma within the Gnostic hierarchy.

Sophia

The divine wisdom figure in Gnosticism whose fall resulted in the creation of material reality.

Dokein

The Greek verb meaning 'to seem' or 'to appear,' serving as the etymological origin of the belief that Christ only appeared human.

Divine Spark

The fragment of heavenly light or spiritual essence believed by Gnostics to be trapped within the physical body that requires liberation.

Archons

Lesser cosmic rulers serving the Demiurge who govern the material spheres and obstruct the ascent of souls to the divine realm.

Gnostic Dualism

The worldview dividing reality into two conflicting spheres, identifying the spiritual world as inherently pure and the physical cosmos as entirely corrupt.

Docetic Christology

The theological perspective asserting that Christ's physical body, human suffering, and crucifixion were mere illusions rather than physical realities.

Incarnation

The orthodox Christian doctrine stating that God took on genuine physical human nature in Jesus, directly countering early heresies denying His bodily reality.