Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge. During the 1st Century to 5th Century A.D., Gnostics believed in secret knowledge, whereas Judeo-Christians were free and public about the divine truths they believed were revealed by God. Gnostics believed the material world to be evil and the only way to salvation was through discovery of the "secrets" of the universe. This belief went contrary to Christian belief that God created the world and that his creation was inherently good. Christians also believed that faith was a public act and something to be celebrated.
Docetism comes from the Greek dokesis, meaning appearance. Docetists were a spin-off of Gnosticism (around 1st-2nd centuries A.D.) who believed Jesus only appeared to be human. They believed that the material world was so corrupt that an entirely good being like God would have been incapable of inhabiting it. They reasoned that God only pretended to come to Earth and that Jesus was not a true man. The Church's response was that Jesus's suffering and death (his Passion) would have been meaningless if he were not truly man (since he wouldn't truly be suffering).
The core belief of Christianity is that Jesus physically died to save mankind from its sins. Since this is incompatible with Docetism, that belief was considered hostile to orthodox Christianity (not to be confused with capital "O" Orthodox Christianity, which is the Eastern Orthodox Church). Today, some remnants of gnosticism still exist in some modern religions. New Age spirituality and Dianetics (Scientology) propose to reveal the secrets of the universe and human nature. Docetism seems to have died out, however.
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I believe gnostism is the wisdom found in all types of religion. The esoteric aspects of all the major abrahamic and non abrahmic religions which all stem from the hermetic princples. Science seems to be the first religion. After years later, there became a gap between them both. First time I was reading about gnosticism, I was reading about the hermetic principles. I first started with the law of attraction, but found out later it was the watered down version of the true hermetic principles. http://beyondenigma.com/real-law-attraction-ancient-hermetic-principles-science-now-rediscovering/. Any thoughts on this Mark?
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