christian-councils-heresiesfeatured in 30 works

Gnosticism

Salvation by secret knowledge, in a cosmos where spirit is good and matter evil

Gnosticism names a family of early movements that taught salvation through secret knowledge and a sharp dualism dividing good spirit from evil matter. Associated with teachers such as Valentinus and Basilides, it was opposed by Irenaeus, whose Against Heresies catalogued and refuted it. The early Church rejected Gnosticism broadly, insisting that the material creation is good and that salvation comes through Christ rather than through hidden esoteric knowledge.

How it traveled

A Plea for the Christians
Alexandria · 190
challenges
Against Heresies: Book II
Lyons · 202
challenges
Against Heresies: Book I
Lyons · 202
explains
Against Heresies: Book III
Lyons · 202
challenges
Against Heresies: Book V
Lyons · 202
challenges
Against Heresies: Book IV
Lyons · 202
challenges
Against the Valentinians.
— · 220
explains
The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes.
— · 220
explains
The Prescription Against Heretics.
— · 220
applies
Appendix: Against All Heresies.
— · 220
explains
A Treatise on the Soul.
— · 220
challenges
On the Resurrection of the Flesh.
— · 220
applies
Of the Manichæans.
— · 220
applies
Book VI
— · 220
challenges
The Church History of Eusebius
Caesarea · 339
explains
The Hexæmeron
Caesarea (Cappadocia) · 379
challenges
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril
Jerusalem · 386
explains
Against Eunomius
Nyssa · 395
challenges
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom
Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
challenges
Homilies on First Corinthians
Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
challenges
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John
Constantinople (Istanbul) · 407
challenges
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians
Bethlehem · 420
explains
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan
Hippo Regius · 430
challenges
The Confessions
Hippo Regius · 430
applies
Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental
Hippo Regius · 430
applies
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans
Hippo Regius · 430
challenges
On the Morals of the Manichæans
Hippo Regius · 430
challenges
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret
Cyrrhus · 458
challenges
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great
Rome · 461
challenges
Treatise on the Work of the Six Days (qq[65]-74)
Paris · 1274
challenges

Key passages(20)

Against Heresies: Book I, Chapter XXIV↗explains

Against Heresies: Book I · Irenaeus of Lyons