Postby Technomancer » Fri Nov 26, 2004 9:41 am
I'm not really sure why I should need to rescue you, CDL might know the subject better than I. In any case, the material that I am most familiar with is later than 1st century (we have a paucity of information from this period in any case). However, gnosticism was definately around, and in some of its variants predates Christianity. "Christian" gnosticism simply subsumed many of these ideas along with those of other faiths. Paul does seem to make reference to it (I forget the epistle) in the form of an all to brief statement of "gnosis falsely so-called". The term 'gnosis' may be rendered as 'knowledge' or even 'science' in some translations.
The material that I can give (and which you are likely to have access to) are best encapsulated by the following articles:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06592a.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm
These sources are likely to be a bit dated, although they should serve as a decent starting point. Jaroslav Pelikan's book on the early church may also have some useful material (although it has been some time since I have read it).
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov