Gnosticism (Christianity)

Gnosticism in the Christian sense derives from the esoteric teachings of Christ. It flourished particularly in the eastern Mediterranean region and taught that the way of knowledge is through mystical love of God and that salvation is achieved through releasing the soul, which is intrinsically good, from the body which is intrinsically evil. This belief in the evilness of the body lead to questioning whether Christ the son of God could have been contaminated by being born, living and being tortured to death in the physical body - which further lead to the belief held by some that the Spirit of God only entered Christ's physical body when he was baptized and left it before he was killed.

Gnosticism has been regarded as heretical by the mainstream of the Church and extensively persecuted; but some elements of its beliefs - which include aspects of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism - have survived among Freemasons, Rosicrucians and followers of the Kabbalah.