Decoding Gnosticism: Secrets of a Heretical Christian Belief 

Lying in hospital after a collapse and just semiconscious, three thoughts came to me: 1. Am I dying? 2. That would cause a lot of problems. 3. But they wouldn't be my problems.

I'm a fan of Epicurus myself, believe it or not. My kid also started asking me about dying and coming back from the dead. I think it has more to do with video games than any philosophical beliefs on reincarnation.

This episode certainly brought a new meaning to the biblical passage that said, “you are in the world, but not of the world”.

I love how bart acknowledges other beliefs different than his own but doesn't disparage the others

After recently watching another guy interview Dr. Bart in a frenetic manner, I appreciate Megan's calm, focused, and concise mannerisms even more.

Another great podcast! In relation to the gospel of Thomas, I'd really like to hear more about early Syriac Christianity, especially in places like Edessa. It's such an interesting part of early Christianity and it achieves so little attention. I wrote a research paper in college about Bardaisan and I was blown away by how diverse early Christianity was in that part of the world.

I haven’t listened to this yet, but anything from Bart is good with me. I just finished Elaine Pagels Gnostic Gospels. It opened my understanding of the history and breadth of knowledge to be learned. If interested, include her in this discussion, you won’t be disappointed.

More damned passwords to remember. What's worse, you have to remember them after you've died.

35:00 What a wonderful edit. I was hanging on to this like a cliff, and to the editor... you just whisked it all away from me! I demand a full publishing of the entire interview!

My favorite epitaph is epicurean: "Non Fui, Fui, Non-Sum, Non-Curo" meaning "I was not, I was, I am not, I care not." Good times :D

Even as a Gnostic Bishop I have always enjoyed Barts books and podcasts. He has Gnostics ALMOST right.

Spent a lot of time recently reading NT apocrypha. Really interesting stuff! Some of the English translations online are a little wonky and clearly scanned from another source (a word like ‘disciple’ might be improperly scanned as ‘clisciple’ for example) but overall extremely fascinating!

Just started this, and before I forget, I do want to express my vicarious delight that Bart is resonating with the joys of Epicurus.

I so enjoy these sessions and always eagerly await for the next, Thank you so very much.

Video starts at roughly 3:15.

Megan, I deeply resonated with what you said about your 5-year-old in the beginning. My six-year-old is asking me very similar questions. He doesn't think he has the answer, but he seems all the more scared for it

The attack on Mary by Peter and most of the other apostles , hints at the patriarchal control we see in the writing of not only most Christian text , but the power structure of the church as well. The Abrahamic religions to this day keep a tight leash on woman , not just in the secular world , but as religious teachers as well. We see that the Magdalena writings didn't even make the final cut of the Cannon. And I agree with you that it had to be written by a hellenistic Christian because a Jewish wouldn't have written it . Thank you so much for this. . . ... .. .... ..... .. Q~anon loves Bart Her-Man I feel the need to share the moment my mother passed away in Ireland in 2012. Briefly I had been with her for the last 3 days holding her hand, when she stopped breathing I reached down to give her a hug and was met with this beautiful force rising from her body, it went through me and out my back heading upwards. I looked down and immediately realized that this was the vessel that carried my Mother's soul, her suffering was over. Your message here resonated with me for that reason. My lecturer later told me that was my Mother's greatest gift to me, the confirmation that I always knew, what happens at death. Mary is the only disciple that has ever captivated my attention, when I pray it is always to her. This interpretation from you has helped me immensely on my journey. Thank you and may God bless you 🙏.

Balanced, insightful and informative -as usual.

Professor Ehrman, just as usual, I can sit in your class all day. I want to thank you for helping me to understand gnosticism. I purchase the Nag Hammadi Scriptures. Fascinating book. I know it’s a myth but it can help to see things spiritually. We’ve move from not knowing into to knowing but still I have a long ways to go. I look at wisdom that gnostics bring. Megan you are beautiful and you are a fascinating host. 😊

For me, as a German, it is always funny to listen to English-speakers about "Gnostics", because in English, the letter "G" is not pronounced, which makes the word sound like "nasty".

Super Q&A this week. A huge growth experience. Thank you!

Humans are a story telling species. So many stories. 😇😎😉

One of my favorite parts of studying the humanities! 😹 26:00 - The problem with the gnostic texts, themselves, is that they are written by Gnostics, who are Gnostics presupposing Gnosticism.

It seems anything hid in a cave for more than 1850 years should deserve way more attention than books whose originals are long gone and messed with by who knows who how many times. And the fact they were hidden says something too. Like who wanted to destroy them? And why?

This couldn't have come at a better time. I just finished reading "Revolt of the Angels" and loved it, though was confused as to where the writer got the name Ialdabaoth for yahweh. Now I know!

I cannot wait until Bart's new book to come out!

When I was young and in Catholic HS learning about the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures, I had the distinct feeling that YHWH and Jesus couldn't be the same deity or at least YHWH had gone soft at some point. When I discovered the gnostic gospels many years later, it made me feel better that I wasn't the first person to see the difference between HS and CS treatment. The demiurge makes total sense if you just compare the motivations of HS and CS versions of god.

Glad this video came out. I know that this topic is out there on youtube. Though I havent found a video from a channel i trust.

Great interviewer. She clearly knew the best questions to cover the topic as broadly as possible.

Oh man, that assignment of writing your won gospel is pretty cool! Would you be willing to share the requirements for that assignment? I'd love to give it a shot myself.

Thank you again and still Megan. & thank you Bart for sharing your thoughts.

❤ just love listening to Bart

Based on what Bart said about his students excelling at fiction but not at research, it would seem he has a classrom full of Dan Browns!

gnosticism is very Much related to advaita Vedanta(non duality). The term "Advaita" means "non-dual" in Sanskrit, and Advaita Vedanta emphasizes the fundamental unity or non-duality of the individual soul or spirit(Atman) and the ultimate reality (Brahman or God or consciousness). According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman(God)is the absolute, infinite, and indivisible reality that underlies all existence. It is beyond the realm of names, forms, and attributes. Advaita Vedanta posits that the apparent diversity and multiplicity of the world is an illusion (maya) created by ignorance (avidya). It asserts that the true nature of reality is pure consciousness, and the individual soul is not separate from Brahman(God)but is essentially identical to it. The goal of Advaita Vedanta is to realize we are not the body but spirit itself and we can realise this non-dual nature by transcending ignorance through self knowledge (jnana) and direct experience (moksha). And what gnostic gospels say is similar to it.[ and from the perspective of advaita Jesus was a Gnani(knower of the Truth) and there is no difference between the ultimate Truth and the knower of the Truth.] Upanishad:~ ‘They alone in this world are endowed with the highest wisdom who are firm in their conviction of the sameness and birthlessness of Atman(spirit or God or consciousness). The ordinary man does not understand their way. Mundaka Upanishads :- He who knows that highest Brahman(God)becomes even Brahman(God); and in his line, none who knows not the Brahman will be born. He crosses grief and virtue and vice and being freed from the knot of the heart, becomes immortal. Mundaka Upanishads: ~ ‘So-called spiritual pundits and learned are called children because a child takes whatever it thinks as truth. The question never occurs to children “Is what I have seen or thought really the truth. Yajur Veda - chapter- 32: - God or Supreme Spirit has no ‘Pratima’ (idol) or material shape Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares: "He who worships the deities as entities entirely separate from him does not know the truth. For the Gods, he is like a pasu (beast). Brihad Upanishad: ~ “If you think there is another entity, whether man or God there is no truth." Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: ~ Brahman (God) is in the form of the Athma, and it is indeed Athma itself. Bible says: ~ “God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Gospel of Thomas And he said, "Whoever discovers the meaning of these sayings won't taste death." Saying 2: Seek and Find Jesus said, "Whoever seeks shouldn't stop until they find. When they find, they'll be disturbed. When they're disturbed, they'll be […] amazed, and reign over the All." Saying 3: Seeking Within Jesus said, "If your leaders tell you, 'Look, the kingdom is in heaven,' then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they tell you, 'It's in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside of you. "When you know yourselves, then you'll be known, and you'll realize that you're the children of the living Father. But if you don't know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty." Jesus said, "I've cast fire on the world, and look, I'm watching over it until it blazes." Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me, and I myself will become like them; then, what's hidden will be revealed to them." Book of Thomas the contender The savior said, "Brother Thomas while you have time in the world, listen to me, and I will reveal to you the things you have pondered in your mind. "Now, since it has been said that you are my twin and true companion, examine yourself, and learn who you are, in what way you exist, and how you will come to be. Since you will be called my brother, it is not fitting that you be ignorant of yourself. And I know that you have understood, because you had already understood that I am the knowledge of the truth. So while you accompany me, although you are uncomprehending, you have (in fact) already come to know, and you will be called 'the one who knows himself'. For he who has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved knowledge about the depth of the all. Thomas answered and said, "It is obvious and has been said, 'Many are those who do not know soul.'" "Watch and pray that you not come to be in the flesh, but rather that you come forth from the bondage of the bitterness of this life. And as you pray, you will find rest, for you have left behind the suffering and the disgrace. For when you come forth from the sufferings and passions of the body, you will receive rest from the good one, and you will reign with the king, you joined with him and he(father or spirit)with you, from now on, for ever and ever, Amen." And the savior answered, saying, "Blessed is the wise man who sought after the truth, and when he found it, he rested upon it forever and was unafraid of those who wanted to disturb him." Dialogue of the Savior Matthew said, “Master, I would like to see that dwelling place where there is no wickedness, but rather, there is only pure illumination!” The Master replied, “Brother Matthew, you won’t be able to see it so long as you are carrying around a physical body.” Matthew said, “Master, though I won’t be able to see it, please let me understand it.” The Master replied, “Anyone who gains knowledge of oneself will see it within all the opportunities given to him [missing text] then will arise [missing text] by one's devotion.” Judas then asked, “Master, please tell me how [missing text] that agitates the motion of the earth.” The Master picked up a stone with his hand and held it up. He said, “What do I hold here in my hand?” He replied, “a stone.” He told them, “What supports the heavens also supports the earth. When Wisdom arises from the Majesty, it proceeds upon what supports the heavens and earth. For the earth does not change course. If it changed course, it would crash. Rather, it doesn’t change course or crash, so that the initial Wisdom would succeed. For it was this that manifested the material universe and occupied them. Then breathed its air and because [missing text] that does not change course, myself [missing text] yourselves, all the servants of humanity. Because you originate from there. You live within the hearts of those who teach from joy and truth. Though it arises from the body from the Creator and isn’t accepted, it will still [missing text] return to its home. One who doesn’t know these perfect activities doesn’t know anything. One who doesn’t stand in the darkness will not be able to recognize the light. Should one not understand what fire is, one will become burnt by it. For he doesn’t know the basics about it. If one doesn’t first understand water, he knows nothing. For what use will he have to become baptized? One who doesn’t know the wind is blowing will get blown away with it. If one doesn’t know about the separate existence of the body, he will die with it. Then how can someone who doesn’t know the Representative know the Creator? Thus, one who doesn’t know the root of everything will remain ignorant. One who doesn’t know the root of wickedness is no stranger to it. One who knows not how he came will not know how he will go. And he is not a stranger to this material universe that will [missing text] become humbled.”

Seriously, you 2 should listen to Near Death Experience stories. They're extremely compelling. I've still got a sliver,a wedge of Agnostic thinking, but they've definitely changed my thinking.

Next episode both should have squared glasses 😄😄 great show guys! 🙂

Dr. Ehrman is always a win

Gnosticism sounds a little bit like Scientology but cheaper.

Begins at 3:00.

Love to hear Bart talking about Valentinus and The Gospel of Truth

In a future podcast, could you please discuss HOW the belief in the Holy Spirit as a 3rd person of the trinity, fully co-equal with the Father and with Jesus, developed in the early Church? Is this a case of divine hypostasis, for example like God's Wisdom in Proverbs 8? Thank you!

Very interesting episode.

Gnosticism is really quite understandable in the context of the hellentistic/roman world. There were so many mystery cults in this era. These mysteries had members with "special" relationship because of the "knowledge (secret)" that they held. Gnostic cults fit within the context that some people has special knowledge that gives one a heads up. Probably fit better than people had such a strange few that one is saved without having secret knowledge.

Gnosticism is just early Quantum Physics. As Max Planck said, Consciousness is Fundamental. You Newtonians can't explain the Measurement Problem.

Would love to know Bart's thoughts on James Lindsay's take on the Hegelian dialectic and its progeny as forms of gnosticism.

47:49-48:42 polycarp to the philippians 4 probably indicates his earlier authorship of the pastorals (145 CE, readjusted from 140 CE). P.S.: polycarp to the philippians 3:2 probably indicates his later authorship of 2 peter (150 CE) as well. The Gospel of Mary (155ish CE) seems to be very aware of these developments. P.P.S./Edit: Tatian hated the fact that, in its opposition to marcion, 1 timothy and 2 timothy promoted marriage over celibacy so he removed the texts from his personal canon. That’s kinda funny.

La perfección es imposible. Pero si aspiramos a ella podemos alcanzar la excelencia.

While I have really come to appreciate Bart Ehrmans' wealth of knowledge and his candor, his presentations remind me that we have few scholars of his nature and attitude. I think the Judaic community has a few, but we Muslims could do well to develop a few folks who could reflect on our own traditions, practitices and assumptions. FWIW. 😊

Can you guys imagine what Bart Ehrman would be like today if he were a conservative fundamentalist Christian still?

I'm Shin Buddhist. One of the members of my church said she asked the reverend what happens when we die. Apparently, he told her, "I don't know. I haven't died yet." 😂

Excellence. As usual.

In the last few weeks I've been reading the seminal book on the issue by Bishop of Lyon St.Irenaeus, written in the late second century. Its original title in Greek would translate into something like "Check and Overturn of the False Knowledge". Irenaeus writes that he's citing what he himself read and heard from Gnostics. And, oh boy, is it wild! 😂 You just can't make any sense. It's so *so* convoluted! So out of this world crazy stuff. These people didn't lack imagination, that's for sure!

This is so interesting! I had never heard about the mythology of Sophia and Yahweh as the dark character. It really is like stories of being in a time of darkness.

Glad someone asked about the 'trans' issue - a Christian friend just posted something by someone who is very much anti-trans etc. Aargh..... (My niece is gay - she now has little contact with her fundamentalist parents.) My question is this - forgive me if Bart has already covered this elsewhere - how do 'eunuchs' in the Bible fit into this conversation? I don't understand why gay/ trans men wouldn't have been highly represented in this group.

Within the last year I have been listening to a band named Draconian and their new album Under A Godless Veil. The whole album is about Sophia. I am also currently taking a Humanities class and asked the professor if we'd be talking about Gnosticism, and he said no, but it would be worthy of an in depth exploration of early Christianity. So, here I am for the lecture he shared pertaining to the song "Sorrow of Sophia" and any further information I may gain as a solid start for research. The song "The Sacrificial Flame," is another song by Draconian, which mentions Achamoth. It is making me believe the album is referring to Valentinianism.

Gotta give Megan credit for those ripper specs!

We so need more gnosticism! How was its decline like and how come we much reminds me of Eastern religions

My 5 year old is also obsessed with death in the last few months. Asking if kids can die, when I’m going to die. When he’s going to die. It’s a super tough question to answer! Especially when you get it at the most random times. If you have come up with good answers please let me know!! 😉

I think I was five or six on a family road trip and one night I just realized that I was going to die someday and I was terrified. I still am now.

Thanks as always

*36:10** the cackling jesus is an image we need in more churches.* wonderful. _JC

Please do an episode on the historical john the baptist/ influence of john the baptist in early Christianity!

Gnosis is not"secret knowledge" in the sense that you're told some secret.. it's self knowledge.. to "know thyself" to directly experience who you truly are.. all religions have this teaching hidden in allegory

16:33 .. no secret handshake?! Disappointing!!! 38:20 … it’s interesting, in the ‘70’s advertised in Playboy you could order what was called “The Laughing Jesus!” 47:16 … actually the Burning Bush was just a bush that happened to be on fire, God was behind a tree (my favorite New Yorker cartoon 😆)

So, Gnosticism is basically Hinduism with different terminology. They were trying to bring back the Old Tradition.

Thank you.

Does Gnosticism have any direct lineage to Platonic thought? I notice Gnostic aeons are kind of similar to Plato's forms and also that Yaldabaoth is sometimes referred to as the Demiurge. If so, was it a trend among Hellenized Jews during the late Second Temple period and afterwards as well, or was this by and large a Christian trend?

Missing years of Jesus ? He travelled to India & Studied Buddhism , Hinduism & other religions. There is still a Jewish tribe in north part of India. Believe it or not, Afghans ( yes, Taliban) were jews originally.

There was a theosophical movement in Russia which influenced late 19th-century Russian literature.

lol@"believe it or not"... I love me some inadvertent humor.

I didn't discover this until June 30th, 2024. My only complaint is the hippie jokes. There were no hippies when the Nag was translated. Hippie communities had ceased to exist. I met my first hackers while still in college at Jimmy's Bar in Hyde Park in the mid 1970's where University Of Chicago students would sip beer while studying. A team was translating the codices found at Nag Hammadi but translations were slow, few and far between. The hackers had discovered the translators feared the translations would destroy organized religion, were hiding the translations on the internet (at a time when few owned computers) and the hackers were releasing the translations for scholars to read. The University would fire the original translators and hire new ones. But hackers first posted the translations that were being hidden.

It makes more sense after a nice bout of psychosis

Either something the kid watched/played or someone definitely said something at school. It could also have been something in the background; kids are oddly perceptive when bored

This gnostic cosmology is pretty ridiculous tho lol but the knowledge of secret of salvation is tempting one. The passwords to go from material world to spiritual world is weird. It's more like pagan theories of afterlife. Instead the password for gnostics is practice of religious law, I think.

Always a pleasure to hear the latest episode! I would love to see an episode on different Theories of Atonement, in scripture and in later christian traditions. Anything like this in the works?

So will there be a course where Bart reveals the secret that allows us to escape this world?

Gnostics sound like the ancient equivalent of conspiracy theorists today. How conspiracy theorists believe they know the truth about what shape the earth is, the truth about some historical event, who really rules the world etc.

So Bart, quick question, if you’re not a believer and ‘have no dog in the fight’ as they say, then, why are you labeling gnosticism as heretical?

The entities discussed around the 9:00 minute mark sound very Greek to me.

The Gnostics' "sparks" idea is echoed in Chasidism. Coincidence?

How much of gnosticism is derived from Marcion?

I wish that Bart hadn't spoken about his preferred relatively narrow view of gnosticism exclusively. There's a great deal more to be said about gnosticism than he touched on in this gloss of the topic.

The secret teaching is secret only to the ignorant. To those who are awake, the secret teaching is known. The gateway is to begin by knowing YOU.

Mormonism almost could be renamed The American Gnostic Catholic Church 😂

i love those glasses that megan has!!

John couldn't read or write...same for peter?

I loved Bart's answer on the LGBTIQA question. It almost had me in tears. A great episode. Thank you.

Very profound the subject, a little shallow the presentation. Where is the gnosis beyond these historic complexities?

Let's begin ...love from Pakistan 🇵🇰

I'd love to hear his theories on what we have to do to come back? I don't think we have to do anything, we only have to do things to escape the wheel of reincarnation.

our existence here is an evil curse. I hate it and yet I have to continue. why God puts us thru such a disgusting experience is itself a sad mystery warranting an answer.

I keep expecting Megan to end the intro with a switcheroo, “Welcome to Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman, the only show where a six time NYT bestselling author and world renowned Bible scholar, interviews Bart Ehrman.”

If the message of the Historical Jesus was primarily centered around the idea that "The (earthly) Kingdom of God is coming soon, you must repent and love your neighbor in order to enter the Kingdom," then I am wondering how that message gave rise to gnostic ideas like secret knowledge, enlightenment, transcending the material world and the God of the Old Testament being a flawed entity? The two central messages seem very disconnected to me.

When I first discovered Epicurus 35 years ago... I was all like, "where's the bullshit? I mean even the Stoics are full of it much of the time (nobody's that tough)." Then Bart just said, "what we have from him is so little. " Oh...right...like all religion and philosophy...they get around to incredible bullshit...if you just let them get around to it. Thank whatever we have so little.

Out of a timeless world Shadows fall upon Time, From a beauty older than earth A ladder the soul may climb. I climb by the phantom stair To a whiteness older than Time.

Great. So basically, Yahweh is the original Lucifer who overthrew the original goddess, and his mother, Sophia. Wew.

I think it was the story of Jesus that was resurrected rather than the man.

Explains the malevolence of the OT (and, if you ask me, of the NT) God quite well, but of course it‘s as crazy as any other religion.

@15:17 "...and, at the end, the Divine being left Jesus, which is why on the cross, Jesus cries out, 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me', God has left him..." That rendering sorta conflicts with: John 8:29 KJV And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. What are "those things that please him"? Please reconsider a couple chapters later: John 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. Jesus' commandment was to submit to crucifixion. Yet, many believe God forsook Jesus, while on the cross, doing that which God commanded Jesus to do, that pleases the Father.. for which his Father even loved him? That sounds pretty incongruent that Father God would forsake his Son at that explicit moment in time. To the contrary, and long known among lay theologians (and heretics, LOL)... What, then, was Jesus saying from the cross... "my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Among the crucifixion onlookers, many fluent in the OT... Jesus was fulfilling the previously unknown prophesy of the crucifixion found in King David's time of grief: Psalm 22:KJV 1{To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.} My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Here's the link to King David's previously unknown prophesy of the crucifixion in that chapter: biblehub.com/kjv/psalms/22.htm Quite likely... Jesus rehearsed David's entire Psalm 22 prophesy from the cross, but only the first words of Psalm 22, were sufficient to refer the OT theologians to that prophesy... being fulfilled right in front of the eyes of his detractors... That kinda pull those verses together? Real simple for a heretical 'gnostic' (LOL!)

I wish you two would swap spectacles😊