Gnostic terms and concepts

thumb | right | alt=Lamentation of Christ  | Lamentation of Christ  In the history of Christianity, docetism (from the dokeĩn "to seem", dókēsis "apparition, phantom") was the doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, and above all the human form of Jesus, was mere semblance without any true reality. Broadly, it is taken as the belief that Jesus only seemed to be human, and that his human form was an illusion.

thumb|right|upright=1.2|This diagram shows the medieval understanding of celestial spheres|spheres of the [[cosmos, derived from Aristotle, and as per the standard explanation by Ptolemy. It came to be understood that at least the outermost sphere (marked "Primũ Mobile") has its own intellect, intelligence or nous – a cosmic equivalent to the human mind.]]

intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet

Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge (γνῶσις, gnōsis, f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where it signifies a spiritual knowledge or insight into humanity's real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence.

conception of God in certain Christian traditions, Gnosticism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry

seven levels or divisions of the Heavens in religious or mythological cosmology

Pleroma (, literally "fullness") generally refers to the totality of divine powers. It is used in Christian theological contexts, as well as in Gnosticism. The term also appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, which is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. The word is used 17 times in the New Testament. In Valentinianism it represents as virtualities of the Son

demonic entities subordinate to the embodiment of evil in the corresponding belief-system

emanation of God; class of beings in Gnosticism

The term logia (), plural of logion (), is used variously in ancient writings and modern scholarship in reference to communications of divine origin. In non-Abrahamic contexts, the principal meaning was "oracles", while Jewish and Christian writings used logia in reference especially to "the divinely inspired Scriptures". A famous and much-debated occurrence of the term is in the account by Papias of Hierapolis on the origins of the canonical Gospels. Since the 19th century, New Testament scholarship has tended to reserve the term logion for a divine saying, especially one spoken by Jesus, in

religious concept

gnosticism

belief the serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain

In Gnosticism, kenoma (kenoma, κένωμα) is the concept of emptiness that corresponds to the lower world of phenomena, as opposed to the concept of pleroma, or fullness, which corresponds to the Platonic world of ideal forms. Kenoma was used by the mid-2nd century Gnostic thinker and preacher Valentinius, who was among the early Christians who attempted to align Christianity with Middle Platonism. Employing a third concept of cosmos, what is manifest, Valentinian initiates could explain scripture in light of these three aspects of correlated existence.