諾斯替主義(Gnosticism)

My earlier post about Gnosticism may have mixed with too many Hindus philosophies/parables and some unintended derogatory criticism that may have disturbed some of you here. So I accept that this post perhaps is not appropriate to be published here and deserves to be lifted up. This "revised" copy about Gnosticism is basically of intellectual nature, I can't see elements of pointing accuses to the mainstream Christianity, and I hope you will kindly let it be here. My intent is very simple, I just wanted Christians here to be aware of such an early Christian sect ever existed in this planet, and the simple, but not ordinary, messages these people were believing and trying to live up in.

Gnosticism, or at least its theological ideas and its formation, represents a more mytiscal aspect of early Christianity. It places importance in direct knowledge into God revealation within every single being. Its core doctrines emphasize on non-violence, unconditional love and peace, monasticism (giving out family and whatever materials one possesses to follow the footstep of the son of man), prayers and meditation, secret teachings of Jesus, self-actualization in God grace, and elements of perfection in recarnation (this element is particularly not accepted by mainstream Christianity).  Its non-political, liberal view has later been referred to as heretical, this was followed by many Gnostic Christians being brutally suppressed and forced converted by the major Christian sect based in Rome. Interestingly after almost 1500 years of disappearance, the Gnostic bibles - Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Judas, etc, have somewhat been re-discovered and unearthed at the key archeological sites in the Middle east (dead sea scrolls, Nag Hammadi found), making these "heretical" Biblical scriptures the only earliest Biblical records (dating back to 150-250 A.D.) that had ever survived to this day. Isn't this telling something about God's will?  Ok, let's take a look what Gnosticism is presented to modern theological scholars.
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Gnosticism, is a philosophical and religious movement prominent in the Greco-Roman world in the 2nd century AD.
諾斯替主義，是公元二世紀希臘―羅馬內的一個顯著的哲學和宗教運動。

While Gnosticism drew from and influenced in turn many traditional religions, its effect was most clearly felt on nascent Christianity, in which it led to the formation of the canon, creed, and episcopal organization.
當諾斯替教出現，並且依次影響著很多傳統宗教的時候，它的效果在初期的基督教清晰地表現出來，引領著正規經典，教條，主教制度的形成，

The designation Gnosticism, derived from the Greek gnostikos (one who has gnosis, or "secret knowledge"), is a term of modern scholarship. Evidence for the Gnostic phenomenon, found in the Church Fathers who opposed Gnostic teachings (Irenaeus, c. 185; Hippolytus, c. 230; Epiphanius, c. 375) and in the Gnostic writings themselves, reveals a diversity in theology, ethics, and ritual that defies strict classification.
諾斯替主義的名稱，源自希望的靈智派（擁有靈知，或者「秘密知識」），是一個現代的學術用語。靈知現象的證據，發現在反對諾斯替派的教導的教父裡面(Irenaeus, c. 185; Hippolytus, c. 230; Epiphanius, c. 375)，在諾斯替派文獻本身裡面，展示出神學，道德規範和典禮的差異，對嚴格的階級制度的反抗。

Yet Gnostic sects appear to have shared an emphasis on the redemptive power of esoteric knowledge, acquired not by learning or empirical observation but by divine revelation.
至今諾斯替派的出現是共享一種深奧知識的救贖，並不是被後天知識或經驗主義的觀察而得到，而是由神的啟示。

History
歷史
The origins of the Gnostic world view have been sought by scholars in the dualism of Iranian religion, the allegorical Idealism of the Middle Platonic philosophers, and the apocalypticism of certain Jewish mystics.
諾斯替世界的起源可以從波斯宗教的二元論學者找到，寓言般的中期柏拉圖哲學的理想主義和猶太宗教的啟示論。

There are analogies also with Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought. It was only with the rise of Christianity, however, that Gnostic syncretism came to full expression.
類似的也發現在埃及人和美索不達米亞人的思想里，它開始了基督教的興起，然而，靈知的匯合進入了一種完全的表達上。

The first Gnostic about whom something can be said with confidence is Simon Magus, a 1st-century Jewish heterodox teacher who introduced the fundamental Gnostic conception that evil resulted from a break within the Godhead.
最初的諾斯替派也可以說是在Simon Magus的信心裡，這位一世紀的猶太異端教師介紹了諾斯替派的基本概念，魔鬼是由神的頭裡的一種突變而產生。

But Simon's gnosis remained essentially Jewish and monotheistic, as did that of the Gnostic circles to which later parts of the New Testament allude.
但是，西蒙的諾斯替主義本質上保留著猶太教和一神論的元素，諾斯替的盤繞也映射在新舊的後期部分。

The dualistic phase was reached after the expansion of Gnosticism into the Hellenistic world and under the influence of Platonic philosophy, from which was borrowed the doctrine that a lower demiurge was responsible for the creation of this world.
在柏拉圖哲學的影響下，二元論的定相是力求把諾斯替主義擴張進希臘化的世界，是從一個較低層的造物主負責創世這個教條借鑒而來的。

This teaching is to be found in the Apocryphon of John (early 2nd century) and other documents of popular gnosis discovered near Naj' Hammadi in upper Egypt in the 1940s and in the Pistis Sophia, a 3rd-century Gnostic work in Coptic belonging to the same school.
這種教導發現在《約翰的啟示》（公元二世紀初）和其他四十年代發現在上埃及的納哈馬地文庫的通俗諾斯替文獻，還有《比提絲*索菲婭》，一本第三世紀的諾斯替派作品，也是屬於同一間學校上。

The learned gnosis of Valentinus, Basilides, and their schools presupposes this popular gnosis, which, however, has been thoroughly Hellenized and Christianized and sometimes comes very near to the views of Middle Platonism.
有學問的亞倫丁，巴茲爾諾斯替派，他們的學校預示著這種通俗的諾斯替（靈知），然而，通過希臘化和基督教化，有時候變成了十分接近中期柏拉圖主義的觀點。

Eastern Gnosticism took a somewhat different course. Under the influence of traditional Iranian religion, the semi-Gnostic Manichaeism developed an absolute cosmic dualism between soul and matter.
東方的諾斯替派有些不同的實踐。在伊朗傳統宗教的影響下，半諾斯替主義的摩尼教發展了一種絕對的宇宙二元論，是靈魂與物質。

Moreover, it showed the enormous influence of Syrian asceticism, but it was equally rooted in popular Gnosticism and preserved its essential doctrines.
此外，也表明了受到敘利亞人禁慾主義的龐大影響，但這是與流行的諾斯替主義有同等的根源，保留了它本質上的教條。

Nature
本性

In the Gnostic view, the unconscious self of man is consubstantial with the Godhead, but because of a tragic fall it is thrown into a world that is completely alien to its real being.
在諾斯替的觀點裡，無意識的人本身是與神的頭是同質的，但是一個悲慘的墮落，因此掉進一個完成地與真實存在完全相異的一個世界上。

Through revelation from above, man becomes conscious of his origin, essence, and transcedent destiny. Gnostic revelation is to be distinguished both from philosophical enlightenment, because it cannot be acquired by the forces of reason, and from Christian revelation, because it is not rooted in history and transmitted by Scripture.
從上面的啟示，人變得觀察到他的起源，本質和對命運的轉變。諾斯替的啟示不同與哲學的教化，因為它不能用強迫的理由和基督教的啟示獲得，因為它並不植根於歷史和由文稿傳播。

It is rather the intuition of the mystery of the self.
這相當於神秘事物的直覺知識。

The world, produced from evil matter and possessed by evil demons, cannot be a creation of a good God; it is mostly conceived of as an illusion, or an abortion, dominated by Yahweh, the Jewish demiurge, whose creation and history are depreciated.
世界，由邪惡的物質而來，被邪惡的魔鬼著魔，不能是由一個好的神創造的，主要地是由一種幻想或者失敗而想象而來的，受控制於耶和華，猶太人的造物主，它的創造和歷史被貶低。

This world is therefore alien to God, who is for the Gnostics depth and silence, beyond any name or predicate, the absolute, the source of good spirits who together form the pleroma, or realm of light.
因此這個世界與神相異，由於諾斯替派的深奧和沉默，在任何名字或斷言之上，絕對，好的靈魂的源頭連同著佩雷若瑪（pleroma）或者光之王國。

These conceptions are expressed in various myths, which employ material from many traditional religions but serve to express a basic experience that is new, the discovery of the unconscious self or spirit in man which sleeps in him until awakened by the Saviour.
這些概念被描述在不同的神話里，從很多傳統宗教上借用題材，但用作表述一種新的經歷，對無意識或沉睡著的人之靈魂的發現，直到由救世主喚醒為止。

The Gnostic sects of the 2nd century made use of Hebrew and Christian religious writings, employing the allegorical method to extricate Gnostic meanings from them.
二世紀的諾斯替派使用希伯萊和基督宗教的作品，使用諷喻的方式去從它們那裡散發出諾斯替的意義。

Most Gnostic groups seem to have been organized as schools, in which the authoritative teaching was transmitted, interpreted, and kept secret.
大多數諾斯替派團體看來都是以學校的形式組織起來，權威的教導被傳送，解釋和保持秘密。

There was wide disagreement among groups as to the importance of rites, with some practicing quasi-Christian Eucharists and baptisms and others rejecting all aspects of conventional worship, including prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
團體中間有廣泛的爭議，比如儀式的重要性，還有一些類似的基督教聖餐和洗禮，其他的反對所有崇拜的慣例，包括禱告，禁食和救濟。

Notions of ethics likewise varied widely.
道德規範的觀念同樣也是廣泛地各有不同的。

Influence
影響

The development of Christian doctrine was to a large extent a reaction against Gnosticism. The formulation of creedal symbols, the canonization of the New Testament Scriptures, and the emphasis on episcopal authority all were made necessary by the Gnostics' claims.
基督教教義的發展很大程度上是反對諾斯替派的反應。明確表達的教義象徵，對新約文稿的確認和強調主教制度的權威，所有一切都是由諾斯替派的主張而產生的需求。

Moreover, in some measure the Gnostics were the first theologians, and their systems prompted the systemization of early Christian thought.
此外，在某種程度上，諾斯替派是最先的神學，他們的體系鼓動了早期基督教思想的系統化。

In addition, they kept alive the great issues of freedom, redemption, and grace, which for a time lost their emphasis among Christian writers. In a later period, the theology of Augustine owed a great deal to his early experience as a Manichaean.
此外，他們對自由，拯救和優雅等重大議題的活躍，在一段時間裡在基督教作者中失去了他們的注意。在後期的時期，奧古斯丁把他的神學思想歸咎於早期作為一個摩尼教徒的經歷。