Understanding Gnosticism vs. Gnosis

The Quiz: What Did the Gnostics Get Right?

Understanding Gnosticism vs. Gnosis: A Backstory

When most people hear the word “Gnosticism,” it conjures a vague, misunderstood image: a shadowy, long-forgotten offshoot of early Christianity, stamped out by the Church and relegated to obscure history books. If it’s remembered at all, it’s often as a heresy—something cryptic and dangerous that failed to survive the march of orthodoxy.

What rarely comes to mind is the beating heart of Gnosticism: Gnosis.

The two are often conflated, but they are not the same. Gnosticism was a collection of mystical traditions and sects that flourished in the ancient world, each with its own myths, symbols, and practices. Over time, as it became a target of persecution, its deeper essence—Gnosis, or the direct experience of divine truth—was obscured by doctrine and history.

But Gnosis itself cannot be contained by labels or time. It is not bound to a particular religion or philosophy. Gnosis is a way of knowing that transcends intellectual understanding, a…