Gospel of Judas

[tlclark]

I agree, it was not decided for all from the top down. It was a personal opinion, but an opinion which was expected to be agreed upon. In this case the said bishop was influential and later it was decided to follow what he wrote about the subject. The gnostics had different ideas but the main difference is that they beleived, like the Pelagians after them, that each Christian had a personal relation to God, making the Church superfluous.

Not quite. Pelagius and Gnosticism are VERY different.

The Gnostics were rather elitist in their position. All were divine "sparks" broken off from the one true god by the violence of the creation wrought by the demi-urge. By means of the true knowledge, one could see and access this spark which was part of the one true God and return to it. Christ is only the messenger telling people to listen to their sparks and giving them the divine gnosis by which they could liberate it from the muck of creation

In Pelagius' view, Christ is the son of God and mediator with man. Pelagius believed that all were equally accessible to God through Christ, and obligated to him. Pelagius then emphasizes free will and personal accountability to God, mediated through the person of Christ. Pelagius is the antithesis of Augustine's position of predetermination. This eerily parallels the split between Meno, Arman and Calvin. In Pelagius view the church wasn't unnecessary. It had a role as pedagogue, shepherd, confessional, teacher, preacher, and a host of other reasons, but that ultimately salvation was between God and the individual. For Augustine, the church is far more supreme and all-encompassing.

Travis