Explain what the Gnostic texts are, and argue for or against the proposition that the Bible should be radically revised to include them
Please provide the best answer for the statement.
1. The gospels in the Bible were written many decades after Jesus’ death, and many scholars consider them to be composites. There are other versions of Jesus’ life than those contained in the Bible. These texts, called Gnostic (from the Greek gnosis, “knowledge”), were written by Christians who claimed special, even secret, knowledge of Jesus’ life. The Gospel of Thomas, for example, claims that Jesus had a twin; the Gospel of Philip implies that Christ had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene; other texts criticize common Christian beliefs, such as the virgin birth and the bodily Resurrection.
2. The Gnostics tend to believe in a transcendent and impersonal God, whereas Christianity, as it developed, came to believe that God resided in Jesus. Gnostics believed that the material world is evil; in contrast, Christianity would come to argue that humankind is inherently good and capable of repentance. Christians would argue that salvation was available to all and acquired through faith, not knowledge, but Gnostics believed that those (and only those) with great intellectual strength might regain the spiritual condition lost in the material world. Gnosticism was eventually rejected as nonauthoritative as the Church developed, and the Church banned the Gnostic texts as heresy.
3. Students’ arguments about inclusion of the Gnostics will vary.
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