Valentianism

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Valentinianism was a religious doctrine named after Valentinius, a Roman theologian who lived circa 2nd century A.D., and defied Christian orthodoxy, in order to follow Gnosticism. This doctrine spread rather fast after Valentinus' death.

Valentinianism was one of the major gnostic movements. It enjoyed a widespread following throughout the Roman world and provoked volume upon volume of writings by Catholic heresiologists. They are often depicted as holding matter to be essentially evil, and the the human body especially. They are often described as being little more than an heretical Christian sect, disdainful of the physical world.

However, modern efforts to assess this view have found it to be too simplistic. Firstly, the notion that early Christianity came into being fully possessed of a rigid doctrinal body and a similarly strict corpus of canonical texts is false (the current canon of the New Testament did not form until centuries after Jesus' death, and the acceptance of the Jewish Bible as the Old Testament was an even longer process). In many ways, it can be argued that what became the Catholic Church evolved in large part as a response to Gnosticism, its doctrines being defined by heresiologists like Irenaeus who wrote volumes comparing and contrasting orthodox (Catholic) beliefs with heterodox (Gnostic, Marcionite, Arian, etc) ideas. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels is one of the definitive scholarly books on the evolution of Catholic orthodoxy in competition with Gnosticism and other early variations of Christianity.

Early Christianity is viewed by modern scholars as a most fluid entity, which encapsulated many apparently contradictory movements and core beliefs of the period; what we would now call orthodox Christianity is a synthesis of some of these beliefs, just one among many differing Christian movements. Thus the notion of a central orthodoxy from which 'Gnosticism' - or any other 'heresy' - deviated, is considered an improper approach. One might note that the original meaning of 'heresy' - denoting 'those who have made a choice' - possessed no derogatory or negative connotations common in the modern sense: it was purely adjectival. It quickly gained these negative connotations however, from the many derogatory words and phrases that were applied to heretics. Furthermore, in the particular case of the Gnostics, the common view is all too dependent on representations of the movement observed from the point of view of its detractors. This is chiefly because most of the writings we have available are in quotations from their detractors, leaving little alternative other than speculation.

Though the Valentinians were considered heretics, they saw themselves foremost as Christians, albeit spiritually advanced ones. It was not uncommon, therefore, for them to attend services with Christians at-large, suplementing these with meetings reserved for initiates. This disturbed greatly writers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian, who considered the Valentinians "wolves in sheep's clothing."

Notable Valentinians included Heracleon, Ptolemy, Florinus, and Axionicus.

Recommended reading

• Wilson, R. McL. "Valentianism and the Gospel of Truth" in Layton, B., (ed.) The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, (Leiden 1980): 133-45.

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