An Attempt To Date
Gnosticism
G.D.O'Bradovich III
October, 2014
The following citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
1563 N. Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 51
Iowis, Gentilis, and thai callit Gnostici. Marg. Sua nameit for ostentatioun of thare science.]
1607 T. Rogers Faith, Doctr., & Relig. 6
Some, as the Gnostikes..affirme there be mo[r]e Gods then one.
1641 J. Wilkins Mercury x. 84
From such idle collections as these, many heresies of the..Gnosticks had their first beginnings.
1645 Milton Tetrachordon To Parl. sig. A2,
Thought new and dangerous by some of our severe Gnostics, whose little reading..holds ever with hardest obstinacy that which it took up with easiest credulity.
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 83
The Souls of the Gods have a dijudicative faculty, called Gnostick.
1664 H. More Antidote Idolatry To Rdr. sig. O 2 a,
Though it be indeed but a spice of the old abhorred Gnosticism.
1664 H. More Expos. 7 Epist. 37
Too many began to Gnosticize, as it is called, in that point, and think it a small thing to deny the Faith in the time of Persecution.
1703 S. Parker tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. 19
Peter and John..had..receiv'd the Gnosis, or Gift of Knowledge, from him after his Resurrection.
1713 R. Nelson Life Bp. Bull §69. 394
Till Platonism and Gnosticism crept into the Church.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Gnosimachi,
They were perfectly averse to all the Gnosis of Christianity, i. e. to all the Science, or Knowledge therein.
1744 G. Berkeley Siris §187
The Gnostics, Basilidians, and other ancient heretics.
1792 T. Taylor in tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. (new ed.) I. Diss. p. xiv,
They [the numbers] exist in a vital, gnostic, and speculative, but not in an operative manner.
1800 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 8 797
Their disciples..have formed in the different churches an interior gnostic or illuminated order, rather than independent congregations.
There are 12 primary citations before the year 1800.
1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 5 681
Mr. Seward..threw over to us a letter written in a large gnostic sprauling hand.
1823 Scott St. Ronan's Well I. iv. 89
This is the very fellow that we saw down at the Willow-slack on Saturday—he was tog'd gnostically enough, and cast twelve yards of line with one hand.
1823 Scott St. Ronan's Well I. v. 120,
I said you were a d——d gnostic fellow, and I laid a bet you have not been always professional.
1826 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Mag. 20 782
Smoking and leering, with tongue-lolling cheek, finger-tip and nose-tip gnostically brought together.
1828 E. B. Pusey Hist. Enq. 163 The old error of the Gnostical interpreters in the early Church was thus revived.
1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 28 581 The philosophy of a Bacon,..the wisdom of a Wordsworth, the genius of a Byron, the gnosticity of a John Bee.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 281/1 The origin of the Gnostic system has been traced to various sources.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 281/2 Gnosticism is merely a generic term, and..included many sects that differed considerably from each other.
1840 G. S. Faber Primitive Doctr. Regeneration xvi, They..occupied themselves, not very profitably, in gnosticising upon the virtues of Celibacy.
1840 G. S. Faber Primitive Doctr. Regeneration xviii, Let all the Fathers..gnosticise ever so copiously on Fasting and Celibacy.
1842 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) II. 31 Clement would gnosticise his words as spiritually and covertly importing: I cultivate [etc.].
1842 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) II. 49 Under the new and gnosticising aspect of its being inherently a State of greater Moral Purity and Perfection than [etc.].
1850 R. C. Trench Notes Parables (ed. 2) Introd. 22 The horrible dream of Gnostic and Manichæan.
1851 Bunsen Hippolytus (1854) I. 108 The writers of those Ophite books were acquainted with the Gospel [of St. John] and attempted to Gnosticize it.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. ii. 223 A Gnostic gem of agate, on which a z-formed symbol is twice repeated.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. ii. 224 The early phases of Gnostic philosophy.
1854 F. D. Maurice Moral Philos. (ed. 2) II. 26 Saturninus is memorable in history as the author of one of the so-called gnostical heresies.
1854 F. D. Maurice Moral Philos. (ed. 2) II. 28 The Gnosis would take its colour from every different locality, from every different thinker. There must be a Syrian Gnosis and an Alexandrian Gnosis [etc.].
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) II. viii. vii. 76 Behmen and the mystics..essay to pass the ordinary bounds of knowledge and to attain a priviledged gnosis.
1856a W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xli. 415 The distinction taken in the Peripatetic School, by which the mental modifications were divided into Gnostic or Cognitive, and Orectic or Appetent.
1859 Trollope West Indies (1860) v. 76 It [punch] should partake duly of the..spirit and..the saccharine according to the skill and will of the gnostic fabricator, who in mixing knows his own purposes.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism I. iii. 224 Gnosticism exercised a very great influence over Christian art.
1871 J. F. Clarke Ten Great Relig. (1888) I. vi. §7. 255 The common Christian lives by faith, but the more advanced believer has gnosis, or philosophic insight of Christianity as the eternal law of the soul.
1877 J. C. Geikie Life of Christ (1879) xxviii. 315 The Christian Gnostics began to make likenesses of him.
1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 854/2 Attempts to Christianize paganism, to conciliate Judaism, or to gnosticize Christianity.
1881 Athenæum 2 Apr. 460/1 Dr. Joel in his monograph..has advanced the knowledge..of mystical and Gnostical passages in this book [the Talmud].
1884 D. Hunter tr. E. Reuss Hist. Canon iv. 65 Another struck by the mystical and speculative spirit of the Fourth Gospel and recognizing..some colouring of his own gnosis [etc.].
1884 Nonconformist & Independent 10 Oct. 975/1 Gnostic pride will continue to feed itself on doctrine that leads to no action.
1885 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 375/1 In Alexandria, the Gnostic tendencies gathered life and strength.
1888 R. Flint in Mind XIII. 596 Idealism is not necessarily either gnostic or agnostic, but is more apt to be the former than the latter.
There are 19 primary citations to the year 1900.
1563 N. Winȝet Wks. (1890) II. 51
Iowis, Gentilis, and thai callit Gnostici. Marg. Sua nameit for ostentatioun of thare science.]
1607 T. Rogers Faith, Doctr., & Relig. 6
Some, as the Gnostikes..affirme there be mo[r]e Gods then one.
1641 J. Wilkins Mercury x. 84
From such idle collections as these, many heresies of the..Gnosticks had their first beginnings.
1645 Milton Tetrachordon To Parl. sig. A2,
Thought new and dangerous by some of our severe Gnostics, whose little reading..holds ever with hardest obstinacy that which it took up with easiest credulity.
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 83
The Souls of the Gods have a dijudicative faculty, called Gnostick.
1664 H. More Antidote Idolatry To Rdr. sig. O 2 a,
Though it be indeed but a spice of the old abhorred Gnosticism.
1664 H. More Expos. 7 Epist. 37
Too many began to Gnosticize, as it is called, in that point, and think it a small thing to deny the Faith in the time of Persecution.
1703 S. Parker tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. 19
Peter and John..had..receiv'd the Gnosis, or Gift of Knowledge, from him after his Resurrection.
1713 R. Nelson Life Bp. Bull §69. 394
Till Platonism and Gnosticism crept into the Church.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Gnosimachi,
They were perfectly averse to all the Gnosis of Christianity, i. e. to all the Science, or Knowledge therein.
1744 G. Berkeley Siris §187
The Gnostics, Basilidians, and other ancient heretics.
1792 T. Taylor in tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. (new ed.) I. Diss. p. xiv,
They [the numbers] exist in a vital, gnostic, and speculative, but not in an operative manner.
1800 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 8 797
Their disciples..have formed in the different churches an interior gnostic or illuminated order, rather than independent congregations.
There are 12 primary citations before the year 1800.
1819 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 5 681
Mr. Seward..threw over to us a letter written in a large gnostic sprauling hand.
1823 Scott St. Ronan's Well I. iv. 89
This is the very fellow that we saw down at the Willow-slack on Saturday—he was tog'd gnostically enough, and cast twelve yards of line with one hand.
1823 Scott St. Ronan's Well I. v. 120,
I said you were a d——d gnostic fellow, and I laid a bet you have not been always professional.
1826 J. Wilson in Blackwood's Mag. 20 782
Smoking and leering, with tongue-lolling cheek, finger-tip and nose-tip gnostically brought together.
1828 E. B. Pusey Hist. Enq. 163 The old error of the Gnostical interpreters in the early Church was thus revived.
1830 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 28 581 The philosophy of a Bacon,..the wisdom of a Wordsworth, the genius of a Byron, the gnosticity of a John Bee.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 281/1 The origin of the Gnostic system has been traced to various sources.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 281/2 Gnosticism is merely a generic term, and..included many sects that differed considerably from each other.
1840 G. S. Faber Primitive Doctr. Regeneration xvi, They..occupied themselves, not very profitably, in gnosticising upon the virtues of Celibacy.
1840 G. S. Faber Primitive Doctr. Regeneration xviii, Let all the Fathers..gnosticise ever so copiously on Fasting and Celibacy.
1842 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) II. 31 Clement would gnosticise his words as spiritually and covertly importing: I cultivate [etc.].
1842 G. S. Faber Provinc. Lett. (1844) II. 49 Under the new and gnosticising aspect of its being inherently a State of greater Moral Purity and Perfection than [etc.].
1850 R. C. Trench Notes Parables (ed. 2) Introd. 22 The horrible dream of Gnostic and Manichæan.
1851 Bunsen Hippolytus (1854) I. 108 The writers of those Ophite books were acquainted with the Gospel [of St. John] and attempted to Gnosticize it.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. ii. 223 A Gnostic gem of agate, on which a z-formed symbol is twice repeated.
1851 D. Wilson Archaeol. & Prehist. Ann. Scotl. (1863) II. iv. ii. 224 The early phases of Gnostic philosophy.
1854 F. D. Maurice Moral Philos. (ed. 2) II. 26 Saturninus is memorable in history as the author of one of the so-called gnostical heresies.
1854 F. D. Maurice Moral Philos. (ed. 2) II. 28 The Gnosis would take its colour from every different locality, from every different thinker. There must be a Syrian Gnosis and an Alexandrian Gnosis [etc.].
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) II. viii. vii. 76 Behmen and the mystics..essay to pass the ordinary bounds of knowledge and to attain a priviledged gnosis.
1856a W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) II. xli. 415 The distinction taken in the Peripatetic School, by which the mental modifications were divided into Gnostic or Cognitive, and Orectic or Appetent.
1859 Trollope West Indies (1860) v. 76 It [punch] should partake duly of the..spirit and..the saccharine according to the skill and will of the gnostic fabricator, who in mixing knows his own purposes.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism I. iii. 224 Gnosticism exercised a very great influence over Christian art.
1871 J. F. Clarke Ten Great Relig. (1888) I. vi. §7. 255 The common Christian lives by faith, but the more advanced believer has gnosis, or philosophic insight of Christianity as the eternal law of the soul.
1877 J. C. Geikie Life of Christ (1879) xxviii. 315 The Christian Gnostics began to make likenesses of him.
1880 Encycl. Brit. XI. 854/2 Attempts to Christianize paganism, to conciliate Judaism, or to gnosticize Christianity.
1881 Athenæum 2 Apr. 460/1 Dr. Joel in his monograph..has advanced the knowledge..of mystical and Gnostical passages in this book [the Talmud].
1884 D. Hunter tr. E. Reuss Hist. Canon iv. 65 Another struck by the mystical and speculative spirit of the Fourth Gospel and recognizing..some colouring of his own gnosis [etc.].
1884 Nonconformist & Independent 10 Oct. 975/1 Gnostic pride will continue to feed itself on doctrine that leads to no action.
1885 W. E. Addis & T. Arnold Catholic Dict. (ed. 3) 375/1 In Alexandria, the Gnostic tendencies gathered life and strength.
1888 R. Flint in Mind XIII. 596 Idealism is not necessarily either gnostic or agnostic, but is more apt to be the former than the latter.
There are 19 primary citations to the year 1900.