Gnosticism (from
gnostikos, "learned", from
Greek: γνῶσις
gnōsis, knowledge) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some of the early Christian groups called "gnostic" ("learned") by
Irenaeus and other early Christian
heresiologists. The term also has reference to parallels and possible pre-Christian influences of the Christian gnostics.
A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of
Gnosis (esoteric or intuitive knowledge), is the way to
salvation of the soul from the material world. They saw the material world as created through an intermediary being (
demiurge) rather than directly by
God. In most of the systems, this demiurge was seen as imperfect, in others even as evil. Different gnostic schools sometimes identified the demiurge as
Adam Kadmon,
Ahriman,
El,
Saklas,
Samael,
Satan,
Choronzon,
Yaldabaoth, or
Yahweh.