3.20 Gnowing Me, Gnowing You II: The Crusade of Valentinus

History in the Bible

Garry Stevens

History, Christianity, Judaism, Bible, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 693 Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Unlike the Sethian Gnostics, the Valentinian Gnostics are clearly rooted in Christianity. They were founded by Valentinus, an Egyptian who may have stood for the bishopric of Rome. Valentinus founded a popular crusade that borrowed from the Sethians and the apostle Paul. The movement produced a copious literature: the apocalypse of Paul, the apocalypse of Peter, the apocalypse of Adam, the gospel of Mary, the gospel of Phillip, and the gospel of truth. All of these books were recovered only in the 20th century. The Valentinians formed a parallel church to the orthodox, one much more inviting to women. They attended orthodox services, but operated separate elite clubs. They were only suppressed in the fourth century, after the Roman state granted a monopoly to the orthodox.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Giday, I'm Gary Stevens.
0:09.9	And welcome to the third season of the History in the Bible podcast.
0:15.2	In this final season, I explore how the Jews and the Christians constructed new religions when they were
0:23.6	sent spinning into the void after the destruction of the temple. All of the history, about all
0:30.6	of the books beyond the Bible. Episode 3.20
0:39.9	Knowing Me, Knowing You, Part 2, The Crusade of Valentinus.
0:47.5	In the last episode of the history in the Bible, I introduced the crazy Settian Gnostics,
0:56.6	about whom we know so little.
1:01.6	On to the Gnostic group that we have much more information about.
1:04.2	The Valentinian Gnostics.
1:11.7	The church fathers were adamant that their brand of Christianity had been repeatedly perverted by heretics.
1:17.3	The fathers believed that each heresy originated with a single person.
1:24.3	They identified the earliest heretics as Simon Magus, Corinthus and Basilides.
1:30.3	I thrilled you with the story of Simon Magus in episode 2.50,
1:34.0	the first Jesus Club Part 2, Tribulations.
1:38.9	Corinthus was believed to be an opponent of Peter and Paul.
1:44.3	John, it was said, wrote He's Gospel to refute Corinthus.
1:50.9	Paul wrote Here's letter, they also said, to the Galatians against Corinthus followers.
1:54.0	These claims are improbable.
2:00.5	The first solid evidence we have of an explicit attack on Corinthus comes from a letter called the Epistle of the Apostles.
2:03.4	I mentioned the epistle in episode 3.18, Christians under the Roman gaze.
2:10.5	This was written a good century after the time of Peter and Paul, and supposedly, Corinthus,
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