Salvation is secret knowledge that frees the divine spark within from the prison of the material world.
A heresy denies the Gospel or the God it reveals (Galatians 1:8).
Where It Began
Teachers such as Basilides in Alexandria and Valentinus in Rome blended Christian language with speculation drawn from Greek philosophy and other sources. Their systems varied widely, but they shared a dark view of the material world and a confidence in hidden teaching passed to a spiritual few.
For centuries these teachers were known mainly through their critics. In 1945 a cache of texts found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt gave scholars many of their own writings.
The People Involved
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Why This Is Dangerous
It replaces the cross with secret knowledge and tells people to look for salvation inside themselves. By calling the body and the created world evil, it denies the Creator, the incarnation, and the resurrection all at once.