Wasn't that third category wiped out by the early orthodox Christian sects (i.e. the Catholic church)? Was the heresies of Valentius and Marcion part of that?
AFAIK most gnostic sects were deemed heretical after the biblical canon was established and killed.
But as many scholars have noted, the Gospel of John is more in line with mystic (not necessarily gnostic since most of these sects did not assume a demiurge) sects of the time than the more "grounded" synoptic gospels.
The difference is John's followers were not obviously contradictory to Pauline Christianity and were cross pollinating by the late 1st century
Wasn't that third category wiped out by the early orthodox Christian sects (i.e. the Catholic church)? Was the heresies of Valentius and Marcion part of that?
AFAIK most gnostic sects were deemed heretical after the biblical canon was established and killed.
Yeah, in the 2nd/3rd century.
But as many scholars have noted, the Gospel of John is more in line with mystic (not necessarily gnostic since most of these sects did not assume a demiurge) sects of the time than the more "grounded" synoptic gospels.
The difference is John's followers were not obviously contradictory to Pauline Christianity and were cross pollinating by the late 1st century