Eugnostos and The Sophia of Jesus Christ as Third-Century Ecumenical Gnostic Christofictions

Abstract This article argues that Eugnostos and its adaptation The Sophia of Jesus Christ , represent third-century Christian compositions that were created by Christians who collected second-century Gnostic artifacts because they were interested in Jesus esoterica. They believed that these texts were old and original to Christianity, preserving authentic wisdom about the nature of God, the world, and our existence. They relied on these texts to create their own condensed version of mythmaking which yielded ecumenical configurations of Gnosticism that appeared to reflect an esoteric Christian philosophy old-as-the-hills. This metaphysical knowledge was used by the authors to critique Catholic theology and resist the increasing consolidation and encroachment of Catholicism.