“Churches spilt after a group of Christians deny that Jesus was truly human. These unorthodox Christians, apparently forefathers of a heresy that explodes into full bloom during the second and third centuries, believe that everything physical is flawed and evil - including the human body. They teach that God, on the other hand, is completely spiritual and good. Christians who embrace this premise are forced to conclude that Jesus only appeared to be physical - but was really spiritual. Furthermore, they argue that the crucifixion plays no role in salvation, they explain, comes from secret knowledge about how to transcend the body. This secret knowledge, apparently expressed in rituals and words, eventually gives the religious movement its name: Gnosticism, from gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge.”
