Discussion Post: Early Christianity
• We studied two of the ancient Greek mystery religions. One that we did not look at much was Mithraism. Search the internet to find information on Mithraism and answer the following questions.
o Mithraism spread to the Roman Empire from the east and had its origin in which religion?
o Mithras is associated in art with various animals; name one of them.
o Initiates in the cult of Mithraism were organized into ranks or levels. How many ranks were there?
o Mithras came to be associated with which Roman god?
• In the second century, Christianity saw the rise of a movement known as Gnosticism that has sometimes been said to have had a mystical orientation. Search the internet to find information on Gnosticism and answer the following questions.
o What does the word "gnosis" mean?
o Our best source for studying Gnosticism is the library of ancient manuscripts found in 1945 at what place?
o In Gnostic teaching, the material world was created by whom?
o When did the Gnostic teacher Valentinus live?
o What was the goal of the Gnostics?
The response should include a reference list. One-inch margins, Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space and APA style of writing and citations.