In Reply to: The Gnostic Gospels posted by Perry on June 09, 2004 at 12:57:04:
The Apostles Creed came before the Nicene Creed and it also declares Jesus as God. The Apostles creed can be traced back to 160 AD and it came from the baptismal words that had been established long before that.
"Gnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A.D. Although many elements of second-century gnosticsm are pre-Christian, it is a well-established historical fact that Christianity -- and the Christian Canon accepted as the ?New Testament? -- predates the Gnostic movement. The name of gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis (γνῶσις), referring to the idea that there is special, hidden knowledge (esoteric knowledge) that only a few may possess. The occult nature of Gnostic teaching and the fact that much of the evidence for that teaching comes from attacks by orthodox Christians makes it difficult to be precise about the differences between different Gnostic systems. The word Gnosticism is also used nowadays to describe modern sects which have formed out of the New Age movement, and which do not necessarily share the main core idea of Theological dualism. "
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Gnosticism