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A. H. Armstrong writes in the introduction to his translation of the Enneads of Plotinus the following (Plotinus George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1953, p. 27):

We may sum up the general philosophical and religious situation in the age of Plotinus in the words of G. Quispel, [Gnosis als Welt-Religion, ch. 3, p. 26] Late antiquity appears to our mind's eye as a land of three rivers, traversed by canals and with bridges which make traffic possible ; but all the same three great streams appear distinctly, Gnosis, Neo-Platonism, and Christianity. There are innumerable interconnexions, but the three streams remain distinct, springing from different sources and flowing in different directions. And even when Christianity, after drawing into its stream a great deal of water from the other two rivers, flows on by itself, the result is not a mere syncretism or fusion. Christianity assimilates what it takes from the other two but remains itself.

Are there any critical references that would clarify the differences between these "three great streams"?

Perhaps these streams are a misunderstanding and the situation is not the way Armstrong describes it. Showing that would also be an answer.

Frank Hubeny
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  • very beautifully poetry but sounds like a die-hard Christian's view. Why would he see Gnosticism as from a different source?? At the time of his writing (1953) little was known of Gnosticism. The Gnostic Gospels had only been discovered a few years before and there were no publications on them until the 1970s. See Elaine Pagel's book. – Swami Vishwananda Jun 18 '18 at 10:46
  • @SwamiVishwananda It may be that Quispel and Armstrong are wrong about these "three great streams". I will edit the question to not assume that there actually are these three streams. – Frank Hubeny Jun 18 '18 at 11:43
  • The idea that Christianity assimilated Gnosticism and the view expressed in the Enneads seems absurd to me. These idea are heretical even today for most Christians. The Roman church went to strenuous efforts to banish these ideas, burning books and executing dissidents. Not just Gnosticism but even the (lower-case) gnosticism of the early Christian practitioners was outlawed on completion of the Roman Bible. I do not recognise Armstrong's 'three great streams. This seems to be an attempt to revise history to save the blushes of the Emperor's new religion. . . –  Jun 18 '18 at 12:03
  • @PeterJ I think Armstrong is saying that Christianity took ideas from both Gnosticism and Neoplatonism, but it did not form a fusion with them. The same could be said for the other two "streams". Perhaps what I am asking is too broad. – Frank Hubeny Jun 18 '18 at 12:42
  • For some details, see [Gnosticism](https://www.iep.utm.edu/gnostic/) : "a loosely organized religious and philosophical movement that flourished in the first and second centuries CE. The exact origin(s) of this school of thought cannot be traced, although it is possible to locate influences or sources as far back as the second and first centuries BCE, such as the early treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, the Jewish Apocalyptic writings, and especially Platonic philosophy and the Hebrew Scriptures themselves." – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 19 '18 at 08:07
  • And see [Neoplatonism](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neoplatonism/) : "a philosophical school of thought that first emerged and flourished in the Greco-Roman world of late antiquity, roughly from the time of the Roman Imperial Crisis to the Arab conquest, i.e., the middle of the 3rd to the middle of the 7th century." – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 19 '18 at 08:08
  • For a recent material, see K.Corrigan etc. (editors), [Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World](https://books.google.it/books?id=BfiZAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover), Brill (2013). – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 19 '18 at 08:10
  • Basic difference : Christianity is a religious sect while Neo-Platonism is a philosophical school. Gnosticism ... maybe boty. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 19 '18 at 08:14
  • @FrankHubeny - You may be right but I would say (commonplace) Christianity is the outright rejection of Plotinus and all forms of gnosticism. I have no trouble reconciling Plotinus and Jesus but cannot reconcile either of them with the teachings of the later Church. I struggle to see what Christianity has taken on board from Plotinus so would be interested in examples. What Mauro says above seems spot on. . . –  Jun 19 '18 at 10:09
  • @PeterJ My goal is not to reconcile them, but to see their differences more clearly while focusing on Plotinus not even neoplatonism. Perhaps a more focused question would be why did Augustine ultimately rejected Plotinus, but I wanted to get the gnostics in this as well. Reading Plotinus (and introductions to him) is making me wonder about influences he might have had. – Frank Hubeny Jun 19 '18 at 13:19
  • @MauroALLEGRANZA Thank you for the references. These three groups are different, but I am easily confusing them while reading, and reading about, Plotinus. – Frank Hubeny Jun 19 '18 at 13:21
  • Because many ideas are common ... as well as a certain "zeitgeist" that we can try to catch with a slogan : the sunset of "classical" Greek rationalism and the re-birth of (totally fictional) ancient wisdom: Egypt, Moses, Hermes. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 19 '18 at 13:30
  • @MauroALLEGRANZA There was also an economic slowdown during that time which I am keeping in mind which could lead to the sunset of rationalism and rebirth of magical thinking. – Frank Hubeny Jun 19 '18 at 13:40
  • @FrankHubeny - I'd also like to know why Augustine rejected him. I might ask. –  Jun 19 '18 at 14:27
  • @FrankHubeny - Just looked into this. It seems Augustine was. like his church, stuck in a speculative dogma so couldn't follow Plotinus all the way. Pity. . –  Jun 19 '18 at 14:36

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