Esoteric Christianity

Esoteric Christianity is an approach to Christianity which features “secret traditions” that require an initiation to learn or understand.^[1] The term esoteric was coined in the 17th century and derives from the Greek ἐσωτερικός (esôterikos, “inner”).^[2]

These spiritual currents share some common features, such as heterodox or heretical Christian theology; the canonical gospels, various apocalyptic literature, and some New Testament apocrypha as sacred texts;^{[citation needed]} and disciplina arcani, a supposed oral tradition from the Twelve Apostles containing esoteric teachings of Jesus the Christ.^[1]

Esoteric Christianity was closely related to gnosticism, and survives in a few modern churches.^[1]

Ancient roots

Greek mysticism influenced many early church theologians such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen.

Some modern scholars believe that in the early stages of proto-orthodox Christianity, a nucleus of oral teachings were inherited from Palestinian and Hellenistic Judaism.^[1] In the 4th century, it was believed to form the basis of a secret oral tradition which came to be called disciplina arcani.^[1] Mainstream theologians, however, believe that it contained only liturgical details and certain other traditions which remain a part of some branches of mainstream Christianity.^[1][3][4] Important influences on esoteric Christianity are the Christian theologians Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the leading figures of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.^{[5][need quotation to verify]}

Reincarnation was accepted by most Gnostic Christian sects such as Valentinianism and the Basilidians, but denied by the proto-orthodox one.^{[citation needed]} While hypothetically considering a complex multiple-world transmigration scheme in De Principiis, Origen denies reincarnation in unmistakable terms in his work Against Celsus and elsewhere.^[6][7]

Despite this apparent contradiction, most modern esoteric Christian movements refer to Origen’s writings (along with other Church Fathers and biblical passages^[8]) to validate these ideas as part of the esoteric Christian tradition outside of the Gnostic schools, who were later considered heretical in the 3rd century.^[9]

Present-day denominations

A denomination of esoteric Christianity is The Christian Community.^[10] It focuses on the experiential aspect of sacraments, with the Eucharist serving as “the Rite of the Consecration of Man”.^[10]

Scholar Jan Shipps describes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as having esoteric elements.^[11]