Thermodynamics
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franklinmonroe said:I'm not a historian, but I must challenge this statement. Early Christianity (1st and 2nd centuries) dealt with many heresies. Proto-gnostics existed very early but were scattered geographically. Alexandria becoming a "center" of Gnosticism probably came much later (late 3rd or early 4th century?) well after "at that time" of the making of those early copies of the NT scriptures which have been recovered.
I had assumed this was common knowledge, but sometimes I am guilty of assuming too much, I am a history geek after all. You have heard of the Nag Hammadi Library have you not? That was a collection of Gnostic writings discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. These writings, the most well know of which is the so-called "Gospel of Thomas" are believed to date from the 2nd to the 4th Century AD. Of course there were Gnostics all over the Empire, as would be expected given the ease of transportation during Imperial times. However, there is no doubt that the Gnostics were well established in Egypt by the time the two primary Minority Text documents were written.