As far back as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that the codex — usually of papyrus — was the preferred format among Christians: in the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum ( buried in AD 79 ), all the texts ( Greek literature ) are scrolls ( see Herculaneum papyri ); in the Nag Hammadi " library ", secreted about AD 390, all the texts ( Gnostic Christian ) are codices.

" In fact, a good deal of the early Christian literature is devoted to the exposure and refutation of unorthodox theology, mystery religions and Gnostic groups.

Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Hippolytus were among the greatest early Christian apologists who engaged in critical analyses of unorthodox theology, Greco-Roman pagan religions, and Gnostic groups.

The lack of any internal references to Ephesus in the early manuscripts led Marcion, a second-century heretical Gnostic who created the first New Testament canon, to believe that the letter was actually addressed to the church at Laodicea.

Meanwhile there is definite evidence of grimoires being used by certain, particularly Gnostic sects of early Christianity ; in the Book of Enoch found within the Dead Sea Scrolls for instance, there is various information on astrology and the angels.

Various scholars on early Wiccan history, such as Ronald Hutton, Philip Heselton, and Leo Ruickbie concur that witchcraft's early rituals, as devised by Gardner, contained much from Crowley's writings such as the Gnostic Mass.

Several Gnostic gospels, such as the Gospel of Mary, written in the early 2nd century, see Mary as the special disciple of Jesus who has a deeper understanding of his teachings and is asked to impart this to the other disciples.

Pistis Sophia, possibly dating as early as the 2nd century, is the best surviving of the Gnostic writings.

Some early Christian Gnostic sects professed reincarnation.

Many early apocryphal and Gnostic texts indicate that anointing was part of the baptismal process, and in fact that the baptism with water ( Johns baptism ) is incomplete.

Freke is perhaps best known for his books, co-authored with Peter Gandy, which advocate a Gnostic understanding of early Christianity and the Christ myth theory, including The Jesus Mysteries: Was the " Original Jesus " a Pagan God?

The concept of an Ogdoad also appears in Gnostic systems of the early Christian era, and was further developed by the theologian Valentinus ( ca.

Because of this, Ehrman argues, The Gospel of Thomas is likely composed by a Gnostic some time in the early 2nd century.

Scholars have traditionally understood the Gospel of Thomas as a Gnostic text because it was found amongst other gnostic texts, it was understood as being prone to a Gnostic interpretation by the early Church, and the emphasis on knowledge as the key to salvation, particularly in Saying 1.

J. Menard produced a summary of the academic consensus in the mid-1970s which stated that the gospel was likely a very late text written by a Gnostic author, thus having very little relevance to the study of the early development of Christianity.

# Delta: the view that two separate kinds of material and one kind of spiritual, immaterial entity exists, for example the early Christian and Gnostic belief that man was made of body, soul and spirit, where the first two are different forms of matter and the spirit is immaterial.

Carpocrates of Alexandria was the founder of an early Gnostic sect from the first half of the 2nd century.

The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945.

* Valentinus ( Gnostic ) ( died c. 150 ), early Christian gnostic theologian

A biblical example of such criticism can be found in, which criticizes the Nicolaitanes, an early Gnostic sect.

The Sibylline Oracles are a valuable source for information about Classical mythology and early first millennium Gnostic, Jewish and Christian beliefs.

The Sibylline oracles are therefore a pastiche of Greek and Roman pagan mythology, employing motifs of Homer and Hesiod ; Judeo-Christian legends such as the Garden of Eden, Noah and the Tower of Babel ; Gnostic and early Christian homilies and eschatological writings ; thinly veiled references to historical figures such as Alexander the Great and Cleopatra, as well as many allusions to the events of the later Roman Empire, often portraying Rome in a negative light.

Historians and Bible scholars analyze the Canonical Gospels, Talmud, Gospel according to the Hebrews, Gnostic Gospels, Josephus, Dead Sea Scrolls and other early documents attempting to find the Historical Jesus.

Kent and Story, the great early American scholars, repeatedly made use of this phrase, or of `` Christian nations '', which is a substantial equivalent.

Their lungs are functional early but the larvae don't make as much use of them as do tadpoles.

For more details of this early work, see Alpha particle # History of discovery and use.

Many of Canberra's suburbs are named after former Prime Ministers, famous Australians, early settlers, or use Aboriginal words for their title.

His disease was one which had affected him from an early age, caused by the continual use of carving-tools, producing a depression of the ribs.

The early use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to political astrology, the observation of unusual phenomena, identification of portents and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions.

Another, showing an early use of electional astrology, is ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash ( ca.

They also sold the exotic Olivetti M20, a very early 16 bit personal computer that was one of the very few systems to use a Z8000 CPU.

After hard lessons early in the war, machine guns were mounted for use against infantry but the limited traverse of the mounting meant that they were still less effective than those used on turreted tanks.

In France, Santo Daime won a court case allowing them to use the tea in early 2005 ; however, they were not allowed an exception for religious purposes, but rather for the simple reason that they did not perform chemical extractions to end up with pure DMT and harmala and the plants used were not scheduled.

His last group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 ( Olimpia vendicata ) and a much more modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect.

Among the most exciting recent archaeological discoveries in Greece is the recognition that the sanctuary site near the modern village of Kalapodi is not only the site of the oracle of Apollon at Abai but that it was in constant use for cult practices from early Mycenaean times to the Roman period.

While some early calculators copied the manual method ( typically substituting polynomials for tabulated data ), computers use a different approach.

As early as 1966, resolutions were introduced to the United Nations charging that the U. S. was violating the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which regulated the use of chemical and biological weapons.

The fact that the Aeginetan standard of weights and measures ( developed in the mid-7th century ) was one of the two standards in general use in the Greek world ( the other being the Euboic-Attic ) is sufficient evidence of the early commercial importance of the island.

After a period of dereliction Aberdour House was developed for residential use in the early 1990s.

The first recorded use of the term tranquilizer dates from the early nineteenth century.

His early work in scrutinizing the use of local, exchange and trunk telephone line usage in a small community, to understand the theoretical requirements of an efficient network led to the creation of the Erlang formula, which became a foundational element of present day telecommunication network studies.

One paper has found that alcohol use at an early age may influence the expression of genes which increase the risk of alcohol dependence.

The English word " amputation " was first applied to surgery in the 17th century, possibly first in Peter Lowe's A discourse of the Whole Art of Chirurgerie ( published in either 1597 or 1612 ); his work was derived from 16th century French texts and early English writers also used the words " extirpation " ( 16th century French texts tended to use extirper ), " disarticulation ", and " dismemberment " ( from the Old French desmembrer and a more common term before the 17th century for limb loss or removal ), or simply " cutting ", but by the end of the 17th century " amputation " had come to dominate as the accepted medical term.

There are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but it became common by the 16th century.

The television, film, book, costume, home decoration, and confectionery industries use this time of year to promote products closely associated with such a holiday, with promotions going from early September to 31 October, since their themes rapidly lose strength once the holiday ends, and advertising starts concentrating on Christmas.

Virtually all productions today, however, use the original ending, as do nearly all of the film versions of this play, including Dariush Mehrjui's Sara ( the Argentine version, made in 1943 and starring Delia Garcés, does not ; it also modernizes the story, setting it in the early 1940s ).

The carbon microphone was extremely important in early telecommunications ; analog telephones in fact work without the use of any other amplifier.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, extensive study concentrated on the use of antioxidants in important industrial processes, such as the prevention of metal corrosion, the vulcanization of rubber, and the polymerization of fuels in the fouling of internal combustion engines.