Is there any chance that the “gnostic” gospels have any bearing on the historical Jesus?
The timing of these gospels is in debate as far as I’m aware with the Gospel of John being seen as a possible response to the Gospel of Thomas. This as well as the claim that Valentinuis learned from a lineage descending from Paul, is there any chance that the core ideas presented were at all present in Jesus’s ministry?
The ideas they seem to present along with the character of Jesus seem so far removed from the canonical gospels it’s hard to think in only a few decades that the faith could change so much, if these ideas don’t come from Jesus where do they come from?
If Jesus preached about knowledge and its role in divinity would this change our understanding of Jesus as an apocalyptic Jew who believed the kingdom of heaven was coming during his lifetime?