crossspacer imageNew Christian UK

www.newchristian.org.uk

small green squaresquare spacerAgnostics Pagesquare spacersmall green square

Help and Information for Agnostics about God and Jesus

spacer imagewhat is an agnostic?

"AGNOSTICS do not deny the existence of God - instead they hold that one cannot know for certain whether or not God exists.

The term agnostic was coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge.

He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning "without, not," as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic.

The word Gnostic is related to the Greek word gnosis, "knowledge," which was used by early Christian writers to mean "higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things"; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge.

In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as "Gnostics" a group of his fellow intellectuals-"ists," as he called them-who had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction.

Because he was a "man without a rag of a label to cover himself with," Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870". (quote from the online Free Dictionary)

CHECK OUT THESE ONE MINUTE VIDEOS:

Not a Christian yet?

agnostic word

Not sure yet?

atheist word

Don't believe?

other religions words

Don't all lead to God?

site index words