Not a Gnostic - Wordsmith.org

Wordsmith.org

Quote:

agnostic noun. a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from a- 1 [not] + gnostic

I am agnostic. But how did this word come about? Etymology-wise, it means I am not a believer in a prominent heretical movement of the 2nd-century.

from Mr. Huxley:

"I ... invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic,' ... antithetic to the 'Gnostic' of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant." [T.H. Huxley, "Science and Christian Tradition," 1889]

from no huckster he.

Here's some info: http://tinyurl.com/36slqk

I can't access the above link so pardon if this is redundant.

I had always understood the etymology of agnostic to be along the lines of: a- = without as in amoral or atypical, and gnosis = knowledge, as in prognosis (literally, foreknowledge).

here it is minus the tinyurl: The Origin of the Word Agnostic