Almost everything we know about Valentinus the man comes from his enemies, which is the first fact to hold onto.
Imported citation, not independently checked: Irenaeus; Tertullian; Clement of Alexandria
religion · Shared topic · Revision 0
Who Was Valentinus?
Who Was Valentinus?
The current answer
The second century's most gifted Christian insider: a poet-theologian whose school flourished inside the very churches that condemned it.
What remains uncertain
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Tertullian elsewhere gives a partly conflicting account of Valentinus's break with the Roman church (Prescription Against Heretics 30).
Imported citation, not independently checked: Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 30
Irenaeus complains that the Valentinians boast a work "which they style the Gospel of Truth" (Against Heresies 3.11.9).
Imported citation, not independently checked: Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.11.9
Modern scholarship has pulled the man and the movement apart.
Imported citation, not independently checked: Einar Thomassen, The Spiritual Seed
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