Excerpta ex Theodoto

Excerpta ex Theodoto is a collection of writings by Theodotus, a 2nd-century Gnostic leader, that was compiled by Clement of Alexandria. Gnosticism was a religious movement that believed salvation was achieved through esoteric knowledge, or gnosis. Theodotus's teachings, which elaborated on those of Valentinus, proposed that the world originated from emanations from an ultimate principle of being. He taught that a creator God made matter, and Christ, who united with the man Jesus, brought gnosis to humanity. Salvation, according to Theodotus, was for those infused with pneuma (spirit). Clement of Alexandria, a Christian theologian, included these excerpts in his Stromata (Miscellanies).123