Docetism is an effort to interpret the incarnation and life of Jesus in the framework of dualism. It holds that Christ had only an apparent body (δοϰέω, seem or appear) and therefore denies various dogmas bearing on the Incarnation. At the birth of Christianity, the dualism of Gnosis was widespread in the Graeco-Roman world. The clash with Christianity gave rise to a series of heresies that claimed to offer a rational explanation of the mystery of Christ. It was a basic assumption of all these h…