Gnosticism (fromAncient Greek:γνωστικός,romanized:gnōstikós,Koine Greek:[ɣnostiˈkos], 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD amongearly Christian sects. These diverse groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above theproto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnosticcosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hiddenGod and a malevolentlesser divinity (sometimes associated with theHebrew Bible deityYahweh)^[1] who is responsible for creating thematerial universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element ofsalvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical oresoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts ofsin andrepentance, but withillusion andenlightenment.^[2]

Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in theMediterranean world around the second century, when theEarly Church Fathers denounced them asheresy.^[3] Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians.^[4] Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such asValentinus saw themselves as Christians. In the Gnostic Christian tradition,Christ is seen as a divine being which has taken human form in order to lead humanity back to recognition of its own divine nature. However, Gnosticism is not a single standardized system, and the emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such asValentinianism andSethianism. In thePersian Empire, Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via the related movementManichaeism, whileMandaeism, which is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity, is found inIraq,Iran anddiaspora communities.^[5] Jorunn Buckley posits that the earlyMandaeans may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the community of early followers of Jesus.^[6]

For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such asIrenaeus of Lyons andHippolytus of Rome. There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt'sNag Hammadi library, a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including theGospel of Thomas and theApocryphon of John. Some scholars say Gnosticism may contain historical information aboutJesus from the Gnostic viewpoint,^[7] though the majority predominantly conclude that apocryphal sources, Gnostic or not, are later than the canonical ones and many, such as theGospel of Thomas, depend upon or use theSynoptic Gospels.^[8][9][10]Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources fromHellenistic Judaism,Zoroastrianism, andMiddle Platonism on the Nag Hammadi texts.^[4]

Since the 1990s, the category of "Gnosticism" has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form ofearly Christianity, an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams,^[11]Karen Leigh King,^[12] and David G. Robertson^[13] contest whether "Gnosticism" is a valid or useful historical term, or if it was an artificial category framed by proto-orthodox theologians to target miscellaneous Christianheretics.

Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness."^[14] It and the associated verb are often used for personal knowledge, as compared with intellectual knowledge (Greek verbεἴδεινeídein). A related term is the adjectivegnostikos, "of or for knowledge",^[15] a reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek.^[16]

By theHellenistic period, it began also to be associated withGreco-Roman mysteries, becoming synonymous with the Greek termmysterion. Consequentially,Gnosis often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception.^{[citation needed]} In a religious context,gnosis ismystical or esotericknowledge based on direct participation with the divine. In most Gnostic systems, the sufficient cause of salvation is this "knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. It is an inward "knowing", comparable to that encouraged byPlotinus (neoplatonism), and differs fromproto-orthodox Christian views.^[17] Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding – or perception and learning – as a particular modality for living".^[18] The usual meaning ofgnostikos in Classical Greek texts is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used byPlato in the comparison of "practical" (praktikos) and "intellectual" (gnostikos).^{[note 1][subnote 1]} Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts.^{[note 2]}

Sometimes employed in theSeptuagint translation of theHebrew Bible, the adjective is not used in the New Testament, butClement of Alexandria^{[note 3]} who speaks of the "learned" (gnostikos) Christian quite often, uses it in complimentary terms.^[19] The use ofgnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters ofIrenaeus. Some scholars^{[note 4]} consider that Irenaeus sometimes usesgnostikos to simply mean "intellectual",^{[note 5]} whereas his mention of "the intellectual sect"^{[note 6]} is a specific designation.^{[21][note 7][note 8][note 9]} The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources,^{[23][note 10]} and was first coined in the 17th century byHenry More in a commentary on the seven letters of theBook of Revelation, where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy inThyatira.^{[24][note 11]} The termGnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjectivegnostikos (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185 AD) to describe the school ofValentinus ashe legomene gnostike haeresis "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)".^{[25][note 12]}

The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed.Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is strongly influenced byMiddle Platonism and itstheory of forms.^[27][28][29]Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources fromHellenistic Judaism,Zoroastrianism, andMiddle Platonism on the Nag Hammadi texts.^[4] The Christianecclesia (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaicapocalypticism,speculation on divine wisdom, Greek philosophy, andHellenistic mystery religions."^[30] The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity.^{[note 13][32]}

While rejecting the underlying framing thatproto-orthodox Christianity is the 'original' and 'true' Christianity from which Gnosticism and other 'heresies' then deviated, scholars such as Simone Pétrement^[33] andDavid Brakke^[34] have argued that Gnosticism originated as an intra-Christian movement, being one of several responses to the life, death, and presumed resurrection of Jesus, with Pétrement tracing it specifically to tendencies in theletters of Paul and theGospel of John.^[35] Within early Christianity, the teachings ofPaul the Apostle andJohn the Evangelist may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to the world of inferior, worldly powers (thearchons), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The termgnostikos may have acquired a deeper significance here.^[30]

Other modern scholars hold that Gnosticism arose within Judaism and later incorporated stories about Jesus into pre-existing speculation about a cosmic Savior andPhilo's Jewish interpretation of Middle Platonic thought about thedemiurge and thelogos.^{[36][37][38][39][40][note 14][41]} A small minority of scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots inBuddhism, due to similarities in beliefs.^[42]

Some scholars prefer to speak of "gnosis" when referring to first-century ideas that later developed into Gnosticism, and to reserve the term "Gnosticism" for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement in the second century.^[43][44] According toJames M. Robinson, no Gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity,^{[note 15]} and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all."^[45]

A common position is that Gnosticism hasJewish Christian origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects.^{[46][39][40][note 14]}Ethel S. Drower adds, "heterodox Judaism inGalilee andSamaria appears to have taken shape in the form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era."^[47]: xv

Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some Gnostic systems.^[48] Thecosmogonic speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins inMaaseh Breshit andMaaseh Merkabah. This thesis is most notably put forward byGershom Scholem (1897–1982) andGilles Quispel (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewishgnosis in the imagery ofmerkabah mysticism, which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents.^[46] Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins toAlexandrian Jews, to which group Valentinus was also connected.^[49]

Many of theNag Hammadi texts make reference to stories and characters from the Hebrew Bible, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God.^{[40][note 14]} Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism",^[50] though Professor Steven Bayme said Gnosticism would be better characterized asanti-Judaism.^[51] However, recent research into the origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly fromHekhalot literature.^[52]

Regarding the angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes:

[Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. TheElchasaites, or at least Christians influenced by them, paired the male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of theTestament of Solomon held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author ofDe Centesima andEpiphanius' "Ebionites" held Christ to have been the highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects toHermas' equation of Christ withMichael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind theAscension of Isaiah and attested byOrigen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology.^[53]

Thepseudepigraphical Christian textAscension of Isaiah identifies Jesus with angel Christology:

[The Lord Christ is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens...^[54]

The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work considered ascanonical scripture by some of the earlyChurch fathers such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when the author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit".^[55]

In the 1880s Gnostic connections withPlatonism were proposed.^[56] Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins.^[49] Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism,^[57] using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts ashypostasis (reality, existence),ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). BothSethian Gnostics andValentinian Gnostics seem to have been influenced byPlato,Middle Platonism, andNeopythagorean academies or schools of thought.^[58] Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy.^[59]

The Gnostics were strongly opposed byPlotinus and laterNeoplatonists, who rejected their radicaldualism and pessimistic view of creation. In his workAgainst the Gnostics (Enneads II.9), Plotinus criticizedGnostic cosmology, arguing that the material world was not inherently evil but rather a reflection of the One through a series of divine emanations. Neoplatonists such asPorphyry andProclus continued this critique, defending theDemiurge as a benevolent force and emphasizing the soul's ascent to the divine through intellectual and contemplative purification, rather than through esoteric knowledge (gnosis) alone. While Neoplatonism retained some mystical and hierarchical elements that paralleled Gnostic thought, it ultimately positioned itself as an alternative, philosophical path to transcendence that was rooted in classical Greek rationalism rather than Gnostic revelation.^[60]

Early research into the origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements.^[61] According toWilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamiansyncretism,^[56] andRichard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia.^[56]

Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable.^[62] Nevertheless,Geo Widengren (1907–1996) argued for the origin of Mandaean Gnosticism inMazdean (Zoroastrianism)Zurvanism, in conjunction with ideas from the Aramaic Mesopotamian world.^[49]

However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such asKurt Rudolph,Mark Lidzbarski,Rudolf Macúch,Ethel S. Drower,James F. McGrath,Charles G. Häberl,Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, andŞinasi Gündüz argue for a Judean–Israelite origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples.^{[47][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]} Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing inMandaic, finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews".^[70][71]

In 1966, at the Congress of Median, BuddhologistEdward Conze noted phenomenological commonalities betweenMahayana Buddhism and Gnosticism,^[72] in his paperBuddhism and Gnosis, following an early suggestion put forward byIsaac Jacob Schmidt.^{[73][note 16]} The influence of Buddhism in any sense on either theGnostikos Valentinus (c. 170) or the Nag Hammadi texts (3rd century) is not supported by modern scholarship, althoughElaine Pagels called it a "possibility".^[77]

The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, theMonad.^[78] From this highest divinityemanate lower divine beings, known asAeons. TheDemiurge arises among the Aeons and creates the physical world. Divine elements "fall" into the material realm, and are latent in human beings. Redemption from the fall occurs when the humans obtain Gnosis,esoteric orintuitive knowledge of the divine.^[79]

Gnostic systems postulate adualism between God and the world,^[80] varying from the "radical dualist" systems ofManichaeism to the "mitigated dualism" of classic Gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while inmitigated dualism one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other. Inqualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form ofmonism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner.^[81]

Gnostics tended towardasceticism, especially in their sexual and dietary practice.^[82] In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behavior. In normative early Christianity, the Church administered and prescribed the correct behavior for Christians, while in Gnosticism it was the internalised motivation that was important.Ptolemy'sEpistle to Flora describes limited fasting, but maintains that true "spiritual" fasting is refraining from everything bad.^{[note 17]} For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation.^[84]

The role women played in Gnosticism is still being explored. The very few women in most Gnostic literature are portrayed as chaotic, disobedient, and enigmatic.^[85] However, the Nag Hammadi texts place women in roles of leadership and heroism.^[85][86][87]

In many Gnostic systems, God is known as theMonad,the One.^{[note 18]} God is the high source of thepleroma, the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According toHippolytus, this view was inspired by thePythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence theMonad, which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat thepoint, begettinglines, etc.

Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimesarchons. Jesus is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnosticcosmology.

Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language and is used by theGreek Orthodox church in this general form since the word appears in theEpistle to the Colossians. Proponents of the view that Paul was actually a Gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a Gnostic sense.

The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time, it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

In many Gnostic systems, the aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with thehermaphroditic aeonBarbelo,^[88][89][90] the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings calledsyzygies.^[91] The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.^[92] The aeons as a totality constitute thepleroma, the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness, that is, the physical world.^{[citation needed]}

Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ andSophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" inA Valentinian Exposition.^[93]

In Gnostic tradition, the nameSophia (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and is identified with theanima mundi or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by theHebrew equivalent ofAchamoth^{[dubious –discuss]} (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian Gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD.^[94] In most, if not all, versions of the Gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive and negative depictions of materiality depend on the myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia, in this highly patriarchal narrative, is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world.^[87] The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent. Because of the predefined hierarchy between them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient.^[95]

Sophia, emanating without her partner, resulted in the production of theDemiurge (Greek: lit. "public builder"),^[96] who is also referred to asYaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.^[88] This creature is concealed outside the pleroma;^[88] in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind, trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies.^[88][97] In response, the Godhead emanates two savior aeons,Christ andthe Holy Spirit; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma.^[98]

The termdemiurge derives from theLatinized form of the Greek termdēmiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker".^{[note 20]} This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth",^[88]Samael (Aramaic:sæmʻa-ʼel, "blind god"), or "Saklas" (Syriac:sækla, "the foolish one"), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications areAhriman,El,Satan, andYahweh.

The demiurge creates thephysical universe and the physical aspect ofhuman nature.^[101] The demiurge typically creates a group of co-actors namedarchons who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it.^[88] The inferiority of the demiurge's creation may be compared to the technical inferiority of a work of art, painting, sculpture, etc. to the thing the artrepresents. In other cases, it takes on a moreascetic tendency to view material existence negatively, which then becomes more extreme when materiality, including the human body, is perceived as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants.

Moral judgments of the demiurge vary from group to group within the broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as inherently evil or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows.^[102]

In late antiquity, some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge.^[97] According toOrigen'sContra Celsum, a sect called theOphites posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created the six that follow: Iao,Sabaoth, Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios.^[103] Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion.^[88][104]

Other Gnostic concepts are:^[105]

• sarkic – earthly, hidebound, ignorant, uninitiated. The lowest level of human thought is the fleshly, instinctive level of thinking.
• hylic – lowest order of the three types of humans. They cannot be saved since their thinking is entirely material, incapable of understanding the gnosis.
• psychic – "soulful", partially initiated. Matter-dwelling spirits
• pneumatic – "spiritual", fully initiated, immaterial souls escaping the doom of the material world via gnosis.
• kenoma – the visible or manifest cosmos, "lower" than the pleroma
• charisma – gift, or energy, bestowed by pneumatics through oral teaching and personal encounters
• logos – the divine ordering principle of the cosmos; personified as Christ.
• hypostasis – literally "that which stands beneath" the inner reality, emanation (appearance) of God, known to psychics
• ousia – the essence of God, known topneumatics. Specific individual things or being.

Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of thesupreme being who becameincarnate to bringgnōsis to the earth,^[106][98] while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attainedenlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the same.^[107] Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the laterDocetist movement. Among theMandaeans, Jesus was considered amšiha kdaba or "false messiah" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him byJohn the Baptist.^[108] Still other traditions identifyMani, the founder of Manichaeism, andSeth, third son ofAdam and Eve, as salvific figures.

Three periods can be discerned in the development of Gnosticism:^[109]

• Late-first century and early second century: development of Gnostic ideas, contemporaneous with the writing of the New Testament;
• mid-second century to early third century: high point of the classical Gnostic teachers and their systems, "who claimed that their systems represented the inner truth revealed by Jesus";^[109]
• end of the second century to the fourth century: reaction by the proto-orthodox church and condemnation as heresy, and subsequent decline.

During the first period, three types of tradition developed:^[109]

• Genesis was reinterpreted in Jewish milieux, viewingYahweh as a jealous God who enslaved people; freedom was to be obtained from this jealous God;
• A wisdom tradition developed, in which Jesus' sayings were interpreted as pointers to an esoteric wisdom, in which the soul could be divinized through identification with wisdom.^{[109][note 21]} Some of Jesus' sayings may have been incorporated into the gospels to put a limit on this development. The conflicts described in 1 Corinthians may have been inspired by a clash between this wisdom tradition and Paul's gospel of crucifixion and resurrection;^[109]
• A mythical story developed about the descent of a heavenly creature to reveal the Divine world as the true home of human beings.^[109] Jewish Christianity saw the Messiah, or Christ, as "an eternal aspect of God's hidden nature, his "spirit" and "truth", who revealed himself throughout sacred history".^[30]

The movement spread in areas controlled by theRoman Empire andArian Goths,^[111] and thePersian Empire. It continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but decline also set in during the third century, due to a growing aversion from the Nicene Church, and the economic and cultural deterioration of the Roman Empire.^[112] Conversion to Islam, and theAlbigensian Crusade (1209–1229), greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though Mandaean communities still exist in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities. Gnostic and pseudo-Gnostic ideas became influential in some of the philosophies of various esotericmystical movements of the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier Gnostic groups.

Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development ofearly Christianity.^[113]

The Christianheresiologists, most notablyIrenaeus, regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence.^{[114][112][115][113]} Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other.^[116]

According to Walter Bauer, "heresies" may well have been the original form of Christianity in many regions.^[117] This theme was further developed by Elaine Pagels,^[118] who argues that "the proto-orthodox church found itself in debates with Gnostic Christians that helped them to stabilize their own beliefs."^[113] According to Gilles Quispel, Catholicism arose in response to Gnosticism, establishing safeguards in the form of themonarchic episcopate, thecreed, and thecanon of holy books.^[119] On the other hand,Larry Hurtado argues thatproto-orthodox Christianity was rooted intofirst-century Christianity:

...to a remarkable extent early-second-century protoorthodox devotion to Jesus represents a concern to preserve, respect, promote, and develop what were by then becoming traditional expressions of belief and reverence, and that had originated in earlier years of the Christian movement. That is, proto-orthodox faith tended to affirm and develop devotional and confessional tradition [...] Arland Hultgren^[120] has shown that the roots of this appreciation of traditions of faith actually go back deeply and widely into first-century Christianity.^[121]

The Gnostic movements may contain information about the historical Jesus, since some texts preserve sayings which show similarities with canonical sayings.^[122] TheGospel of Thomas in particular has a significant amount of parallel sayings.^[122] Yet, a striking difference is that the canonical sayings center on the coming endtime, while the Thomas-sayings center on a kingdom of heaven that is already here, and not a future event.^[123] According toHelmut Koester, this is because the Thomas-sayings are older, implying that in the earliest forms of Christianity, Jesus was regarded as a wisdom-teacher.^[123] An alternative hypothesis states that the Thomas authors wrote in the second century, changing existing sayings and eliminating the apocalyptic concerns.^[123] According toApril DeConick, such a change occurred when the end time did not come, and the Thomasine tradition turned toward a "new theology of mysticism" and a "theological commitment to a fully-present kingdom of heaven here and now, where their church had attained Adam and Eve's divine status before the Fall."^[123] According to scholar-priestJohn P. Meier, scholars predominantly conclude that the gospel of Thomas depends on or parallels the Synoptics.^[9] Meier has repeatedly argued against the historicity of the Gospel of Thomas, stating that it cannot be a reliable source forthe quest of the historical Jesus and also considers it a Gnostic text.^[124] He has also argued against the authenticity of the parables found exclusively in the Gospel of Thomas.^[125] According toJames Dunn, the Gnostic emphasis on an inherent difference between flesh and spirit represented a significant departure from the teachings of theHistorical Jesus and his earliest followers.^[126]

The prologue of theGospel of John describes the incarnatedLogos, the light that came to earth, in the person of Jesus.^[127] TheApocryphon of John contains a scheme of three descendants from the heavenly realm, the third one being Jesus, just as in the Gospel of John. The similarities probably point to a relationship between Gnostic ideas and the Johannine community.^[127] According toRaymond Brown, the Gospel of John shows "the development of certain gnostic ideas, especially Christ as heavenly revealer, the emphasis on light versus darkness, and anti-Jewish animus."^[127] The Johannine material reveals debates about the redeemer myth.^[109] The Johannine letters show that there were different interpretations of the gospel story, and the Johannine images may have contributed to second-century Gnostic ideas about Jesus as a redeemer who descended from heaven.^[109] According to DeConick, the Gospel of John shows a "transitional system from early Christianity to gnostic beliefs in a God who transcends our world."^[127] According to DeConick,John may show a bifurcation of the idea of the Jewish God into Jesus' Father in Heaven and the Jews' father, "the Father of the Devil" (most translations say "of [your] father the Devil"), which may have developed into the Gnostic idea of the Monad and the Demiurge.^[127]

Tertullian callsPaul "the apostle of the heretics",^[128] because Paul's writings were attractive to Gnostics, and interpreted in a Gnostic way, while Jewish Christians found him to stray from the Jewish roots of Christianity.^[129] InI Corinthians (1 Corinthians 8:10), Paul refers to some church members as "having knowledge" (Greek:τὸν ἔχοντα γνῶσιν,ton echonta gnosin).James Dunn writes that in some cases, Paul affirmed views that were closer to Gnosticism than to proto-orthodox Christianity.^[130]

According toClement of Alexandria, the disciples of Valentinus said that Valentinus was a student of a certainTheudas, who was a student of Paul,^[130] and Elaine Pagels notes that Paul's epistles were interpreted by Valentinus in a Gnostic way, and Paul could be considered aproto-gnostic and a proto-Catholic.^[105] Many Nag Hammadi texts, including, for example, thePrayer of Paul and the CopticApocalypse of Paul, consider Paul to be "the great apostle".^[130] The fact that he claimed to have received his gospel directly by revelation from God appealed to the Gnostics, who claimedgnosis from the risen Christ.^[131] TheNaassenes,Cainites, andValentinians referred to Paul's epistles.^[132]Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy have expanded upon this idea of Paul as a Gnostic teacher;^[133] although their premise that Jesus was invented by early Christians based on an alleged Greco-Roman mystery cult has been dismissed by scholars.^{[134][note 22]} However, his revelation was different from the Gnostic revelations.^[135]

Although Elkesaites and Mandaeans were found mainly inMesopotamia in the first few centuries of the common era, their origins appear to be Judean–Israelite in theJordan valley.^{[136][137][6]}

The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 and 400 AD.^[136] The members of this sect performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition.^{[136][138]: 123} The sect is named after its leaderElkesai.^[139]

According toJoseph Lightfoot, the Church FatherEpiphanius (writing in the 4th century AD) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within theEssenes:^[137] "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and theNasaraeans."^[140]

Mandaeism is a Gnostic,monotheistic andethnic religion.^{[141]: 4 [142]} The Mandaeans are anethnoreligious group that speak a dialect ofEastern Aramaic known asMandaic. They are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity.^[5] Their religion has been practiced primarily around the lowerKarun,Euphrates andTigris and the rivers that surround theShatt-al-Arab waterway, part of southern Iraq andKhuzestan province in Iran. Mandaeism is still practiced in small numbers, in parts of southern Iraq and the Iranian province ofKhuzestan, and there are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide.^[143]

The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaicmanda meaning knowledge.^[144]John the Baptist is a key figure in the religion, as an emphasis onbaptism is part of their core beliefs. According toNathaniel Deutsch, "Mandaean anthropogony echoes both rabbinic and gnostic accounts."^[145]Mandaeans revereAdam,Abel,Seth,Enos,Noah,Shem,Aram, and especially John the Baptist. Significant amounts of original Mandaean Scripture, written inMandaean Aramaic, survive in the modern era. The most important holy scripture is known as theGinza Rabba and has portions identified by some scholars as being copied as early as the 2nd–3rd centuries,^[138] while others such as S. F. Dunlap place it in the 1st century.^[146] There is also theQulasta (Mandaean prayerbook) and theMandaean Book of John (Sidra ḏ'Yahia) and otherscriptures.

Mandaeans believe that there is a constant battle or conflict between the forces of good and evil. The forces of good are represented byNhura (Light) andMaia Hayyi (Living Water) and those of evil are represented byHshuka (Darkness) andMaia Tahmi (dead or rancid water). The two waters are mixed in all things in order to achieve a balance. Mandaeans also believe in an afterlife or heaven calledAlma d-Nhura (World of Light).^[147]

In Mandaeism, the World of Light is ruled by a Supreme God, known asHayyi Rabbi ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God').^{[147][138][144]} God is so great, vast, and incomprehensible that no words can fully depict how immense God is. It is believed that an innumerable number ofUthras (angels or guardians),^[65]: 8 manifested from the light, surround and perform acts of worship to praise and honor God. They inhabit worlds separate from the lightworld and some are commonly referred to as emanations and are subservient beings to the Supreme God who is also known as 'The First Life'. Their names include Second, Third, and Fourth Life (i.e.Yōšamin,Abathur, andPtahil).^{[148][65]: 8}

The Lord of Darkness (Krun) is the ruler of theWorld of Darkness formed from dark waters representing chaos.^[148][138] A main defender of the darkworld is a giant monster, or dragon, with the nameUr, and an evil, female ruler also inhabits the darkworld, known asRuha.^[148] The Mandaeans believe these malevolent rulers created demonic offspring who consider themselves the owners of theseven planets andtwelve zodiac constellations.^[148]

According to Mandaean beliefs, the material world is a mixture of light and dark created byPtahil, who fills the role of thedemiurge, with help from dark powers, such asRuha the Seven, and the Twelve.^[149] Adam's body (believed to be the first human created by God in Abrahamic tradition) was fashioned by these dark beings, however his soul (or mind) was a direct creation from the Light. Therefore, Mandaeans believe the human soul is capable of salvation because it originates from the World of Light. The soul, sometimes referred to as the 'inner Adam' orAdam kasia, is in dire need of being rescued from the dark, so it may ascend into the heavenly realm of the World of Light.^[148]

Baptisms are a central theme in Mandaeism, believed to be necessary for the redemption of the soul. Mandaeans do not perform a single baptism, as in religions such as Christianity; rather, they view baptisms as a ritual act capable of bringing the soul closer to salvation.^[150] Therefore, Mandaeans are baptized repeatedly during their lives.^[151] Mandaeans consider John the Baptist to have been aNasoraean Mandaean.^{[138]: 3 [152][153]} John is referred to as their greatest and final teacher.^[65][138]

Jorunn J. Buckley and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism believe that the Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Judean region and moved east due to persecution.^{[154][6][155]} Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin.^[156] However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times.^[157] Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith.^[158] Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son,^[138]: 182 and also from John the Baptist's original disciples.^[159]

Due to paraphrases and word-for-word translations from the Mandaean originals found in thePsalms of Thomas, it is now believed that the pre-Manichaean presence of the Mandaean religion is more than likely.^{[159]: IX [160]} The Valentinians embraced a Mandaean baptismal formula in their rituals in the 2nd century CE.^[6]Birger A. Pearson compares theFive Seals of Sethianism, which he believes is a reference to quintuple ritual immersion in water, to Mandaeanmasbuta.^[161] According toJorunn J. Buckley, "Sethian Gnostic literature ... is related, perhaps as a younger sibling, to Mandaean baptism ideology."^[162]

In addition to accepting Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins, Buckley adds:

[T]he Mandaeans may well have become the inventors of – or at least contributors to the development of – Gnosticism ... and they produced the most voluminous Gnostic literature we know, in one language... influenc[ing] the development of Gnostic and other religious groups in late antiquity [e.g. Manichaeism, Valentianism].^[6]

According to Magris, Samaritan Baptist sects trace back toJohn the Baptist.^[163] One offshoot was in turn headed byDositheus,Simon Magus, andMenander. It was in this milieu that the idea emerged that the world was created by ignorant angels. Their baptismal ritual removed the consequences of sin, and led to a regeneration by which natural death, which was caused by these angels, was overcome.^[163] The Samaritan leaders were viewed as "the embodiment of God's power, spirit, or wisdom, and as the redeemer and revealer of 'true knowledge'".^[163]

TheSimonians were centered on Simon Magus, the magician baptised by Philip and rebuked by Peter in Acts 8, who became in early Christianity the archetypal false teacher. The ascription by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and others of a connection between schools in their time and the individual in Acts 8 may be as legendary as the stories attached to him in various apocryphal books. Justin Martyr identifies Menander of Antioch as Simon Magus' pupil. According to Hippolytus, Simonianism is an earlier form of theValentinian doctrine.^[164]

TheQuqites were a group who followed aSamaritan,Iranian type of Gnosticism in 2nd-century ADErbil and in the vicinity of what is today northernIraq. The sect was named after their founder Quq, known as "the potter". The Quqite ideology arose inEdessa,Syria, in the 2nd century. The Quqites stressed theHebrew Bible, made changes in the New Testament, associated twelve prophets with twelve apostles, and held that the latter corresponded to the same number ofgospels. Their beliefs seem to have been eclectic, with elements of Judaism, Christianity, paganism, astrology, and Gnosticism.

Syriac–Egyptian Gnosticism includesSethianism,Valentinianism,Basilideans,Thomasine traditions, andSerpent Gnostics, and a number of other minor groups and writers.^[165] Hermeticism is also a western Gnostic tradition,^[112] though it differs in some respects from these other groups.^[166] The Syriac–Egyptian school derives much of its outlook from Platonist influences. It depicts creation in a series ofemanations from a primal monadic source, finally resulting in the creation of the material universe. These schools tend to view evil in terms of matter that is markedly inferior to goodness and lacking spiritual insight and goodness rather than as an equal force.

Many of these movements used texts related to Christianity, with some identifying themselves as specifically Christian, though quite different from theOrthodox orRoman Catholic forms.Jesus and several of his apostles, such asThomas the Apostle, claimed as the founder of the Thomasine form of Gnosticism, figure in many Gnostic texts.Mary Magdalene is respected as a Gnostic leader, and is considered superior to thetwelve apostles by some Gnostic texts, such as theGospel of Mary.John the Evangelist is claimed as a Gnostic by some Gnostic interpreters,^[167] as is evenSt. Paul.^[105] Most of the literature from this category is known to us through the Nag Hammadi Library.

Sethianism was one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd to 3rd centuries, and the prototype of Gnosticism as condemned by Irenaeus.^[168] Sethianism attributed itsgnosis toSeth, third son ofAdam and Eve andNorea, wife ofNoah, who also plays a role inMandaeism andManicheanism. Their main text is theApocryphon of John, containing two earlier myths.^[169] Earlier texts such asApocalypse of Adam show signs of being pre-Christian and focus on Seth.^[170] Later Sethian texts continue to interact with Platonism. Sethian texts such asZostrianos andAllogenes draw on the imagery of older Sethian texts, but use "a large fund of philosophical conceptuality derived from contemporary Platonism, (that is, late middle Platonism) with no traces of Christian content."^{[58][note 23]}

According toJohn D. Turner, German and American scholarship views Sethianism as "a distinctly inner-Jewish, albeit syncretistic and heterodox, phenomenon", while British and French scholarship tends to see Sethianism as "a form of heterodox Christian speculation".^[171] Roelof van den Broek notes that "Sethianism" may never have been a separate religious movement, and that the term refers rather to a set of mythological themes which occur in various texts.^[172]

According to Smith, Sethianism may have begun as a pre-Christian tradition, possibly asyncretic cult that incorporated elements of Christianity and Platonism as it grew.^[173] According toTemporini, Vogt, and Haase, early Sethians may be identical to or related to theNazarenes, theOphites, or the sectarian group calledheretics byPhilo.^[170]

According to Turner, Sethianism was influenced byChristianity andMiddle Platonism, and originated in the second century as a fusion of a Jewish baptizing group of possibly priestly lineage, the so-calledBarbeloites,^[174] named afterBarbelo, the first emanation of the Highest God, and a group of Biblical exegetes, theSethites, the "seed ofSeth".^[175] At the end of the second century, Sethianism grew apart from the developing Christian orthodoxy, which rejected theDocetic view of the Sethians on Christ.^[176] In the early third century, Sethianism was fully rejected by Christian heresiologists, as Sethianism shifted toward the contemplative practices of Platonism while losing interest in their primal origins.^[177] In the late third century, Sethianism was attacked by neo-Platonists likePlotinus, and Sethianism became alienated from Platonism. In the early to mid-fourth century, Sethianism fragmented into various sectarian Gnostic groups such as theArchontics, Audians,Borborites, and Phibionites, and perhapsStratiotici, and Secundians.^[178][58] Some of these groups existed into the Middle Ages.^[178]

Valentinianism was named after its founderValentinus (c. 100 – c. 180), who was a candidate forbishop of Rome but started his own group when another was chosen.^[179] Valentinianism flourished after mid-second century. The school was popular, spreading to Northwest Africa and Egypt, and through to Asia Minor and Syria in the east,^[180] and Valentinus is specifically named asgnostikos by Irenaeus. It was an intellectually vibrant tradition,^[181] with an elaborate and philosophically "dense" form of Gnosticism. Valentinus' students elaborated on his teachings and materials, and several varieties of their central myth are known.

Valentinian Gnosticism may have been monistic rather than dualistic.^{[note 24]} In the Valentinian myths, the creation of a flawed materiality is not due to any moral failing on the part of the Demiurge, but due to the fact that he is less perfect than the superior entities from which he emanated.^[184] Valentinians treat physical reality with less contempt than other Gnostic groups, and conceive of materiality not as a separate substance from the divine, but as attributable to anerror of perception which becomes symbolized mythopoetically as the act of material creation.^[184]

The followers of Valentinus attempted to systematically decode the Epistles, claiming that most Christians made the mistake of reading the Epistles literally rather than allegorically. Valentinians understood the conflict betweenJews andGentiles inRomans to be a coded reference to the differences betweenPsychics (people who are partly spiritual but have not yet achieved separation from carnality) andPneumatics (totally spiritual people). The Valentinians argued that such codes were intrinsic in Gnosticism, secrecy being important to ensuring proper progression to true inner understanding.^{[note 25]}

According toBentley Layton "Classical Gnosticism" and "The School of Thomas" antedated and influenced the development of Valentinus, whom Layton called "the great [Gnostic] reformer" and "the focal point" of Gnostic development. While in Alexandria, where he was born, Valentinus probably would have had contact with the Gnostic teacherBasilides, and may have been influenced by him.^[185] Simone Petrement, while arguing for a Christian origin of Gnosticism, places Valentinus after Basilides, but before the Sethians. According to Petrement, Valentinus represented a moderation of the anti-Judaism of the earlier Hellenized teachers; the demiurge, widely regarded as a mythological depiction of the Old Testament God of the Hebrews (i.e.Jehova), is depicted as more ignorant than evil.^[33]

The Basilidians or Basilideans were founded byBasilides ofAlexandria in the second century. Basilides claimed to have been taught his doctrines by Glaucus, a disciple ofSt. Peter, but could also have been a pupil of Menander.^[186] Basilidianism survived until the end of the 4th century asEpiphanius knew of Basilidians living in theNile Delta. It was, however, almost exclusively limited toEgypt, though according toSulpicius Severus it seems to have found an entrance intoSpain through a certain Mark fromMemphis.St. Jerome states that thePriscillianists were infected with it.

TheThomasine Traditions refers to a group of texts which are attributed to the apostle Thomas.^{[187][note 26]} Karen L. King notes that "Thomasine Gnosticism" as a separate category is being criticised, and may "not stand the test of scholarly scrutiny".^[188]

Marcion was a Church leader fromSinope (a city on the south shore of the Black Sea in present-day Turkey), who preached in Rome around 150 CE,^[189] but was expelled and started his own congregation, which spread throughout the Mediterranean. He rejected the Old Testament, and followed a limited Christian canon, which included only a redacted version of Luke, and ten edited letters of Paul.^[109] Some scholars do not consider him to be a Gnostic,^{[190][note 27]} but his teachings clearly resemble some Gnostic teachings.^[189] He preached a radical difference between the God of the Old Testament, theDemiurge, the "evil creator of the material universe", and the highest God, the "loving, spiritual God who is the father of Jesus", who had sent Jesus to the earth to free mankind from the tyranny of the Jewish Law.^[189][18] Like the Gnostics, Marcion argued that Jesus was essentially a divine spirit appearing to men in the shape of a human form, and not someone in a true physical body.^[191] Marcion held that the heavenly Father (the father of Jesus Christ) was an utterly alien god; he had no part in making the world, nor any connection with it.^[191]

Hermeticism is closely related to Gnosticism, but its orientation is more positive.^{[112][166][clarification needed]}

• Serpent Gnostics. TheNaassenes,Ophites and the Serpentarians gave prominence to snake symbolism, and snake handling played a role in their ceremonies.^[189]
• Cerinthus (c. 100), the founder of a school with gnostic elements. Like a Gnostic, Cerinthus depicted Christ as a heavenly spirit separate from the man Jesus, and he cited the demiurge as creating the material world. Unlike the Gnostics, Cerinthus taught Christians to observe the Jewish law; his demiurge was holy, not lowly; and he taught the Second Coming. His gnosis was a secret teaching attributed to an apostle. Some scholars believe that the First Epistle of John was written as a response to Cerinthus.^[192]
• TheCainites are so-named since Hippolytus of Rome claims that they worshipedCain, and veneratedEsau,Korah, theSodomites, andJudas Iscariot. There is little evidence concerning the nature of this group. Hippolytus claims that they believed that indulgence in sin was the key to salvation because since the body is evil, one must defile it through immoral activity (seelibertinism). The name Cainite is used as the name of a religious movement, and not in the usual Biblical sense of people descended from Cain.^[193]
• TheCarpocratians, alibertine sect following only theGospel according to the Hebrews.^[194]
• The school ofJustin, which combined gnostic elements with theancient Greek religion.^[195]
• TheBorborites, a libertine Gnosticsect, said to be descended from theNicolaitans^[196]

The Persian schools, which appeared in the western PersianSasanian province ofAsoristan, and whose writings were originally produced in theEastern Aramaic dialects spoken inMesopotamia at the time, are representative of what is believed to be among the oldest of the Gnostic thought forms. These movements are considered by most to be religions in their own right and are not emanations from Christianity orJudaism.^{[citation needed]}

Manichaeism was founded byMani (216–276). Mani's father was a member of theJewish Christian sect of theElcesaites, a subgroup of theGnostic Ebionites. At ages 12 and 24, Mani had visionary experiences of a "heavenly twin" of his, calling him to leave his father's sect and preach the true message of Christ. In 240–241, Mani travelled to theIndo-Greek Kingdom of theSakas in what is nowAfghanistan, where he studiedHinduism and its various extant philosophies. Returning in 242, he joined the court ofShapur I, to whom he dedicated his only work written in Persian, known as theShabuhragan. The original writings were written inSyriac, an Eastern Aramaic language, in a uniqueManichaean script.

Manichaeism conceives of two coexistent realms of light and darkness that become embroiled in conflict. Certain elements of the light became entrapped within darkness, and the purpose of material creation is to engage in the slow process of extraction of these individual elements. In the end, the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness. Manicheanism inherits this dualistic mythology fromZurvanist Zoroastrianism,^[197] in which the eternal spiritAhura Mazda is opposed by his antithesis,Angra Mainyu. This dualistic teaching embodied an elaborate cosmological myth that included the defeat of a primal man by the powers of darkness that devoured and imprisoned the particles of light.^[198]

According to Kurt Rudolph, the decline ofManichaeism that occurred in Persia in the 5th century was too late to prevent the spread of the movement into the east and the west.^[148] In the west, the teachings of the school moved into Syria, Northern Arabia, Egypt and North Africa.^{[note 28]} There is evidence for Manicheans in Rome andDalmatia in the 4th century, and also in Gaul and Spain. From Syria, it progressed further intoSyria Palestina,Anatolia, andByzantine andPersian Armenia.

The influence of Manicheanism was attacked by imperial edicts and polemical writings, but the religion remained prevalent until the6th century, and still exerted influence in the emergence ofPaulicianism,Bogomilism, andCatharism in the Middle Ages, until it was ultimately stamped out by theCatholic Church.^[148]

In the east, Rudolph relates, Manicheanism was able to bloom, because the religious monopoly position previously held by Christianity and Zoroastrianism had been broken by nascent Islam. In the early years of the Arab conquest, Manicheanism again found followers in Persia (mostly amongst educated circles), but flourished most in Central Asia, to which it had spread through Iran. There, in 762, Manicheanism became the state religion of theUyghur Khaganate.^[148]

After its decline in the Mediterranean world, Gnosticism lived on in the periphery of the Byzantine Empire, and resurfaced in the western world. ThePaulicians, anAdoptionist group which flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia and the Eastern Themes of theByzantine Empire, were accused by orthodox medieval sources of being Gnostic and quasiManichaean Christian. TheBogomils, emerged inBulgaria between 927 and 970 and spread throughout Europe. It was assynthesis of ArmenianPaulicianism and theBulgarian Orthodox Church reform movement.

TheCathars (Cathari, Albigenses or Albigensians) were also accused by their enemies of the traits of Gnosticism; though whether or not the Cathari possessed direct historical influence from ancient Gnosticism is disputed. If their critics are reliable the basic conceptions of Gnostic cosmology are to be found in Cathar beliefs (most distinctly in their notion of a lesser, Satanic, creator god), though they did not apparently place any special relevance upon knowledge (gnosis) as an effective salvific force.^{[verification needed]}

The Quran, like Gnostic cosmology, makes a sharp distinction between this world and theafterlife. God is commonly thought of as being beyond human comprehension. In some Islamic schools of thought, God is identifiable with theMonad.^[201][202]

However, according to Islam and unlike most Gnostic sects, it is not rejection of this world but the performing of good deeds that leads toParadise. According to the Islamic belief intawhid ("unification of God"), there was no room for a lower deity such as the demiurge.^[203]

Islam also integrated traces of an entity given authority over the lower world in some early writings:Iblis is regarded by someSufis as the owner of this world and humans must avoid the treasures of this world since they would belong to him.^[204]

In theIsma'ili Shi'i workUmm al-Kitab,Azazil's role resembles whose of the demiurge.^[205] Like the demiurge, he is endowed with the ability to create a world and seeks to imprison humans in the material world, but here, his power is limited and depends on the higher God.^[206] Suchanthropogenic^{[clarification needed]} can be found frequently amongIsma'ili traditions.^[207] In fact, Isma'ilism has been oftencriticised as non-Islamic.^{[citation needed]}Al-Ghazali characterized them as a group who are outwardlyShia but were adherents of a dualistic and philosophical religion.

Further traces of Gnostic ideas can be found in Sufi anthropogeny.^{[clarification needed][208]} Like the Gnostic conception of human beings imprisoned in matter, Sufi traditions acknowledge that the human soul is an accomplice of the material world and subject to bodily desires similar to the wayarchontic spheres envelop the pneuma.^[209] Theruh (pneuma, spirit) must therefore gain victory over the lower and material-boundnafs (psyche, soul, or anima) to overcome its animal nature. A human being captured by its animal desires, mistakenly claims autonomy and independence from the "higher God", thus resembling the lower deity in classical Gnostic traditions. However, since the goal is not to abandon the created world, but just to free oneself from lower desires, it can be disputed whether this can still be Gnostic, but rather a completion of the message of Muhammad.^[210]

It seems that Gnostic ideas were an influential part of early Islamic development but later lost its influence. However light metaphors and the idea ofunity of existence (Arabic:وحدة الوجود,romanized: waḥdat al-wujūd) still prevailed in later Islamic thought, such as that ofibn Sina.^[202]

Gershom Scholem, a historian ofJewish philosophy, wrote that several core Gnostic ideas reappear in medievalKabbalah, where they are used to reinterpret earlier Jewish sources. In these cases, according to Scholem, texts such as theZohar adapted Gnostic precepts for the interpretation of theTorah, while not using the language of Gnosticism.^[211] Scholem further proposed that there was a Jewish Gnosticism which influenced the early origins of Christian Gnosticism.^[212]

Given that some of the earliest dated Kabbalistic texts emerged in medievalProvence, at which timeCathar movements were also supposed to have been active, Scholem and other mid-20th century scholars argued that there was mutual influence between the two groups. According to Dan Joseph, this hypothesis has not been substantiated by any extant texts.^[213]

Moshe Idel however has argued that the Gnostic or esoteric ideas found in Kabbalah have Jewish roots from ancient times, though we do not have written records of them.^[214]

Found today in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities, theMandaeans are an ancient Gnosticethnoreligious group that followJohn the Baptist and have survived from antiquity.^[215] Their name comes from the Aramaicmanda meaning knowledge orgnosis.^[144] There are thought to be 60,000 to 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide.^[143][148] A number of modern Gnostic ecclesiastical bodies have been set up or re-founded since the discovery of theNag Hammadi library, including theEcclesia Gnostica,Apostolic Johannite Church,Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, theGnostic Church of France, theThomasine Church, the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, and the North American College of Gnostic Bishops.^[216] A number of 19th-century thinkers such asArthur Schopenhauer,^[217]Albert Pike andMadame Blavatsky studied Gnostic thought extensively and were influenced by it, and even figures likeHerman Melville andW. B. Yeats were more tangentially influenced.^[218]Jules Doinel "re-established" aGnostic church in France in 1890, which altered its form as it passed through various direct successors (Fabre des Essarts asTau Synésius and Joanny Bricaud asTau Jean II most notably),^[219] and, though small, is still active today.

Early 20th-century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism includeCarl Jung (who supported Gnosticism),Eric Voegelin (who opposed it),Jorge Luis Borges (who included it in many of his short stories), andAleister Crowley, with figures such asHermann Hesse being more moderately influenced.René Guénon founded the Gnostic review,La Gnose in 1909, before moving to a morePerennialist position, and founding hisTraditionalist School. GnosticThelemite organizations, such as Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica andOrdo Templi Orientis, trace themselves to Crowley's thought. The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library after 1945 has had a huge effect on Gnosticism since World War II. Intellectuals who were heavily influenced by Gnosticism in this period includeLawrence Durrell,Hans Jonas,Philip K. Dick andHarold Bloom, withAlbert Camus andAllen Ginsberg being more moderately influenced.^[218]Celia Green has written on Gnostic Christianity in relation to her own philosophy.^[220]Alfred North Whitehead was aware of the existence of the newly discovered Gnostic scrolls. Accordingly,Michel Weber has proposed a Gnostic interpretation of his late metaphysics.^[221]

Prior to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 Gnosticism was known primarily through the works ofheresiologists,Church Fathers who opposed those movements. These writings had an antagonistic bias against Gnostic teachings, and were incomplete. Several heresiological writers, such as Hippolytus, made little effort to exactly record the nature of thesects they reported on, or transcribe their sacred texts. Reconstructions of incomplete Gnostic texts were attempted in modern times, but research on Gnosticism was coloured by the orthodox views of those heresiologists.

Justin Martyr (c. 100/114 – c. 162/168) wrote theFirst Apology, addressed toRoman emperorAntoninus Pius, which criticisedSimon Magus,Menander andMarcion. Since then, both Simon and Menander have been considered as 'proto-Gnostic'.^[222]Irenaeus (diedc. 202) wroteAgainst Heresies (c. 180–185), which identifiesSimon Magus fromFlavia Neapolis inSamaria as the inceptor of Gnosticism. Irenaeus charted an apparent spread of the teachings of Simon through the ancient "knowers" into the teachings of Valentinus and other contemporaneous Gnostic sects.^{[note 29]}Hippolytus (170–235) wrote the ten-volumeRefutation Against all Heresies, of which eight have been found. It also focuses on the connection between pre-Socratic ideas and the false beliefs of early Gnostic leaders. Thirty-three of the groups he reported on are considered Gnostic by modern scholars, including 'the foreigners' and 'theSeth people'. Hippolytus further presents individual teachers such as Simon,Valentinus, Secundus,Ptolemy,Heracleon,Marcus andColorbasus.Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 230) fromCarthage wroteAdversus Valentinianos ('Against the Valentinians'), c. 206, and five books around 207–208 chronicling and refuting the teachings ofMarcion.

Prior to the discovery at Nag Hammadi, a limited number of texts were available to students of Gnosticism. Reconstructions were attempted from the records of the heresiologists, but these were necessarily coloured by the motivation behind the source accounts. The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of mostlyGnostic texts discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt. Twelve leather-boundpapyruscodices buried in a sealed jar were found by a local farmer named Muhammed al-Samman.^[223] The writings in these codices comprised fifty-two mostly Gnostictreatises, but they also include three works belonging to theCorpus Hermeticum and a partial translation/alteration of Plato'sRepublic. These codices may have belonged to a nearbyPachomian monastery, and buried afterBishop Athanasius condemned the use ofnon-canonical books in hisFestal Letter of 367.^[224] Though the original language of composition was probablyGreek, the various codices contained in the collection were written inCoptic. A 1st- or 2nd-century date of composition for the lost Greek originals has been proposed, though this is disputed; the manuscripts themselves date from the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Nag Hammadi texts demonstrated the fluidity of early Christian scripture and early Christianity itself.^{[note 30]}

Prior to the discovery of Nag Hammadi, the Gnostic movements were largely perceived through the lens of the early church heresiologists.Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1694–1755) proposed that Gnosticism developed on its own in Greece and Mesopotamia, spreading to the west and incorporating Jewish elements. According to Mosheim, Jewish thought took Gnostic elements and used them against Greek philosophy.^[61] J. Horn and Ernest Anton Lewald proposed Persian and Zoroastrian origins, while Jacques Matter described Gnosticism as an intrusion of eastern cosmological and theosophical speculation into Christianity.^[61]

In the 1880s, Gnosticism was placed within Greek philosophy, especially neo-Platonism.^[56]Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930), who belonged to the History of Dogma school and proposed aKirchengeschichtliches Ursprungsmodell, saw Gnosticism as an internal development within the church under the influence of Greek philosophy.^[56][226] According to Harnack, Gnosticism was the "acute Hellenization of Christianity".^[56]

TheReligionsgeschichtliche Schule ("history of religions school", 19th century) had a profound influence on the study of Gnosticism.^[56] TheReligionsgeschichtliche Schule saw Gnosticism as a pre-Christian phenomenon, and Christiangnosis as only one, and even marginal instance of this phenomenon.^[56] According toWilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism,^[56] andEduard Norden (1868–1941) also proposed pre-Christian origins,^[56] whileRichard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931), andRudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) also situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia.^[56]Hans Heinrich Schaeder (1896–1957) and Hans Leisegang (1890–1951) saw Gnosticism as an amalgam of eastern thought in a Greek form.^[56]

Hans Jonas (1903–1993) took an intermediate approach, using both the comparative approach of theReligionsgeschichtliche Schule and the existentialist hermeneutics ofRudolph Bultmann.^{[227]: 94-95} Jonas emphasized the duality between the Gnostic God and the world. Jonas concluded that Gnosticism cannot be derived from Platonism, nor from Judaism. Instead, he proposed that Gnosticism manifested an existential situation triggered by the conquests ofAlexander The Great. Following Weber andSpengler, he noted the impact of the conquests on Greek city-states (in the "West") and castes of priest-intellectuals (in the Persian "East").^{[227]: 107-108 [228]} Following Jonas's existential lead and some of his methods, scholarship contemporary to Jonas advocated a different proposal, claiming that Gnosticism has Jewish or Judeo-Christian origins;^[227][46] These theses were notably put forward byGershom Scholem (1897–1982) andGilles Quispel (1916–2006).^[229]

The study of Gnosticism and of early Alexandrian Christianity received a strong impetus from the discovery of theCopticNag Hammadi library in 1945.^[230][231] A great number of translations have been published, and the works ofElaine Pagels, especiallyThe Gnostic Gospels, which detailed the suppression of some of the writings found at Nag Hammadi by early bishops of the Christian church, have popularized Gnosticism in mainstream culture,^{[web 3][web 4]} but also provoked strong responses and condemnations from clerical writers.^[232] As of the 1970s, these and other publications applied the revised version of Jonas's proposal and criticized it, mostly relating to the evidence regarding "Pre-Cristian" Gnosticism.^[227]: 115

A prominent shift of emphasis surfaced during the mid-1990s and the early years of the 21st century. In 1996, Michael Williams published his landmarkRethinking "Gnosticism" where he doubted the applicability of "Gnosticism" as a socio-historical category. Instead, and somewhat to the converse, he proposed the use of "Biblical-Demiurgic tradition", where "tradition" is read as a collective religious choice that competes on the religious "marketplace".^[227]: 116 In 2004,Karen Leigh King published her equally importantWhat is Gnosticism?. Broadly, King's book traces elements of the history of research, arguing that the term and its typical connotations do injustice to the diversity and breadth of early Christianity. Thus, in King's reading, it is not precisely the category of Gnosticism that is flawed, but the way in which it was conceived and applied, a form of self/other rhetoric that rendered the remaining portion of Christianity less diverse for centuries to come.^{[227]: 116-117}

The effects of Williams and King cannot be understated, to the point that "Gnostic studies" often became "Nag Hammadi studies". Nevertheless, some scholars seem to retain either a nuanced version of the term, considered "the Gnostic school of thought,"^[233] or as a unique phenomenon regardless of defamation campaigns.^[234]

According to Matthew J. Dillon, six trends can be discerned in the definitions of Gnosticism:^[235]

• Typologies, "a catalogue of shared characteristics that are used to classify a group of objects together."^[235]
• Traditional approaches, viewing Gnosticism as a Christian heresy^[236]
• Phenomenological approaches, most notablyHans Jonas^[237][238]
• Restricting Gnosticism, "identifying which groups were explicitly called gnostics",^[239] or which groups were clearly sectarian^[239]
• Deconstructing Gnosticism, abandoning the category of "Gnosticism"^[240]
• Psychology andcognitive science of religion, approaching Gnosticism as a psychological phenomenon^[241]

The 1966Messina conference on the origins of gnosis and Gnosticism proposed to designate

... a particular group of systems of the second century after Christ" asgnosticism, and to usegnosis to define aconception of knowledge that transcends the times, which was described as "knowledge of divine mysteries for an élite.^[242]

This definition has now been abandoned.^[235] It created a religion, "Gnosticism", from the "gnosis" which was a widespread element of ancient religions,^{[note 31]} suggesting a homogeneous conception of gnosis by these Gnostic religions, which did not exist at the time.^[243]

According to Dillon, the texts from Nag Hammadi made clear that this definition was limited, and that they are "better classified by movements (such as Valentinian), mythological similarity (Sethian), or similar tropes (presence of a Demiurge)."^[235] Dillon further notes that the Messina-definition "also excluded pre-Christian Gnosticism and later developments, such as the Mandaeans and the Manichaeans."^[235]

Hans Jonas discerned two main currents of Gnosticism, namely Syrian-Egyptian, and Persian, which includesManicheanism andMandaeism.^[46] Among the Syrian-Egyptian schools and the movements they spawned are a typically more Monist view. Persian Gnosticism possesses more dualist tendencies, reflecting a strong influence from the beliefs of the PersianZurvanist Zoroastrians. Those of the medieval Cathars, Bogomils, and Carpocratians seem to include elements of both categories. However, scholars such as Kurt Rudolph, Mark Lidzbarski, Rudolf Macúch, Ethel S. Drower and Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley argue for a Palestinian origin for Mandaeism.

Gilles Quispel divided Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism further into Jewish Gnosticism (theApocryphon of John)^[168] and Christian Gnosis (Marcion, Basilides, Valentinus). This "Christian Gnosticism" was Christocentric, and influenced by Christian writings such as the Gospel of John and the Pauline epistles.^[244] Other authors speak rather of "Gnostic Christians", noting that Gnostics were a prominent substream in the early church.^[245]

The best known example of this approach isAdolf von Harnack (1851–1930), who stated that "Gnosticism is the acute Hellenization of Christianity."^[236] According to Dillon, "many scholars today continue in the vein of Harnack in reading gnosticism as a late and contaminated version of Christianity", notably Darrell Block, who criticises Elaine Pagels for her view that early Christianity was wildly diverse.^[238]

Hans Jonas (1903–1993) took anexistential phenomenological approach to Gnosticism. According to Jonas,alienation is a distinguishing characteristic of Gnosticism, making it different from contemporary religions. Jonas compares this alienation with the existentialist notion ofgeworfenheit,Martin Heidegger's "thrownness", as in being thrown into a hostile world.^[238]

In the late 1980s scholars voiced concerns about the broadness of "Gnosticism" as a meaningful category. Bentley Layton proposed to categorize Gnosticism by delineating which groups were marked as Gnostic in ancient texts. According to Layton, this term was mainly applied by heresiologists to the myth described in theApocryphon of John, and was used mainly by the Sethians and theOphites. According to Layton, texts which refer to this myth can be called "classical Gnostic".^[239]

In addition, Alastair Logan uses social theory to identify Gnosticism. He usesRodney Stark and William Bainbridge's sociological theory on traditional religion, sects and cults. According to Logan, the Gnostics were a cult, at odds with the society at large.^[239]

According to theWestar Institute's Fall 2014 Christianity Seminar Report on Gnosticism, there is no group that possesses all of the usually-attributed features. Nearly every group possesses one or more of them, or some modified version of them. There was no particular relationship among any set of groups which one could distinguish as "Gnostic", as if they were in opposition to some other set of groups. For instance, every sect of Christianity on which we have any information on this point believed in a separate Logos who created the universe at God's behest. Likewise, they believed some kind of secret knowledge ("gnosis") was essential to ensuring one's salvation. Likewise, they had a dualist view of the cosmos, in which the lower world was corrupted by meddling divine beings and the upper world's God was awaiting a chance to destroy it and start over, thereby helping humanity to escape its corrupt bodies and locations by fleeing into celestial ones.^[246]

According toMichael Allen Williams, the concept of Gnosticism as a distinct religious tradition is questionable, since "gnosis" was a pervasive characteristic of many religious traditions in antiquity, and not restricted to the so-called Gnostic systems.^[11] According to Williams, the conceptual foundations on which the category of Gnosticism rests are the remains of the agenda of theheresiologists.^[11] The early church heresiologists created an interpretive definition of Gnosticism, and modern scholarship followed this example and created acategorical definition. According to Williams the term needs replacing to more accurately reflect those movements it comprises,^[11] and suggests to replace it with the term "the Biblical demiurgical tradition".^[240]

According to Karen King, scholars have "unwittingly continued the project of ancient heresiologists", searching for non-Christian influences, thereby continuing to portray a pure, original Christianity.^[240]

In light of such increasing scholarly rejection and restriction of the concept of Gnosticism, David G. Robertson has written on the distortions which misapplications of the term continue to perpetuate in religious studies.^[247]

Carl Jung approached Gnosticism from a psychological perspective, which was followed byGilles Quispel. According to this approach, Gnosticism is a map for the human development in which an undivided person, centered on theSelf, develops out of the fragmentary personhood of young age. According to Quispel, gnosis is a third force in western culture, alongside faith and reason, which offers an experiential awareness of this Self.^[240]

According toIoan Culianu, gnosis is made possible through universal operations of the mind, which can be arrived at "anytime, anywhere".^[248] A similar suggestion has been made by Edward Conze, who suggested that the similarities betweenprajñā andsophia may be due to "the actual modalities of the human mind", which in certain conditions result in similar experiences.^[249]

Primary sources

• Barnstone, Willis (1984).The Other Bible: Gnostic Scriptures, Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Christian Apocyrypha, Kabbalah, Dead Sea Scrolls. San Francisco: Harper & Row.ISBN 978-0-06-081598-1.
• Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin (2010).Essential Gnostic Scriptures. Shambhala Books.ISBN 978-1590305492.
• Plotinus (1989).The Enneads. Vol. 1. Translated by A. H. Armstrong. Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0-674-99484-3.

General

• Aland, Barbara (1978).Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN 978-3-525-58111-7.
• Burstein, Dan (2006).Secrets of Mary Magdalene. CDS Books.ISBN 978-1-59315-205-5.
• Filoramo, Giovanni (1990).A History of Gnosticism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.ISBN 978-0-631-18707-3.
• Freke, Timothy; Gandy, Peter (2002).Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians. Three Rivers Press.ISBN 978-0-00-710071-2.
• Haardt, Robert (1967).Die Gnosis: Wesen und Zeugnisse (in German). Salzburg: Otto-Müller-Verlag. Translated asHaardt, Robert (1971).Gnosis: Character and Testimony. Leiden: Brill.
• Hoeller, Stephan A. (2002).Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing. Wheaton, IL: Quest.ISBN 978-0-8356-0816-9.
• Jonas, Hans (1993).Gnosis und spätantiker Geist (in German). Vol. 2: Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philosophie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN 978-3-525-53841-8.
• King, Charles William (1887).The Gnostics and Their Remains – via Sacred-texts.com.
• Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim (1993).Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. San Francisco: Harper.ISBN 978-0-06-064586-1.
• Layton, Bentley, ed. (1981).The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Sethian Gnosticism. E.J. Brill.
• Pagels, Elaine (1989).The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis. Atlanta: Scholars Press.ISBN 978-1-55540-334-8.
• Tuckett, Christopher M. (1986).Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library. T & T Clark.ISBN 978-0-567-09364-6.
• Van den Broek, Roelof (2013).Gnostic Religion in Antiquity. Cambridge University Press.
• Walker, Benjamin (1990).Gnosticism: Its History and Influence. Harper Collins.ISBN 978-1-85274-057-3.
• Yamauchi, Edwin M. (1983).Pre-Christian Gnosticism: A Survey of the Proposed Evidences. Baker Book House.ISBN 978-0-8010-9919-9.
• Yamauchi, Edwin M. (1979). "Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts?".Church History.48 (2):129–141.doi:10.2307/3164879.JSTOR 3164879.S2CID 161310738.

Texts

• Gnostic Society Library – primary sources and commentaries
• Early Christian Writings – primary texts
• Gnostic texts at sacred-texts.com

Encyclopedias

• Bousset, Wilhelm (1911)."Gnosticism" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 152–159.
• Gnosticism, by Edward Moore, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Gnosticism by Kurt Rudolph, Encyclopædia Iranica
• Gnosticism Catholic Encyclopedia