Gnosticism

{{Short description|Early Christian and Jewish religious systems}}
{{Distinguish|Agnosticism}}
{{Technical|date=March 2024}}
{{Gnosticism}}
[[File:Codex Tchacos p33.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Page from the [[Gospel of Judas]]]]
[[File:Mandaean-Mandi-Nasiriya-Iraq.jpg|thumbnail|Mandaean [[Mandi (Mandaeism)|Beth Manda]] ([[Tabernacle#Mandaeism|Mashkhanna]]) in [[Nasiriyah|Nasiriyah, southern Iraq]] in 2016, a contemporary-style mandi]]
'''Gnosticism''' (from [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]]: {{wikt-lang|grc|γνωστικός}}, <small>[[Romanization of Ancient Greek|romanized]]:</small> ''gnōstikós'', <small>[[Koine Greek]]:</small> [[Help:IPA/Greek|[ɣnostiˈkos]]], 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among [[Judaism|Jewish]] and [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (''[[gnosis]]'') above the [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions.

Gnostic [[cosmogony]] generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden [[God]] and a malevolent [[Demiurge|lesser divinity]] (sometimes associated with the [[bible|biblical]] deity [[Yahweh]]){{sfn|Pagels|1989|loc="One God, One Bishop: The Politics of Monotheism"|pp=28–47}} who is responsible for creating the [[Nature|material universe]]. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of [[salvation]] to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or [[esoteric]] insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of [[sin]] and [[repentance]], but with [[illusion]] and [[Divine illumination|enlightenment]].{{sfn|Pagels|1989|p=xx}}

Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the [[Mediterranean]] world around the second century, when the [[Early Church Fathers|Fathers of the early Church]] denounced them as [[heresy]].{{sfn|Layton|1995|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=GC4vwTXJSaMC&pg=PA106 106]}} Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians.<ref name="ep">{{harvnb|Pagels|1989|p=xx}}.</ref> Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such as [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity. 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 as [[Valentinianism]] and [[Sethianism]]. In the [[Sassanian Empire|Persian Empire]], Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via the related movement [[Manichaeism]], while [[Mandaeism]], which is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity, is found in [[Iraq]], [[Iran]] and [[diaspora]] communities.<ref name="DEUTSCH2">{{harvnb|Deutsch|2007}}.</ref> Jorunn Buckley posits that the early [[Mandaeans]] may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the community of early followers of Jesus.{{sfn|Buckley|2010|p=109}}

For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as [[Irenaeus of Lyons]] and [[Hippolytus of Rome]]. There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt's [[Nag Hammadi library]], a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the [[Gospel of Thomas]] and the [[Apocryphon of John]]. [[Elaine Pagels]] has noted the influence of sources from [[Hellenistic Judaism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], and [[Platonism]] on the Nag Hammadi texts.<ref name="ep"/> Since the 1990s, Gnosticism has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form of [[early Christianity]], an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams{{sfn|Williams|1996}} and David G. Robertson{{sfn|Robertson|2021|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} contest whether "Gnosticism" is still a valid or useful historical category at all, or if instead it was simply a term of art of [[Proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] [[Heresiology|heresiologists]] for a disparate group of contemporaneous Christian groups.

==Etymology==
{{Main|Gnosis}}
''Gnosis'' is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness."<ref name=scotttufts>[[Liddell Scott]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=gnwsis&la=greek#lexicon entry]
γνῶσις, εως, ἡ,
A. seeking to know, inquiry, investigation, esp. judicial, "τὰς τῶν δικαστηρίων γ." D.18.224; "τὴν κατὰ τοῦ διαιτητοῦ γdeetr." Id.21.92, cf. 7.9, Lycurg.141; "γ. περὶ τῆς δίκης" PHib.1.92.13 (iii B. C.).
2. result of investigation, decision, PPetr.3p.118 (iii B. C.).
II. knowing, knowledge, Heraclit.56; opp. ἀγνωσίη, Hp. Vict.1.23 (dub.); opp. ἄγνοια, Pl.R.478c; "ἡ αἴσθησις γ. τις" Arist.GA731a33: pl., "Θεὸς γνώσεων κύριος" LXX 1 Ki.2.3.
b. higher, esoteric knowledge, 1 Ep.Cor.8.7,10, Ep.Eph.3.19, etc.; "χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν νοῦν, λόγον, γνῶσιν" PMag.Par.2.290.
2. acquaintance with a person, "πρός τινα" Test. ap.Aeschin.1.50; "τῶν Σεβαστῶν" IPE1.47.6 (Olbia).
3. recognizing, Th.7.44.
4. means of knowing, "αἱ αἰσθήσεις κυριώταται τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστα γ." Arist.Metaph.981b11.
III. being known, "γνῶσιν ἔχει τι", = "γνωστόν ἐστι", Pl.Tht.206b.
2. fame, credit, Hdn.7.5.5, Luc.Herod.3.
IV. means of knowing: hence, statement in writing, PLond.5.1708, etc. (vi A. D.).
V. = γνῶμα, [[Hsch.]] s. h. v.</ref> It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge (εἴδειν ''eídein''). A related term is the adjective ''gnostikos'', "cognitive",<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=gnwstikos&la=greek#lexicon LSJ entry] '''γνωστ-ικός, ή, όν,'''
A. of or for knowing, cognitive: ἡ -κή (sc. ἐπιστήμη), theoretical science (opp. πρακτική), Pl.Plt.258b.c., etc.; τὸ γ. ib.261b; "ἕξεις γ." Arist.AP0.100a11 (Comp.); "γ. εἰκόνες" Hierocl.in CA25p.475M.: c. gen., able to discern, Ocell. 2.7. Adv. "-κῶς" Procl.Inst.39, Dam.Pr.79, Phlp.in Ph.241.22.</ref> a reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/wordfreq?lang=greek&lookup=gnwstiko%2Fs In Perseus databank] 10x [[Plato]], Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman 2x [[Plutarch]], Compendium libri de animae procreatione + De animae procreatione in Timaeo, 2x [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], De musica</ref>

By the [[Hellenistic period]], it began also to be associated with [[Greco-Roman mysteries]], becoming synonymous with the Greek term ''musterion''. Consequentially, ''Gnosis'' often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} In a religious context, ''gnosis'' is [[Mysticism|mystical]] or esoteric [[knowledge]] 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 by [[Plotinus]] ([[neoplatonism]]), and differs from [[proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox Christian]] views.{{sfn|Ehrman|2003|p=185}} Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding&nbsp;– or perception and learning&nbsp;– as a particular modality for living".{{sfn|Valantasis|2006|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} The usual meaning of ''gnostikos'' in Classical Greek texts is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used by [[Plato]] in the comparison of "practical" (''praktikos'') and "intellectual" (''gnostikos'').{{refn|group=note|In Plato's dialogue between Young Socrates and the Foreigner in his ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|The Statesman]]'' (258e).}}{{refn|group=subnote|perseus.tufts.edu, LSJ entry: '''γνωστ-ικός, ή, όν''', A. of or for knowing, cognitive: ἡ -κή (sc. ἐπιστήμη), theoretical science (opp. πρακτική), Pl.Plt.258e, etc.; τὸ γ. ib.261b; "ἕξεις γ." Arist.AP0.100a11 (Comp.); "γ. εἰκόνες" Hierocl.in CA25p.475M.: c. gen., able to discern, Ocell. 2.7. Adv. "-κῶς" Procl.Inst.39, Dam.Pr.79, Phlp.in Ph.241.22.{{r|perseus_LSJ|group=web}}}} Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts.{{refn|group=note|10x [[Plato]], Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman 2x [[Plutarch]], Compendium libri de animae procreatione + De animae procreatione in Timaeo, 2x [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], De musica{{r|perseus_gnostikos|group=web}}}}

Sometimes employed in the [[Septuagint]] translation of the [[Hebrew Bible]], the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but [[Clement of Alexandria]]{{refn|group=note|In Book 7 of his ''[[Stromateis]]''}} who speaks of the "learned" (''gnostikos'') Christian quite often, uses it in complimentary terms.{{sfn|Smith|1981}} The use of ''gnostikos'' in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of [[Irenaeus]]. Some scholars{{refn|group=note|For example A. Rousseau and L. Doutreleau, translators of the French edition (1974){{sfn|Rousseau|Doutreleau|1974}}}} consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses ''gnostikos'' to simply mean "intellectual",{{refn|group=note|As in 1.25.6, 1.11.3, 1.11.5.}} whereas his mention of "the intellectual sect"{{refn|group=note|Adv. haer. 1.11.1}} is a specific designation.{{sfn|Williams|1996|p=36}}{{refn|group=note|Irenaeus' [[comparative adjective]] ''gnostikeron'' "more learned", evidently cannot mean "more Gnostic" as a name.{{sfn|Williams|1996|p=36}}}}{{refn|group=note|Williams, p. 36: "But several of Irenaeus's uses of the designation ''gnostikos'' are more ambiguous, and it is not so clear whether he is indicating the specific sect again or using 'gnostics' now merely as a shorthand reference for virtually ''all'' of the groups he is criticizing"; p. 37: "They argue that Irenaeus uses ''gnostikos'' in two senses: (1) with the term's 'basic and customary meaning' of 'learned' (savant), and (2) with reference to adherents of the specific sect called 'the gnostic heresy' in Adv. haer. 1.11.1."; p. 271: "1.25.6 where they think that ''gnostikos'' means 'learned' are in 1.11.3 ('A certain other famous teacher of theirs, reaching for a doctrine more lofty and learned [''gnostikoteron'']&nbsp;...') and 1.11.5 ('...&nbsp;in order that they [i.e.,])."{{sfn|Williams|1996|p=36}}}}{{refn|group=note|Of those groups that Irenaeus identifies as "intellectual" (''gnostikos''), only one, the followers of [[Marcellina (gnostic)|Marcellina]] use the term ''gnostikos'' of themselves.{{sfn|Williams|1996|pp=42–43}}{{refn|group=subnote|Williams: "On the other hand, the one group whom Irenaeus does explicitly mention as users of this self-designation, the followers of the Second Century teacher Marcellina, are not included in Layton's anthology at all, on the grounds that their doctrines are not similar to those of the "classic" gnostics. As we have seen, Epiphanius is one of the witnesses for the existence of a special sect called 'the gnostics', and yet Epiphanius himself seems to distinguish between these people and 'the Sethians' (Pan 40.7.5), whereas Layton treats them as both under the 'classic gnostic' category."{{sfn|Williams|1996|pp=42–43}}}} Later [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] uses "learned" (''gnostikos'') of [[Cerinthus]] and the [[Ebionites]], and [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] applied "learned" (''gnostikos'') to specific groups.}} The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources,{{sfn|Dunderberg|2008|p=16}}{{refn|group=note|Dunderberg: "The problems with the term 'Gnosticism' itself are now well known. It does not appear in ancient sources at all"{{sfn|Dunderberg|2008|p=16}}}} and was first coined in the 17th century by [[Henry More]] in a commentary on the seven letters of the [[Book of Revelation]], where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in [[Thyatira]].{{sfn|Pearson|2004|p=210}}{{refn|group=note|Pearson: "As Bentley Layton points out, the term Gnosticism was first coined by [[Henry More]] (1614–1687) in an expository work on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation.29 More used the term Gnosticisme to describe the heresy in Thyatira."{{sfn|Pearson|2004|p=210}}}} The term ''Gnosticism'' was derived from the use of the Greek adjective ''gnostikos'' (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185&nbsp;AD) to describe the school of [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] as ''he legomene gnostike haeresis'' "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)".{{sfn|Haar|2012|p=231}}{{refn|group=note|This occurs in the context of Irenaeus' work ''On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis'', (Greek: ''elenchos kai anatrope tes pseudonymou gnoseos'', ἔλεγχος καὶ ἀνατροπὴ τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως) where the term "knowledge falsely so-called" (''pseudonymos gnosis'') is a quotation of the [[apostle Paul]]'s warning against "knowledge falsely so-called" in {{bibleverse|1 Timothy|6:20}}, and covers various groups, not just Valentinus.<ref>{{harvnb|Unger|Dillon|1992|p=3}}: "the final phrase of the title 'knowledge falsely so-called' is found in 1 Timothy 6:20".</ref>}}

==Origins==
The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity,{{refn|group=note|[[Clement of Alexandria]]: "In the times of the [[Emperor Hadrian]] appeared those who devised heresies, and they continued until the age of the elder [[Antoninus Pius|Antoninus]]."{{sfn|Huidekoper|1891|p=331}}}}{{sfn|Chadwick|n.d.}} but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects.{{sfn|Magris|2005|pp=3515–3516}}{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}{{refn|group=note|name="Cohen"}}{{sfn|Brakke|2012|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} Some scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in [[Buddhism]], due to similarities in beliefs,{{sfn|Merillat|1997|loc=ch. 22}} but ultimately, its origins are unknown. As Christianity developed and became more popular, so did Gnosticism, with both proto-orthodox Christian and Gnostic Christian groups often existing in the same places. The Gnostic belief was widespread within Christianity until the proto-orthodox Christian communities expelled the group in the second and third centuries (AD). Gnosticism became one of the first groups to be declared [[heresy|heretical]].{{sfn|Chadwick|n.d.}}

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.{{sfn|Wilson|1982|p=292}} According to [[James M. Robinson]], no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity,{{refn|group=note|Robinson: "At this stage we have not found any Gnostic texts that clearly antedate the origin of Christianity." J. M. Robinson, "Sethians and Johannine Thought: The Trimorphic Protennoia and the Prologue of the Gospel of John" in ''The Rediscovery of Gnosticism'', vol. 2, Sethian Gnosticism, ed. B. Layton (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1981), p. 662.}} and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all."{{sfn|Robinson|1982|p=5}}

Most popular Gnostic sects were heavily inspired by [[Zoroastrianism]].{{sfn|Harari|2015|p=247}}

===Jewish Christian origins===
{{See also|Origins of Christianity|Split of Christianity and Judaism}}
Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has [[Jewish Christian]] origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}}{{sfn|Magris|2005|pp=3515–3516}}{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}{{refn|group=note|name="Cohen"}} [[E. S. Drower|Ethel S. Drower]] adds, "heterodox Judaism in [[Galilee]] and [[Samaria]] appears to have taken shape in the form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era."<ref name=Drower1960/>{{rp|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.<ref name="JE-G">{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Joseph |last1=Jacobs |first2=Ludwig |last2=Blau |year=1906 |title=Gnosticism |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6723-gnosticism |access-date=2023-09-10 |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia}}</ref> The [[religious cosmology|cosmogonic]] speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in [[Maaseh Breishit and Maaseh Merkavah|''Maaseh Breshit'' and ''Maaseh Merkabah'']]. This thesis is most notably put forward by [[Gershom Scholem]] (1897–1982) and [[Gilles Quispel]] (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish ''gnosis'' in the imagery of [[merkabah mysticism]], which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to [[History of the Jews in Alexandria|Alexandrian Jews]], to which group Valentinus was also connected.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3534}}

Many of the [[Nag Hammadi texts]] make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God.{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}{{refn|group=note|name="Cohen"|Cohen & Mendes-Flohr: "Recent research, however, has tended to emphasize that Judaism, rather than Persia, was a major origin of Gnosticism. Indeed, it appears increasingly evident that many of the newly published Gnostic texts were written in a context from which Jews were not absent. In some cases, indeed, a violent rejection of the Jewish God, or of Judaism, seems to stand at the basis of these texts. ... facie, various trends in Jewish thought and literature of the Second Commonwealth appear to have been potential factors in Gnostic origins.{{sfn|Cohen|Mendes-Flohr|2010|p=286}}}} Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism".<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 978-0-19-503607-7 | last = Gager | first = John G. | title = The origins of anti-semitism: attitudes toward Judaism in pagan and Christian antiquity | page = 168 | date = 1985 }}</ref> Professor [[Steven Bayme]] said gnosticism would be better characterized as [[anti-Judaism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bayme |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56QJ9O7MFJ4C&dq=gershom+scholem+gnosticism+anti-semitic&pg=PA122 |title=Understanding Jewish History: Texts and Commentaries |date=1997 |publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc. |isbn=978-0-88125-554-6 |language=en}}</ref> Research into the origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly from [[Hekhalot literature]].<ref name="Kabbalah New Perspectives">{{Cite book |last=Idel |first=Moshe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utWy5kz5K7IC&pg=PA31 |title=Kabbalah: New Perspectives |date=1988-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-04699-1 |page=31 |language=en}}</ref>

Within early Christianity, the teachings of [[Paul the Apostle]] and [[John 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 (the ''[[Archon (Gnosticism)|archons]]''), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term ''gnostikos'' may have acquired a deeper significance here.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3516}}

Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ''ecclesia'' (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic [[apocalypticism]], [[Wisdom (personification)|speculation on divine wisdom]], Greek philosophy, and [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Hellenistic mystery religions]]."{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3516}}

Regarding the angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes:
{{blockquote|[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. The [[Elchasaites]], 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 the ''Testament of Solomon'' held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of ''De Centesima'' and Epiphanius' "[[Ebionites]]" held Christ to have been the highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the ''Ascension of Isaiah'' and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hannah|first=Darrell D.|title=Michael and Christ: Michael Traditions and Angel Christology in Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qKtXVU9EQTIC&pg=PA214|year=1999|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=978-3-16-147054-7|pages=214f}}</ref>}}

The [[Pseudepigrapha|pseudepigraphical]] Christian text ''[[Ascension of Isaiah]]'' identifies Jesus with angel Christology:
{{blockquote|[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...<ref>{{cite book|author=M.A. Knibb (trans.)|editor=James H. Charlesworth|title=The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RU77ekrD_vIC&pg=PA173|volume=2|year=2010|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|isbn=978-1-59856-490-7|page=173|chapter=Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah}}</ref>}}

[[The Shepherd of Hermas]] is a Christian literary work considered as [[biblical canon|canonical scripture]] by some of the early [[Church 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".<ref name="Papandrea2016">{{cite book|last=Papandrea|first=James L.|title=The Earliest Christologies: Five Images of Christ in the Postapostolic Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_akCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|date=2016|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-5127-0|page=29|quote=The most prominent example of Angel Adoptionism from the early Church would have to be the document known as ''The Shepherd'' of Hermass. In ''The Shepherd,'' the savior is an angel called the "angel of justification", who seems to be identified with the archangel Michael. Although the angel is often understood to be Jesus, he is never named as Jesus.}}</ref>

===Neoplatonic influences===
{{See also|Platonic Academy|Neoplatonism and Gnosticism|Neoplatonism and Christianity}}
In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3534}} Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pearson|first=Birger A.|date=1984|title=Gnosticism as Platonism: With Special Reference to Marsanes (NHC 10,1)|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|volume=77|issue=1|pages=55–72|jstor=1509519|doi=10.1017/S0017816000014206|s2cid=170677052 }}</ref> using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as [[hypostasis (philosophy)|hypostasis]] (reality, existence), ''[[ousia]]'' (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both [[Sethian]] Gnostics and [[Valentinius|Valentinian]] Gnostics seem to have been influenced by [[Plato]], [[Middle Platonism]], and [[Neo-Pythagoreanism]] academies or schools of thought.{{sfn|Turner|1986|p=59}} Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy,<ref name ="Schenke1">Schenke, Hans Martin. "The Phenomenon and Significance of Gnostic Sethianism" in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. E.J. Brill 1978</ref> and were rebuffed by some [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonists]], including Plotinus.

===Persian origins or influences===
Early research into the origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3531}} According to [[Wilhelm Bousset]] (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian [[syncretism]],{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} and [[Richard August Reitzenstein]] (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}}

Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|pp=3534–3535}} Nevertheless, Geo Widengren (1907–1996) argued for the origin of Mandaean Gnosticism in [[Mazdean]] (Zoroastrianism) [[Zurvanism]], in conjunction with ideas from the Aramaic Mesopotamian world.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3534}}

However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as [[Kurt Rudolph]], [[Mark Lidzbarski]], [[Rudolf Macúch]], [[E. S. Drower|Ethel S. Drower]], [[James F. McGrath]], [[Charles G. Häberl]], [[Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley]], and Şinasi Gündüz argue for a Palestinian origin. The majority of these scholars believe that the Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples.<ref name=Drower1960>{{Cite book | last =Drower | first =Ethel Stephana | author-link =E. S. Drower | date =1960 | title =The secret Adam, a study of Nasoraean gnosis | location =London UK | publisher =Clarendon Press | no-pp =true}}</ref>{{sfn|Rudolph|1987|p=4}}<ref name="Gunduz 1994">{{cite journal|title=The Knowledge of Life: The Origins and Early History of the Mandaeans and Their Relation to the Sabians of the Qur'ān and to the Harranians|first=Şinasi|last=Gündüz|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1994|issn=0022-4480|isbn=0-19-922193-6|journal=Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement|volume=3}}</ref><ref name="Buckley 2002"/><ref>McGrath, James F.,{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1194&context=facsch_papers|title=Reading the Story of Miriai on Two Levels: Evidence from Mandaean Anti-Jewish Polemic about the Origins and Setting of Early Mandaeism}}ARAM Periodical / (2010): 583–592.</ref><ref>Lidzbarski, Mark 1915 Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer. Giessen: Alfred Töpelmann.</ref><ref>Macuch, Rudolf A Mandaic Dictionary (with E. S. Drower). Oxford: Clarendon Press 1963.</ref><ref>R. Macuch, “Anfänge der Mandäer. Versuch eines geschichtliches Bildes bis zur früh-islamischen Zeit,” chap. 6 of F. Altheim and R. Stiehl, Die Araber in der alten Welt II: Bis zur Reichstrennung, Berlin, 1965.</ref> Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]], finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews".<ref>Charles Häberl, "Hebraisms in Mandaic" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDSDXF5_K8Q, Mar 3, 2021]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Häberl |first1=Charles |year=2021 |title=Mandaic and the Palestinian Question |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:37489/ |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=141 |issue=1 |pages=171–184 |doi=10.7817/jameroriesoci.141.1.0171 |issn=0003-0279 |s2cid=234204741 |doi-access=free}}Journal of the American Oriental Society 141.1 (2021) pp. 171–184.</ref>

===Buddhist parallels===
{{main|Buddhism and Gnosticism}}
In 1966, at the Congress of Median, Buddhologist [[Edward Conze]] noted phenomenological commonalities between [[Mahayana Buddhism]] and Gnosticism,{{sfn|Verardi|1997|p=323}} in his paper ''Buddhism and Gnosis'', following an early suggestion put forward by [[Isaac Jacob Schmidt]].{{sfn|Conze|1967}}{{refn|group=note|The idea that Gnosticism was derived from Buddhism was first proposed by the Victorian gem collector and numismatist [[Charles William King]] (1864).<ref>Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Clare Goodrick-Clarke ''G. R. S. Mead and the Gnostic Quest'' 2005 p. 8. Quote: "The idea that Gnosticism was derived from Buddhism was first postulated by Charles William King in his classic work, The Gnostics and their Remains (1864). He was one of the earliest and most emphatic scholars to propose the Gnostic debt to Buddhist thought."</ref> [[Henry Longueville Mansel|Mansel]] (1875) <ref>H. L. Mansel, ''Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries'' (1875); p. 32</ref> considered the principal sources of Gnosticism to be Platonism, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism.<ref>''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E–J'' ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley&nbsp; (1982). Quote: "Mansel&nbsp;... summed up the principal sources of Gnosticism in these three: Platonism, the Persian religion, and the Buddhism of India." p. 490.</ref>}} The influence of Buddhism in any sense on either the ''gnostikos'' Valentinus (c.{{nbsp}}170) or the Nag Hammadi texts (3rd century) is not supported by modern scholarship, although [[Elaine Pagels]] called it a "possibility".{{sfn|Pagels|1989|p=21}}

==Characteristics==

===Cosmology===
The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the [[monad (Gnosticism)|Monad]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Apocryphon of John – Frederik Wisse – The Nag Hammadi Library |url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn.html |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=www.gnosis.org}}</ref> From this highest divinity [[emanationism|emanate]] lower divine beings, known as [[Aeon (Gnosticism)|Aeons]]. The [[Demiurge]] 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, [[wikt: esoteric|esoteric]] or [[Intuition (psychology)|intuitive knowledge]] of the divine.{{sfn|Markschies|2003|p=16–17}}

===Dualism and monism===
{{See also|Nontrinitarianism}}
Gnostic systems postulate a [[Dualistic cosmology|dualism]] between God and the world,{{sfn|Jonas|1963|p=42}} varying from the "radical dualist" systems of [[Manichaeism]] to the "mitigated dualism" of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in ''mitigated dualism'' one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other. In ''qualified monism'' the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of [[monism]], expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Edwards|first=M. J.|title=Gnostics and Valentinians in the Church Fathers|date=1989|url=https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jts/40.1.26|journal=The Journal of Theological Studies|language=en|volume=40|issue=1|pages=41|doi=10.1093/jts/40.1.26|issn=0022-5185}}</ref>

===Moral and ritual practice===
Gnostics tended toward [[asceticism]], especially in their sexual and dietary practice.{{sfn|Layton|1987|loc=Introduction to "Against Heresies" by St. Irenaeus}} 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's ''[[Letter to Flora|Epistle to Flora]]'' describes a general asceticism, based on the moral inclination of the individual.{{refn|group=note|[[Ptolemy (gnostic)|Ptolemy]], in ''Letter to Flora'': "External physical fasting is observed even among our followers, for it can be of some benefit to the soul if it is engaged in with reason (''[[logos]]''), whenever it is done neither by way of limiting others, nor out of habit, nor because of the day, as if it had been specially appointed for that purpose."}} For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as any other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=van Gaans |first=Gijs Martijn |date=2012 |title=David Brakke, The Gnostics. Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity, Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press 2010; xii + 164 pp.; ISBN 978-0-674-04684-9; US$ 29.95 (hardback with jacket). |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157007212x613483 |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=217–220 |doi=10.1163/157007212x613483 |issn=0042-6032}}</ref>

=== Female representation ===
It is difficult to find real women represented in sources characterized as 'Gnostic.' The few that are mentioned are portrayed to be chaotic, disobedient, and even enigmatic.'''<ref name=":02">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Nicola Denzey |chapter=Women in Gnosticism |date=2021-02-18 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198867067.003.0007 |title=Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity |pages=109–129 |access-date=2023-05-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oso/9780198867067.003.0007 |isbn=978-0-19-886706-7 }}</ref>''' However, significant Gnostic texts like the Nag Hammadi place women in roles of leadership and heroism, contradicting the narrative that women in Gnostic spaces were mere victims to their circumstance.<ref name=":02"/>{{sfn|King|2003|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}}<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1123192570 |title=The Oxford handbook of New Testament, gender, and sexuality |date=2019 |editor=Benjamin H. Dunning |isbn=978-0-19-021341-1 |location=New York, New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en-us |oclc=1123192570}}</ref> The role women played in the evolution of Gnosticism is an area of study still being explored.

==Concepts==

===Monad===
{{Main|Monad (Gnosticism)}}
In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the ''Monad'', [[Neoplatonism#The One|the One]].{{refn|group=note|Other names include [[Absolute (philosophy)|The Absolute]], ''Aion teleos'' (The Perfect [[Æon]]), ''Bythos'' (Depth or Profundity, Βυθός), ''Proarkhe'' (Before the Beginning, προαρχή), and ''He Arkhe'' (The Beginning, ἡ ἀρχή).}} God is the high source of the [[pleroma]], the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According to [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], this view was inspired by the [[Pythagoreans]], who called the first thing that came into existence the ''Monad'', which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the [[Point (geometry)|point]], begetting [[Line (geometry)|lines]], etc.

===Pleroma===
{{Main|Pleroma}}
''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 sometimes [[Archon (Gnosticism)|archons]]. 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 Gnostic [[cosmology]].

Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language, and is used by the [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox church]] in this general form, since the word appears in the [[Epistle 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.

===Emanation===
{{Main|Emanationism}}
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.

===Aeon===
{{Main|Aeon (Gnosticism)}}
In many Gnostic systems, the aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the [[hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]] aeon [[Barbelo]],<ref name="apocryphon" /><ref name="allogenes">{{cite web | title=Allogenes | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/allogene.html | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref><ref name="trimorph">{{cite web | title=Trimorphic Protennoia | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library |url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/trimorph.html | access-date=September 29, 2013}}</ref> 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 called ''syzygies''.<ref name="valen_syzygy">{{cite web | title=The Pair (Syzygy) in Valentinian Thought | url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Syzygy_Valentinian.htm | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.{{sfn|Mead|2005|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} The aeons as a totality constitute the ''pleroma'', the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and ''Sophia'' (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in ''A Valentinian Exposition''.<ref name="valen_expos">{{cite web | title=A Valentinian Exposition | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/valex.html | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref>

===Sophia===
{{Main|Sophia (Gnosticism)}}
In Gnostic tradition, the name [[Sophia (Gnosticism)|'''Sophia''']] (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and is identified with the ''[[anima mundi]]'' or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] equivalent of ''Achamoth'' {{dubious|talk=Talk:Topic#https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gnosticism#Sophia_in_Jewish_Gnosticism?|date=May 2023}} (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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sumney |first=Jerry L. |date=1989 |title=The Letter of Eugnostos and the Origins of Gnosticism |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nt/31/2/article-p172_6.xml |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=172–181 |doi=10.1163/156853689X00063 |issn=0048-1009}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buckley |first=Jorunn Jacobsen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13009837 |title=Female fault and fulfilment in Gnosticism |date=1986 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-1696-5 |location=Chapel Hill |oclc=13009837}}</ref>

''Sophia'', emanating without her partner, resulted in the production of the ''Demiurge'' (Greek: lit. "public builder"),<ref name="newad_demi">{{cite web | title=Demiurge | publisher=Catholic encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> who is also referred to as ''[[Yaldabaoth]]'' and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.<ref name="apocryphon" /> This creature is concealed outside the pleroma;<ref name="apocryphon" /> 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.<ref name="apocryphon" /><ref name=hypostasis>{{cite web | title=The Hypostasis of the Archons | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html | access-date=2009-02-12}}</ref> In response, the Godhead emanates two savior aeons, ''Christ'' and ''the 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.<ref name="nhlintro"/>

===Demiurge===
{{Main|Demiurge}}
[[File:Lion-faced deity.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'' may be a depiction of [[Demiurge#Yaldabaoth|Yaldabaoth]], the Demiurge; however, see [[Mithraism#Lion headed figure|Mithraic Zervan Akarana]].{{sfn|Campbell|1991|p=262}}]]

The term ''demiurge'' derives from the [[Latin]]ized form of the Greek term ''dēmiourgos'', δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker".{{refn|group=note|The term ''dēmiourgos'' occurs in a number of other religious and philosophical systems, most notably Platonism. The gnostic demiurge bears resemblance to figures in Plato's ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[The Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''. In ''Timaeus'', the ''demiourgós'' is a central figure, a benevolent creator of the universe who works to make the universe as benevolent as the limitations of matter will allow. In ''The Republic'' the description of the leontomorphic "desire" in [[Socrates]]' model of the [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]] bears a resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion.{{refn|group=note|The relevant passage of ''The Republic'' was found within the [[Nag Hammadi library]],<ref name="nhlrepublic">{{cite web | url = http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/plato.html | title = Plato, Republic 588A–589B | publisher = "The Gnostic Society Library | access-date = 2009-02-12 }}</ref> wherein a text existed describing the demiurge as a "lion-faced serpent".<ref name="apocryphon">{{cite web | url = http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_sbj.htm | title = The Apocryphon of John | publisher = The Gnostic Society Library | access-date = 2009-02-12 }}</ref>}}}} This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth",<ref name="apocryphon" /> [[Samael]] ([[Aramaic]]: ''sæmʻa-ʼel'', "blind god"), or "Saklas" ([[Syriac language|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 are [[Ahriman]], [[El (deity)|El]], [[Satan]], and [[Yahweh]].

The demiurge creates the [[physical universe]] and the physical aspect of [[Human nature|humanity]].<ref name="na_demiurge">{{cite web | title=Demiurge | publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm | access-date=2009-02-12}}</ref> The demiurge typically creates a group of co-actors named [[archon (Gnosticism)|archons]] who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it.<ref name="apocryphon" /> 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 art [[mimesis|represents]]. In other cases, it takes on a more [[ascetic]] 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 judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within the broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/demiurge|title=Demiurge &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

===Archon===
{{Main|Archon (Gnosticism)}}
In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge.<ref name=hypostasis /> According to [[Origen]]'s ''[[Contra Celsum]]'', a sect called the [[Ophites]] posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created the six that follow: Iao, [[Sabaoth]], Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios.<ref name="contra_celsum">{{cite web | title=Cotra Celsum | author=Origen | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/orig_cc6.htm | access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion.<ref name=apocryphon /><ref name="mithraic_art">{{cite web | title=Mithraic Art | url=http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml | access-date=2009-12-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727101037/http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml | archive-date=2011-07-27 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Other concepts===
Other Gnostic concepts are:{{sfn|Pagels|1975}}
* [[sarkic]] – earthly, hidebound, ignorant, uninitiated. The lowest level of human thought; the fleshly, instinctive level of thinking. 
* hylic – lowest order of the three types of human. Unable to be saved since their thinking is entirely material, incapable of understanding the gnosis. 
* psychic – "soulful", partially initiated. Matter-dwelling spirits
* [[Pneumatic (Gnosticism)|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. See also [[Odic force]].
* [[Hypostasis (religion)|hypostasis]] – literally "that which stands beneath" the inner reality, emanation (appearance) of God, known to psychics
* [[ousia]] – essence of God, known to [[Pneumatic (Gnosticism)|pneumatics]]. Specific individual things or being.

==Jesus as Gnostic saviour==
Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the [[God|supreme being]] who became [[incarnate]] to bring ''gnōsis'' to the earth,<ref>{{cite book|last=Roukema|first=Riemer|title=Jesus, Gnosis and Dogma|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfcRBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|date=2010|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-61585-5|page=53|chapter=Jesus′ Origin and Identity – Theodotus &#91;of Byzantium&#93;|quote=The Saviour, jesus Christ, who from the fullness (the ''pleroma'') of the Father descended on earth, is identified with the Logos, but initially not entirely with the Only Begotten Son. In John 1:14 is written, after all, that his glory was ''as'' of the Only Begotten, from which is concluded that his glory must be distinguished from this (7, 3b). When the Logos or Saviour descended, Sophia, according to Theodotus, provided a piece of flesh (''sarkion''), namely a carnal body, also called 'spiritual seed' (1, 1).}}</ref><ref name="nhlintro">{{cite web|last1=Hoeller|first1=Stephan A.|author-link1=Stephan A. Hoeller|title=The Gnostic World View: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism|url=http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm|website=www.gnosis.org|publisher=The Gnostic Society|access-date=15 May 2017}}</ref> while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained [[Divine illumination|enlightenment]] through gnosis and taught his disciples to do the same.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Gnostic Gospels|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/gnostic-gospels/|access-date=2020-08-13|website=FRONTLINE|language=en-US}}</ref> Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the later [[Docetism|Docetist]] movement. Among the [[Mandaeans]], Jesus was considered a ''mšiha kdaba'' or "[[false messiah]]" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by [[John the Baptist]].<ref name="macuch">{{cite book | last = Macuch | first = Rudolf | title = Handbook of Classical and Modern Mandaic | publisher = De Gruyter & Co. | location = Berlin | year = 1965 | page = 61 fn. 105 }}</ref> Still other traditions identify [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]], the founder of Manichaeism, and [[Seth]], third son of [[Adam and Eve]], as salvific figures.

==Development==
Three periods can be discerned in the development of Gnosticism:{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}}
* 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";{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}}
* 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:{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}}
* Genesis was reinterpreted in Jewish milieus, viewing [[Yahweh]] 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.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}}{{refn|group=note|According to [[Earl Doherty]], a prominent proponent of the [[Christ myth theory]], the [[Q source|Q-authors]] may have regarded themselves as "spokespersons for the Wisdom of God'', with Jesus being the [[Wisdom (personification)|embodiment of this Wisdom]]. In time, the gospel-narrative of this embodiment of Wisdom became interpreted as the literal history of the life of Jesus.<ref name="JP-PPCO">{{cite journal |title=The Jesus Puzzle: Pieces in a Puzzle of Christian Origins |last=Doherty |first=Earl |journal=[[Journal of Higher Criticism]] |volume=4 |issue=2 |date=Fall 1997 |url=http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/jhcjp.htm |access-date=2017-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608125009/http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/jhcjp.htm |archive-date=2008-06-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}} 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 arising;{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}}
* A mythical story developed about the descent of a heavenly creature to reveal the Divine world as the true home of human beings.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}} 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".{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3516}}

The movement spread in areas controlled by the [[Roman Empire]] and [[Arianism|Arian]] Goths,{{sfn|Halsall|2008|p=293}} and the [[Parthian Empire|Persian 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.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3519}} Conversion to Islam, and the [[Albigensian 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 esoteric [[mystical]] 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.

==Relation with early Christianity==
{{Historical Christian theology}}
Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development of [[early Christianity]].{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=36}}

===Orthodoxy and heresy===
{{See also|Diversity in early Christian theology}}
The Christian [[Heresiology|heresiologists]], most notably [[Irenaeus]], regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th{{nbsp}}century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence.{{sfn|Pagels|1979}}{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3519}}{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3529}}{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=36}} Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|pp=3529–3530}}

According to Walter Bauer, "heresies" may well have been the original form of Christianity in many regions.{{sfn|Bauer|1979}} This theme was further developed by Elaine Pagels,{{sfn|McVey|1981}} who argues that "the proto-orthodox church found itself in debates with gnostic Christians that helped them to stabilize their own beliefs."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=36}} According to Gilles Quispel, Catholicism arose in response to Gnosticism, establishing safeguards in the form of the [[Episcopal polity|monarchic episcopate]], the [[creed]], and the [[Christian biblical canons|canon]] of holy books.{{sfn|Quispel|2004|p=9}}

===Historical Jesus===
{{See also|Jesus in comparative mythology|Christ myth theory}}
The Gnostic movements may contain information about the historical Jesus, since some texts preserve sayings which show similarities with canonical sayings.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|pp=31–32}} Especially the [[Gospel of Thomas]] has a significant amount of parallel sayings.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|pp=31–32}} 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=32}} According to [[Helmut Koester]], this is because the Thomas-sayings are older, implying that in the earliest forms of Christianity, Jesus was regarded as a wisdom-teacher.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=32}} An alternative hypothesis states that the Thomas authors wrote in the second century, changing existing sayings and eliminating the apocalyptic concerns.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=32}} According to [[April 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."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=32}}

===Johannine literature===
The prologue of the [[Gospel of John]] describes the incarnated [[Logos (Christianity)|Logos]], the light that came to earth, in the person of Jesus.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=33}} The ''[[Apocryphon 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=33}} According to [[Raymond E. Brown|Raymond 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."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=33}} The Johannine material reveals debates about the redeemer myth.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}} 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.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}} According to DeConick, the Gospel of John shows a "transitional system from early Christianity to gnostic beliefs in a God who transcends our world."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=33}} 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=33}}

===Paul and Gnosticism===
[[Tertullian]] calls [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] "the apostle of the heretics",{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=107}} 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.{{sfn|Dunn|2016|pp=107–108}} In [[I Corinthians]] ({{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|8:10|NKJV}}), Paul refers to some church members as "having knowledge" ({{lang-gr|τὸν ἔχοντα γνῶσιν}}, ''ton echonta gnosin''). [[James Dunn (theologian)|James Dunn]] writes that in some cases, Paul affirmed views that were closer to Gnosticism than to proto-orthodox Christianity.{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=108}}

According to [[Clement of Alexandria]], the disciples of Valentinus said that Valentinus was a student of a certain [[Theudas (teacher of Valentinus)|Theudas]], who was a student of Paul,{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=108}} and Elaine Pagels notes that Paul's epistles were interpreted by Valentinus in a gnostic way, and Paul could be considered a [[Proto-Gnosticism|proto-gnostic]] as well as a proto-[[Catholic]].{{sfn|Pagels|1975}} Many Nag Hammadi texts, including, for example, the ''Prayer of Paul'' and the Coptic ''Apocalypse of Paul'', consider Paul to be "the great apostle".{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=108}} The fact that he claimed to have received his gospel directly by revelation from God appealed to the gnostics, who claimed ''gnosis'' from the risen Christ.{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=109}} The [[Naassenes]], [[Cainite]]s, and [[Valentinianism|Valentinians]] referred to Paul's epistles.{{sfn|Dunn|2016|pp=109–110}} [[The Jesus Mysteries|Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy]] have expanded upon this idea of Paul as a gnostic teacher;<ref>Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, ''[[The Jesus Mysteries]],'' 1999</ref> although their premise that Jesus was invented by early Christians based on an alleged Greco-Roman mystery cult has been dismissed by scholars.<ref>[[Bart D. Ehrman|Ehrman, Bart D.]] (2012). [[Did Jesus Exist? (Ehrman)|'' Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth'']]. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 25–30. {{ISBN|978-0-06-220644-2}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|The existence of Jesus is explored in other Wikipedia articles, such as: [[Christ myth theory]], [[Historicity of Jesus]], [[Sources for the historicity of Jesus]], [[Historical Jesus]], [[Quest for the historical Jesus]]}} However, his revelation was different from the gnostic revelations.{{sfn|Dunn|2016|p=111}}

== Major movements ==

=== Judean–Israelite Gnosticism===
Although Elkesaites and Mandaeans were found mainly in [[Mesopotamia]] in the first few centuries of the common era, their origins appear to be Judean–Israelite in the [[Jordan valley]].<ref name=ElkJI/><ref name=lightfoot1875/>{{sfn|Buckley|2010|p=109}}

====Elkesaites====
{{Main|Elcesaites}}
The Elkesaites were a Judeo-Christian baptismal sect that originated in the Transjordan and were active between 100 and 400 AD.<ref name=ElkJI>{{cite web|last1=Kohler|first1=Kaufmann|last2=Ginzberg|first2=Louis|title=Elcesaites|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5513-elcesaites|website=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref> The members of this sect performed frequent baptisms for purification and had a Gnostic disposition.<ref name=ElkJI/><ref name="auto2"/>{{rp|123}} The sect is named after its leader ''Elkesai''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Elkesaites|website=Britannica|access-date=14 February 2022|title=Elkesaite &#124; Jewish sect}}</ref>

According to [[Joseph Lightfoot]], the Church Father [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] (writing in the 4th century AD) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the [[Essenes]]:<ref name=lightfoot1875>{{Cite book|first=Joseph Barber |last=Lightfoot |author-link=Joseph Barber Lightfoot |chapter=On Some Points Connected with the Essenes |title=St. Paul's epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes, and dissertations |year=1875 |url=https://archive.org/details/stpaulsepistles00lighgoog |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |location=London |oclc=6150927 }}</ref> "Of those that came before his [Elxai (Elkesai), an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the [[Nazarene (sect)#Nasoraean Mandaeans|Nasaraeans]]."<ref name="panarion1-19">{{Cite web |date=2015-09-06 |title=Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Book 1 |url=http://www.masseiana.org/panarion_bk1.htm#18 |access-date=2023-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906041916/http://www.masseiana.org/panarion_bk1.htm#18 |archive-date=2015-09-06 }}</ref>

==== Mandaeism ====
{{Main|Mandaeism}}
[[File:Mandaeans 03.jpg|thumb|Mandaeans in prayer during [[Baptism#Mandaean baptism|baptism]]]]
{{Mandaeism}}
Mandaeism is a Gnostic, [[Monotheism|monotheistic]] and [[ethnic religion]].<ref name="Mandaens">{{cite book |last=Buckley |first=Jorunn Jacobsen |author-link= |year=2002 |chapter=Part I: Beginnings – Introduction: The Mandaean World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I9G-zLZRMLQC&pg=PA3 |title=The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[American Academy of Religion]] |doi=10.1093/0195153855.003.0001 |pages=1–20 |isbn=9780195153859 |oclc=57385973}}</ref>{{rp|4}}<ref>{{cite book|page=1 |title=[[Ginza Rabba]]|translator1-last=Al-Saadi |translator1-first=Qais |translator2-last=Al-Saadi |translator2-first=Hamed |edition=2nd |place=Germany |year=2019 |publisher=Drabsha}}</ref> The Mandaeans are an [[ethnoreligious group]] that speak a dialect of [[Eastern Aramaic languages|Eastern Aramaic]] known as [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]]. They are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity.<ref name="DEUTSCH2"/> Their religion has been practiced primarily around the lower [[Karun]], [[Euphrates]] and [[Tigris]] and the rivers that surround the [[Shatt-al-Arab]] waterway, part of southern Iraq and [[Khuzestan Province]] in Iran. Mandaeism is still practiced in small numbers, in parts of southern Iraq and the Iranian province of [[Khuzestan]], and there are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide.<ref name="yaledailynews">[http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20341 Iraqi minority group needs U.S. attention] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025053439/http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/20341 |date=2007-10-25 }}, Kai Thaler, ''Yale Daily News'', March 9, 2007.</ref>

The name 'Mandaean' comes from the Aramaic ''[[Manda (Mandaeism)|manda]]'' meaning knowledge.<ref name=Rudolph>{{cite book|last1=Rudolph|first1=Kurt|title=Mandaeism|date=1978|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004052529|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1kWzSxecUQC&q=kurt%20rudolph%20mandaeism&pg=PA15}}</ref> [[John the Baptist#Mandaeism|John the Baptist]] is a key figure in the religion, as an emphasis on [[Baptism#Mandaean Baptism|baptism]] is part of their core beliefs. According to [[Nathaniel Deutsch]], "Mandaean anthropogony echoes both rabbinic and gnostic accounts."<ref>Deutsch, Nathaniel. (2003) Mandaean Literature. In ''The Gnostic Bible'' (pp. 527–561). New Seeds Books</ref> [[Mandaeans]] revere [[Adam#In Mandaeism|Adam]], [[Abel#Mandaean interpretation|Abel]], [[Seth#Mandaeism|Seth]], [[Enos (biblical figure)#In Mandaeism|Enos]], [[Noah#Gnosticism|Noah]], [[Shem#In Mandaeism|Shem]], [[Aram, son of Shem|Aram]], and especially John the Baptist. Significant amounts of original Mandaean Scripture, written in [[Mandaean Aramaic]], survive in the modern era. The most important holy scripture is known as the [[Ginza Rabba]] and has portions identified by some scholars as being copied as early as the 2nd–3rd centuries,<ref name="auto2"/> while others such as S. F. Dunlap place it in the 1st century.<ref>"Sod, The Son of the Man" Page iii, S. F. Dunlap, Williams and Norgate – 1861</ref> There is also the [[Qolusta|Qolastā]], or Canonical Book of Prayer and the [[Mandaean Book of John]] (Sidra ḏ'Yahia) and other [[List of Mandaean scriptures|scriptures]].

Mandaeans believe that there is a constant battle or conflict between the forces of good and evil. The forces of good are represented by ''Nhura'' (Light) and ''Maia Hayyi'' ([[Living Water#In Gnosticism|Living Water]]) and those of evil are represented by ''Hshuka'' (Darkness) and ''Maia 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 called ''Alma d-Nhura'' ([[World of Light]]).<ref name=Nashmi>{{cite web |last=Nashmi |first=Yuhana|title=Contemporary Issues for the Mandaean Faith|website=Mandaean Associations Union|date=24 April 2013|url=http://www.mandaeanunion.com/history-english/item/488-mandaean-faith |access-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>

In Mandaeism, the World of Light is ruled by a Supreme God, known as [[Hayyi Rabbi]] ('The Great Life' or 'The Great Living God').<ref name=Nashmi/><ref name="auto2">Drower, Ethel Stefana. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937.</ref><ref name=Rudolph/> God is so great, vast, and incomprehensible that no words can fully depict how immense God is. It is believed that an innumerable number of [[Uthra]]s (angels or guardians),<ref name="Buckley 2002">{{cite book |last=Buckley |first=Jorunn Jacobsen |title=The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people |year=2002 |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195153859 |url=http://mandaeannetwork.com/Mandaean/books/english/2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf?bcsi_scan_955b0cd764557e80=0&bcsi_scan_filename=2The_Mandaeans_Ancient_Texts_and_Modern_People_American_Academy_of_Religion_Books_Jorunn_Jacobsen_Buckley.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|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. [[Yushamin|Yōšamin]], [[Abathur]], and [[Ptahil]]).{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}<ref name="Buckley 2002"/>{{rp|8}}

The Lord of Darkness ([[Krun]]) is the ruler of the [[World of Darkness (Mandaeism)|World of Darkness]] formed from dark waters representing chaos.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}<ref name="auto2"/> A main defender of the darkworld is a giant monster, or dragon, with the name [[Ur (Mandaeism)|Ur]], and an evil, female ruler also inhabits the darkworld, known as [[Ruha]].{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}} The Mandaeans believe these malevolent rulers created demonic offspring who consider themselves the owners of the [[seven planets]] and [[zodiac|twelve zodiac constellations]].{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}

According to Mandaean beliefs, the material world is a mixture of light and dark created by [[Ptahil]], who fills the role of the [[demiurge]], with help from dark powers, such as [[Ruha]] the Seven, and the Twelve.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987|pp=343–366}} 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' or [[Adam kasia]], is in dire need of being rescued from the dark, so it may ascend into the heavenly realm of the World of Light.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}

[[masbuta|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.<ref name="McGrath">{{cite web |last=McGrath|first=James|title=The First Baptists, The Last Gnostics: The Mandaeans|website=YouTube-A lunchtime talk about the Mandaeans by Dr. James F. McGrath at Butler University|date=23 January 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvv6I02MNlc |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> Therefore, Mandaeans are baptized repeatedly during their lives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://minorityrights.org/minorities/sabian-mandaeans/|date=November 2017|title = Sabian Mandaeans|website = Minority Rights Group International|access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> Mandaeans consider John the Baptist to have been a [[Nazarene (sect)#Nasoraean Mandaeans|Nasoraean Mandaean]].<ref name="auto2" />{{rp|3}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mandaeanism|title=Mandaeanism &#124; religion|website=Britannica|access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref><ref name="manaus">{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-21/meet-the-mandaeans-sydneys-followers-of-john-the-baptist/8727720|title=Meet the Mandaeans: Australian followers of John the Baptist celebrate new year|last=Hegarty|first=Siobhan|publisher=ABC|date=21 July 2017|access-date=22 July 2017}}</ref> John is referred to as their greatest and final teacher.<ref name="Buckley 2002" /><ref name="auto2" />

[[Jorunn J. Buckley]] and other scholars specializing in Mandaeism believe that the Mandaeans originated about two thousand years ago in the Palestine-Israel region and moved east due to persecution.<ref name=Buckley2021>{{cite web|last=Porter|first=Tom|title=Religion Scholar Jorunn Buckley Honored by Library of Congress|url=https://www.bowdoin.edu/news/2021/12/religion-scholar-jorunn-buckley-honored-by-library-of-congress.html|website=Bowdoin|date=22 December 2021|access-date=10 January 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Buckley|2010|p=109}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Lupieri|first=Edmondo F.|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mandaeans-1|title=MANDAEANS i. HISTORY |access-date=12 January 2022|website=Encyclopaedia Iranica|date=7 April 2008}}</ref> Others claim a southwestern Mesopotamia origin.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mandaeanism|title=Mandaeanism &#124; religion|website=Britannica|access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref> However, some scholars take the view that Mandaeism is older and dates from pre-Christian times.<ref>Etudes mithriaques 1978, p. 545, Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin</ref> Mandaeans assert that their religion predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a monotheistic faith.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/iraq/case-study/background/people-of-the-book|title = The People of the Book and the Hierarchy of Discrimination| website=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|access-date=1 November 2021}}</ref> Mandaeans believe that they descend directly from Shem, Noah's son,<ref name="auto2"/>{{rp|182}} and also from John the Baptist's original disciples.<ref name = DrowerHaranGawaita>{{cite book|last=Drower|first=Ethel Stefana|title=The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of Hibil-Ziwa|publisher=Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana|location=Vatican City|date=1953}}</ref>

Due to paraphrases and word-for-word translations from the Mandaean originals found in the ''[[Psalms of Thomas]]'', it is now believed that the pre-Manichaean presence of the Mandaean religion is more than likely.<ref name="DrowerHaranGawaita"/>{{rp|IX}}<ref>{{Cite web|author=Mandaean Society in America|title=The Mandaeans: Their History, Religion and Mythology|url=http://www.mandaeanunion.com/history-english/item/170-brief-history-on-the-mandaeans|date=27 March 2013|website=Mandaean Associations Union|access-date=23 November 2021}}</ref> The Valentinians embraced a Mandaean baptismal formula in their rituals in the 2nd century CE.{{sfn|Buckley|2010|p=109}} [[Birger A. Pearson]] compares the ''[[Five Seals]]'' of Sethianism, which he believes is a reference to quintuple ritual immersion in water, to Mandaean ''[[masbuta]]''.<ref name="Pearson">{{cite book|last=Pearson|first=Birger A.|author-link=Birger A. Pearson|title=Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism|chapter=Baptism in Sethian Gnostic Texts|publisher=De Gruyter|date=2011-07-14|doi=10.1515/9783110247534.119|pages=119–144|isbn=978-3-11-024751-0 }}</ref> According to [[Jorunn J. Buckley]], "Sethian Gnostic literature ... is related, perhaps as a younger sibling, to Mandaean baptism ideology."<ref>Buckley, Jorunn J. (2010). [https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/secure/POJ/downloadpdf.php?ticket_id=6087af77a3c18 Mandaean-Sethian connections]. ''ARAM'', 22 (2010) 495–507. {{doi|10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131051}}</ref>

In addition to accepting Mandaeism's Israelite or Judean origins, Buckley adds:
{{blockquote|[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].{{sfn|Buckley|2010|p=109}} }}

==== Samaritan Baptist sects ====
According to Magris, Samaritan Baptist sects were an offshoot of [[John the Baptist]].{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3515}} One offshoot was in turn headed by [[Dositheos (Samaritan)|Dositheus]], [[Simon Magus]], and [[Menander (gnostic)|Menander]]. 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.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3515}} The Samaritan leaders were viewed as "the embodiment of God's power, spirit, or wisdom, and as the redeemer and revealer of 'true knowledge{{' "}}.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3515}}

The [[Simonians]] 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 the [[Valentinianism|Valentinian doctrine]].<ref>Hippolytus, ''[[Philosophumena]]'', iv. 51, vi. 20.</ref>

The [[Quqites]] were a group who followed a [[Samaritan]], [[Iranian religions|Iranian]] type of Gnosticism in 2nd-century AD [[Erbil]] and in the vicinity of what is today northern [[Iraq]]. The sect was named after their founder Quq, known as "the potter". The Quqite ideology arose in [[Edessa]], [[Syria]], in the 2nd century. The Quqites stressed the [[Hebrew Bible]], made changes in the New Testament, associated twelve prophets with twelve apostles, and held that the latter corresponded to the same number of [[gospels]]. Their beliefs seem to have been eclectic, with elements of Judaism, Christianity, paganism, astrology, and Gnosticism.

=== Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism ===
Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism includes [[Sethianism]], [[Valentinianism]], [[Basilideans]], [[Acts of Thomas|Thomasine]] traditions, and [[Ophites|Serpent Gnostics]], as well as a number of other minor groups and writers.{{sfn|Magris|2005|pp=3517–3519}} Hermeticism is also a western Gnostic tradition,{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3519}} though it differs in some respects from these other groups.<ref name="Hoeller"/> The Syrian–Egyptian school derives much of its outlook from Platonist influences. It depicts creation in a series of [[Emanationism|emanations]] 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 the [[Eastern Christianity|Orthodox]] or [[Roman Catholic]] forms. [[Jesus]] and several of his apostles, such as [[Thomas 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 the [[twelve apostles]] by some gnostic texts, such as the [[Gospel of Mary]]. [[John the Evangelist]] is claimed as a Gnostic by some Gnostic interpreters,<ref>[[Elaine Pagels]], ''The Johannine Gospel'' in Gnostic Exegesis. Heracleon's Commentary on John. Nashville, Tennessee: SBL Monograph Series 17, 1973</ref> as is even [[Paul of Tarsus|St. Paul]].{{sfn|Pagels|1975}} Most of the literature from this category is known to us through the Nag Hammadi Library.

==== Sethite-Barbeloite ====
{{Main|Sethianism}}
Sethianism was one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd to 3rd centuries, and the prototype of Gnosticism as condemned by Irenaeus.{{sfn|Quispel|2005|p=3510}} Sethianism attributed its ''gnosis'' to [[Seth]], third son of [[Adam and Eve]] and ''[[Norea]]'', wife of [[Noah]], who also plays a role in [[Mandeanism]] and [[Manicheanism]]. Their main text is the ''Apocryphon of John'', which does not contain Christian elements,{{sfn|Quispel|2005|p=3510}} and is an amalgam of two earlier myths.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3517}} Earlier texts such as [[Apocalypse of Adam]] show signs of being pre-Christian and focus on Seth, third son of Adam and Eve.{{sfn|Temporini|Vogt|Haase|1983}} Later Sethian texts continue to interact with Platonism. Sethian texts such as [[Zostrianos]] and [[Allogenes]] 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."{{sfn|Turner|1986|p=59}}{{refn|group=note|The doctrine of the "triple-powered one" found in the text Allogenes, as discovered in the Nag Hammadi Library, is "the same doctrine as found in the anonymous [[Parmenides]] commentary (Fragment XIV) ascribed by Hadot to Porphyry [...] and is also found in [[Plotinus]]' [[Ennead]] 6.7, 17, 13–26."{{sfn|Turner|1986|p=59}}}}

According to [[John 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".{{sfn|Turner|2001|p=257}} Roelof van{{nbsp}}den{{nbsp}}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.{{sfn|Broek|2013|p=28}}

According to Smith, Sethianism may have begun as a pre-Christian tradition, possibly a [[syncretic]] cult that incorporated elements of Christianity and Platonism as it grew.{{sfn|Smith|2004}} According to [[Hildegard Temporini-Gräfin Vitzthum|Temporini]], Vogt, and Haase, early Sethians may be identical to or related to the [[Nazarenes (sect)|Nazarenes]], the [[Ophites]], or the sectarian group called [[Heresy|heretics]] by [[Philo]].{{sfn|Temporini|Vogt|Haase|1983}}

According to Turner, Sethianism was influenced by [[Christianity]] and [[Middle Platonism]], and originated in the second century as a fusion of a Jewish baptizing group of possibly priestly lineage, the so-called ''Barbeloites'',{{sfn|Turner|2001|pp=257–258}} named after [[Barbelo]], the first emanation of the Highest God, and a group of Biblical exegetes, the ''Sethites'', the "seed of [[Seth]]".{{sfn|Turner|2001|p=258}} At the end of the second century, Sethianism grew apart from the developing Christian orthodoxy, which rejected the [[Docetism|Docetic]] view of the Sethians on Christ.{{sfn|Turner|2001|p=259}} 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.{{sfn|Turner|2001|pp=259–260}} In the late third century, Sethianism was attacked by neo-Platonists like [[Plotinus]], and Sethianism became alienated from Platonism. In the early to mid-fourth century, Sethianism fragmented into various sectarian Gnostic groups such as the [[Archontics]], Audians, [[Borborites]], and Phibionites, and perhaps [[Stratiotici]], and Secundians.{{sfn|Turner|2001|p=260}}{{sfn|Turner|1986|p=59}} Some of these groups existed into the Middle Ages.{{sfn|Turner|2001|p=260}}

==== Valentinianism ====
{{Main|Valentinianism}}
Valentinianism was named after its founder [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] ({{Circa|100|180}}), who was a candidate for [[bishop]] of Rome but started his own group when another was chosen.<ref>''Adversus Valentinianos'' 4.</ref> 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,{{sfn|Green|1985|p=244}} and Valentinus is specifically named as ''gnostikos'' by Irenaeus. It was an intellectually vibrant tradition,{{sfn|Markschies|2003|p=94}} 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.{{refn|group=note|Quotes:<br>* Elaine Pagels: "Valentinian gnosticism [...] differs essentially from dualism";{{sfn|Pagels|1979|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}}<br>* Schoedel: "a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic".<ref name="schoedel">{{cite book | last =Schoedel | first=William | title= "Gnostic Monism and the Gospel of Truth" in ''The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Vol.1: The School of Valentinus'', (ed.) Bentley Layton | publisher=E.J. Brill | location=Leiden | year=1980}}</ref>}} 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.<ref name="val_mon">{{cite web | title = Valentinian Monism | publisher = The Gnostic Society Library | url = http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Valentinian_Monism.htm | access-date = 2009-02-12}}</ref> 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 an ''error of perception'' which becomes symbolized mythopoetically as the act of material creation.<ref name="val_mon" />

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 between ''Jews'' and ''Gentiles'' in [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] to be a coded reference to the differences between ''Psychics'' (people who are partly spiritual but have not yet achieved separation from carnality) and ''[[Pneumatic (Gnosticism)|Pneumatics]]'' (totally spiritual people). The Valentinians argued that such codes were intrinsic in gnosticism, secrecy being important to ensuring proper progression to true inner understanding.{{refn|group=note|Irenaeus describes how the [[Valentinians]] claim to find evidence in [[Ephesians]] for their characteristic belief in the existence of the [[Aeon (Gnosticism)|Æons]] as supernatural beings: "Paul also, they affirm, very clearly and frequently names these Æons, and even goes so far as to preserve their order, when he says, "To all the generations of the Æons of the Æon." (Ephesians 3:21) Nay, we ourselves, when at the giving of thanks we pronounce the words, 'To Æons of Æons' (for ever and ever), do set forth these Æons. And, in fine, wherever the words Æon or Æons occur, they at once refer them to these beings." ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called]]'' Book 1. Ch.3}}

According to [[Bentley 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 teacher [[Basilides]], and may have been influenced by him.{{sfn|Layton|1987}} 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.<ref>Simone Petrement, ''A Separate God''</ref>

==== Basilideans ====
{{Main|Basilideans}}
The Basilidians or Basilideans were founded by [[Basilides]] of [[Alexandria]] in the second century. Basilides claimed to have been taught his doctrines by Glaucus, a disciple of [[Saint Peter|St. Peter]], but could also have been a pupil of Menander.<ref name="Eusebius4-7">{{Cite book |last=Schaff |first=Philip |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_II/Volume_I/Church_History_of_Eusebius/Book_IV/Chapter_7 |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book IV |display-authors=et al}}</ref> Basilidianism survived until the end of the 4th{{nbsp}}century as [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]] knew of Basilidians living in the [[Nile]] Delta. It was, however, almost exclusively limited to [[Egypt]], though according to [[Sulpicius Severus]] it seems to have found an entrance into [[Spain]] through a certain Mark from [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]]. [[St. Jerome]] states that the [[Priscillianists]] were infected with it.

==== Thomasine traditions ====
The ''Thomasine Traditions'' refers to a group of texts which are attributed to the apostle Thomas.<ref>Jon Ma. Asgeirsson, April D. DeConick and Risto Uro (editors), [http://www.brill.com/thomasine-traditions-antiquity ''Thomasine Traditions in Antiquity. The Social and Cultural World of the Gospel of Thomas''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306035254/http://www.brill.com/thomasine-traditions-antiquity |date=2017-03-06 }}, Brill.</ref>{{refn|group=note|The texts commonly attributed to the Thomasine Traditions are:
* ''[[The Hymn of the Pearl]]'', or, the ''[[Hymn of the Pearl|Hymn of Jude Thomas the Apostle in the Country of Indians]]''
* ''The [[Gospel of Thomas]]''
* ''The [[Infancy Gospel of Thomas]]''
* ''The [[Acts of Thomas]]''
* ''[[Book of Thomas the Contender|The Book of Thomas: The Contender Writing to the Perfect]]''
* ''The [[Psalms of Thomas]]''
* ''The [[Apocalypse of Thomas]]''}} Karen L. King notes that "Thomasine Gnosticism" as a separate category is being criticised, and may "not stand the test of scholarly scrutiny".{{sfn|King|2003|p=162}}

==== Marcion ====
[[Marcion of Sinope|Marcion]] was a Church leader from [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]] (a city on the south shore of the Black Sea in present-day Turkey), who preached in Rome around 150{{nbsp}}CE,{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3518}} 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.{{sfn|Perkins|2005|p=3530}} Some scholars do not consider him to be a gnostic,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gnosis.org/library/marcion/Harnack.html|title=Adolf Von Harnack: Marcion|website=gnosis.org}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|name="EB"|[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]: "In Marcion's own view, therefore, the founding of his church{{snd}}to which he was first driven by opposition&nbsp;– amounts to a reformation of [[Christendom]] through a return to the gospel of Christ and to Paul; nothing was to be accepted beyond that. This of itself shows that it is a mistake to reckon Marcion among the Gnostics. A [[Dualistic cosmology|dualist]] he certainly was, but he was not a Gnostic".}} but his teachings clearly resemble some Gnostic teachings.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3518}} He preached a radical difference between the God of the Old Testament, the [[Demiurge]], 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.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3518}}{{sfn|Valantasis|2006|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} 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.<ref name="Harnack">{{Cite book |last=Harnack |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aL3BSQAACAAJ |title=Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God |date=2007-12-01 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-55635-703-9 |language=en |translator-last=Steely |translator-first=John E. |translator-last2=Bierma |translator-first2=Lyle D.}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Harnack"/>

==== Hermeticism ====
[[Hermeticism]] is closely related to Gnosticism, but its orientation is more positive.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3519}}<ref name="Hoeller">Stephan A. Hoeller, [http://www.gnosis.org/hermes.htm ''On the Trail of the Winged God. Hermes and Hermeticism Throughout the Ages''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126020349/http://www.gnosis.org/hermes.htm |date=2009-11-26 }}</ref>{{Clarify|date=June 2022}}

==== Other Gnostic groups ====
* Serpent Gnostics. The [[Naassenes]], [[Ophites]] and the Serpentarians gave prominence to snake symbolism, and snake handling played a role in their ceremonies.{{sfn|Magris|2005|p=3518}}
* [[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.<ref name="gonzález">González, Justo L. (1970). ''A History of Christian Thought, Vol. I''. Abingdon. pp. 132–133</ref>
* The [[Cainites]] are so-named since Hippolytus of Rome claims that they worshiped [[Cain]], as well as [[Esau]], [[Korah]], and the [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodomites]]. 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 (see [[libertinism]]). The name Cainite is used as the name of a religious movement, and not in the usual Biblical sense of people descended from Cain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cainite {{!}} Gnostic sect {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cainites |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=21 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Carpocratians]], a [[libertine]] sect following only the [[Gospel of the Hebrews|Gospel according to the Hebrews]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benko |first1=Stephen |title=The Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites According to Epiphanius |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |date=1967 |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=103–119 |doi=10.2307/1582042|jstor=1582042 }}</ref>
* The school of [[Justin (gnostic)|Justin]], which combined gnostic elements with the [[ancient Greek religion]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van den Broek |first1=Roelof |title=Gospel Tradition and Salvation in Justin the Gnostic |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |date=2003 |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=363–388 |doi=10.1163/157007203772064568 |jstor=1584560}}</ref>
* The [[Borborites]], a libertine Gnostic [[sect]], said to be descended from the [[Nicolaism|Nicolaitans]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Van Den Broek|first1=Roelof|title=Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism|date=2006|publisher=Brill|location=Boston|isbn=978-90-04-15231-1|page=194}}</ref>

=== Persian Gnosticism ===
The Persian schools, which appeared in the western Persian [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian provice]] of [[Asoristan]], and whose writings were originally produced in the [[Eastern Aramaic]] dialects spoken in [[Mesopotamia]] 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 or [[Judaism]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

==== Manichaeism ====
{{Main|Manichaeism}}
[[File:Manicheans.jpg|thumb|Manichean priests writing at their desks, with panel inscription in [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]]. Manuscript from [[Gaochang|Qocho]], [[Tarim Basin]].]]
Manichaeism was founded by [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] (216–276). Mani's father was a member of the [[Jewish Christian]] sect of the [[Elcesaites]], a subgroup of the [[Gnostic 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 the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]] of the [[Saka]]s in what is now [[Afghanistan]], where he studied [[Hinduism]] and its various extant philosophies. Returning in 242, he joined the court of [[Shapur I]], to whom he dedicated his only work written in Persian, known as the ''[[Shabuhragan]]''. The original writings were written in [[Syriac language|Syriac]], an Eastern Aramaic language, in a unique [[Manichaean 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 from [[Zurvanism|Zurvanist Zoroastrianism]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Zaehner|first=Richard Charles|title=The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism|year=1961|publisher=Putnam|location=New York|isbn=978-1-84212-165-8}}</ref> in which the eternal spirit [[Ahura 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.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.themystica.org/mystica/articles/d/dualism.html |title = Dualism Religion – Definition – Dualistic Cosmology – Christianity|date = 2018-03-16}}</ref>

According to Kurt Rudolph, the decline of [[Manichaeism]] that occurred in Persia in the 5th century was too late to prevent the spread of the movement into the east and the west.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}} In the west, the teachings of the school moved into Syria, Northern Arabia, Egypt and North Africa.{{refn|group=note|Where Augustine was a member of the school from 373–382.<ref name="Oxford:Platonism">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=Frank L. |editor2-last=Livingstone |editor2-first=Elizabeth |chapter=Platonism |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Augustine the Theologian |last=TeSelle |first=Eugene |year=1970 |location=London |publisher=Burns & Oates |pages=[https://archive.org/details/augustinetheolog0000tese/page/347 347–349] |isbn=978-0-223-97728-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/augustinetheolog0000tese/page/347 }} March 2002 edition: {{ISBN|1-57910-918-7}}.</ref>}} There is evidence for Manicheans in Rome and [[Dalmatia]] in the 4th century, and also in Gaul and Spain. From Syria, it progressed further into [[Syria Palestina]], [[Anatolia]], and [[Byzantine Armenia|Byzantine]] and [[Persian Armenia]].

The influence of Manicheanism was attacked by imperial elects and polemical writings, but the religion remained prevalent until the [[6th century]], and still exerted influence in the emergence of [[Paulicianism]], [[Bogomilism]], and [[Catharism]] in the Middle Ages, until it was ultimately stamped out by the [[Catholic Church]].{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}

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 the [[Uyghur Khaganate]].{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}}

=== Middle Ages ===
After its decline in the Mediterranean world, Gnosticism lived on in the periphery of the Byzantine Empire, and resurfaced in the western world. The [[Paulicianism|Paulicians]], an [[Adoptionist]] group which flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia and the Eastern Themes of the [[Byzantine Empire]], were accused by orthodox medieval sources of being Gnostic and quasi [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] Christian. The [[Bogomils]], emerged in [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] between 927 and 970 and spread throughout Europe. It was as [[Syncretism#Religious syncretism|synthesis]] of Armenian [[Paulicianism]] and the [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] reform movement.

The [[Catharism|Cathars]] (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.{{Verify source|date=November 2010}}

==== Islam ====
[[File:Adam and the Angels watched by Iblis.jpg|thumb|Some [[Sufism|Sufistic interpretations]] depict [[Iblis]] as ruling the material desires in a manner that resembles the [[Demiurge#Gnosticism|Gnostic Demiurge]].]]

The Quran, like Gnostic cosmology, makes a sharp distinction between this world and the [[afterlife]]. God is commonly thought of as being beyond human comprehension. In some Islamic schools of thought, God is identifiable with the [[Monad (philosophy)|Monad]].<ref>Winston E. Waugh, ''Sufism,'' Xulon Press, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-597-81703-5}}, p. 17</ref>{{sfn|Nagel|1994|p=222}}

However, according to Islam and unlike most Gnostic sects, not rejection of this world but performing good deeds leads to [[Jannah|Paradise]]. According to the Islamic belief in [[tawhid]] ("unification of God"), there was no room for a lower deity such as the demiurge.<ref>Andrew Philip Smith, ''The Secret History of the Gnostics: Their Scriptures, Beliefs and Traditions,'' Duncan Baird Publishers, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-780-28883-3}}</ref> According to Islam, both good and evil come from one God, a position especially opposed by the Manichaeans. [[Ibn al-Muqaffa']], a Manichaean apologist who later converted to Islam, depicted the [[Abrahamic God]] as a demonic entity who "fights with humans and boasts about His victories" and "sitting on a throne, from which He can descend". It would be impossible that both light and darkness were created from one source since they were regarded as two different eternal principles.{{sfn|Nagel|1994|p=215}} Muslim theologists countered with the example of a repeating sinner, who says: "I laid, and I repent";{{sfn|Nagel|1994|p=216}} this would prove that good can also result out of evil.

Islam also integrated traces of an entity given authority over the lower world in some early writings: [[Iblis]] is regarded by some [[Sufism|Sufis]] as the owner of this world and humans must avoid the treasures of this world since they would belong to him.<ref>Peter J. Awn, ''Satan's Tragedy and Redemption: Iblis in Sufi Psychology,'' Brill, 1983. {{ISBN|978-90-04-06906-0}}</ref>

In the [[Ismailism|Isma'ili Shi'i]] work ''[[Umm al-Kitab (Ismaili book)|Umm al-Kitab]]'', [[Azazil]]'s role resembles whose of the demiurge.{{sfn|Barnstone|Meyer|2009|p=803}} 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.{{sfn|Barnstone|Meyer|2009|p=707}} Such [[anthropogeny|anthropogenic]]{{clarify|date=October 2021}} can be found frequently among [[Isma'ili]] traditions.<ref>Corbin, ''Cyclical Time & Ismaili Gnosis,'' Routledge, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-136-13754-9}}, p. 154</ref> In fact, Isma'ilism has been often [[takfir|criticised as non-Islamic]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} [[Al-Ghazali]] characterized them as a group who are outwardly [[Shia]] but were adherents of a dualistic and philosophical religion.

Further traces of Gnostic ideas can be found in Sufi anthropogeny.{{clarify|date=October 2021}}<ref>Max Gorman, ''Stairway to the Stars: Sufism, Gurdjieff and the Inner Tradition of Mankind,'' Karnac Books, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-904-65832-0}}, p. 51</ref> 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 way [[archon]]tic spheres envelop the pneuma.<ref>Tobias Churton, ''Gnostic Philosophy: From Ancient Persia to Modern Times,'' Simon and Schuster, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-594-77767-7}}</ref> The [[ruh]] (pneuma, spirit) must therefore gain victory over the lower and material-bound [[nafs]] (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.{{sfn|Nagel|1994|p=215}}

It seems that Gnostic ideas were an influential part of early Islamic development but later lost its influence. However light metaphors and the idea of [[Sufi metaphysics|unity of existence]] ({{lang-ar|وحدة الوجود|waḥdat al-wujūd}}) still prevailed in later Islamic thought, such as that of [[ibn Sina]].{{sfn|Nagel|1994|p=222}}

==== Kabbalah ====
Gershom Scholem, a historian of [[Jewish philosophy]], wrote that several core Gnostic ideas reappear in medieval [[Kabbalah]], where they are used to reinterpret earlier Jewish sources. In these cases, according to Scholem, texts such as the [[Zohar]] adapted Gnostic precepts for the interpretation of the [[Torah]], while not using the language of Gnosticism.<ref>[[Gershom Scholem|Scholem, Gershom]]. ''Origins of the Kabbalah'', 1987. Pp. 21–22.</ref> Scholem further proposed that there was a Jewish Gnosticism which influenced the early origins of Christian Gnosticism.<ref name="Scholem Jewish Gnosticism">[[Gershom Scholem|Scholem, Gershom]]. ''Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition'', 1965.</ref>

Given that some of the earliest dated Kabbalistic texts emerged in medieval [[Provence]], at which time [[Cathar]] 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.<ref>[[Joseph Dan|Dan, Joseph]]. ''Kabbalah: a Very Short Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 24.</ref>

=== Modern times ===
{{Main|Gnosticism in modern times}}
Found today in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities, the [[Mandaeans]] are an ancient Gnostic [[ethnoreligious group]] that follow [[John the Baptist]] and have survived from antiquity.{{sfn|Rudolph|1987|p=343}} Their name comes from the Aramaic ''[[Manda (Mandaeism)|manda]]'' meaning knowledge or [[gnosis]].<ref name=Rudolph/> There are thought to be 60,000 to 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide.<ref name="yaledailynews"/>{{sfn|Rudolph|1987}} A number of modern gnostic ecclesiastical bodies have been set up or re-founded since the discovery of the [[Nag Hammadi library]], including the [[Ecclesia Gnostica]], [[Johannite Church#Apostolic Johannite Church|Apostolic Johannite Church]], [[Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica]], the [[Gnostic Church of France]], the [[Saint Thomas Christians|Thomasine Church]], the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, and the North American College of Gnostic Bishops.<ref name="Taussig2013">{{cite book|last=Taussig|first=Hal|title=A New New Testament: A Reinvented Bible for the Twenty-first Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts|year=2013|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-547-79210-1|page=532}}</ref> A number of 19th-century thinkers such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer]],<ref>[[Schopenhauer]], ''[[The World as Will and Representation]]'', Vol. II, Ch. XLVIII</ref> [[Albert Pike]] and [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|Madame Blavatsky]] studied Gnostic thought extensively and were influenced by it, and even figures like [[Herman Melville]] and [[W. B. Yeats]] were more tangentially influenced.<ref name="smith">Smith, Richard. "The Modern Relevance of Gnosticism" in The Nag Hammadi Library, 1990 {{ISBN|0-06-066935-7}}</ref> [[Jules Doinel]] "re-established" a [[Gnostic Church of France|Gnostic church in France]] in 1890, which altered its form as it passed through various direct successors (Fabre des Essarts as ''Tau Synésius'' and Joanny Bricaud as ''Tau Jean II'' most notably), and, though small, is still active today.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Early 20th-century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism include [[Carl Jung]] (who supported Gnosticism), [[Eric Voegelin]] (who opposed it), [[Jorge Luis Borges]] (who included it in many of his short stories), and [[Aleister Crowley]], with figures such as [[Hermann Hesse]] being more moderately influenced. [[René Guénon]] founded the gnostic review, ''La Gnose'' in 1909, before moving to a more [[Perennial philosophy|Perennialist]] position, and founding his [[Traditionalist School]]. Gnostic [[Thelema|Thelemite]] organizations, such as Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica and [[Ordo 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 include [[Lawrence Durrell]], [[Hans Jonas]], [[Philip K. Dick]] and [[Harold Bloom]], with [[Albert Camus]] and [[Allen Ginsberg]] being more moderately influenced.<ref name="smith" /> [[Celia Green]] has written on Gnostic Christianity in relation to her own philosophy.<ref name="Green">Green, Celia (1981, 2006). ''Advice to Clever Children''. Oxford: Oxford Forum. pp. xxxv–xxxvii.</ref> [[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.<ref>Michael Weber. [https://www.academia.edu/869320/_Contact_Made_Vision_The_Apocryphal_Whitehead_2008_ Contact Made Vision: The Apocryphal Whitehead] Pub. in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.), ''Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought'', Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag, Process Thought X1 & X2, 2008, I, pp. 573–599.</ref>

==Sources==

===Heresiologists===
Prior to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 Gnosticism was known primarily through the works of [[heresiologist]]s, [[Church Fathers]] who opposed those movements. These writings had an antagonistic bias towards gnostic teachings, and were incomplete. Several heresiological writers, such as Hippolytus, made little effort to exactly record the nature of the [[sect]]s 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]] ({{Circa|100/114|162/168}}) wrote the ''[[First Apology]]'', addressed to [[Roman emperor]] [[Antoninus Pius]], which criticised [[Simon Magus]], [[Menander (gnostic)|Menander]] and [[Marcion]]. Since then, both Simon and Menander have been considered as 'proto-Gnostic'.{{sfn|Markschies|2003|p=37}} [[Irenaeus]] (died {{Circa|202}}) wrote ''[[On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis|Against Heresies]]'' ({{Circa|180–185}}), which identifies [[Simon Magus]] from [[Flavia Neapolis]] in [[Samaria]] as the inceptor of Gnosticism. From Samaria he charted an apparent spread of the teachings of Simon through the ancient "knowers" into the teachings of Valentinus and other, contemporary Gnostic sects.{{refn|group=note|This understanding of the transmission of Gnostic ideas, despite Irenaeus' certain antagonistic bias, is often utilized today, though it has been criticized.}} [[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] (170–235) wrote the ten-volume ''[[Refutatio Omnium Haeresium|Refutation Against all Heresies]]'', of which eight have been unearthed. It also focuses on the connection between pre-Socratic (and therefore Pre-Incantation of Christ) 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 'the [[Seth]] people'. Hippolytus further presents individual teachers such as Simon, [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]], Secundus, [[Ptolemy (gnostic)|Ptolemy]], [[Heracleon]], [[Marcus (Marcosian)|Marcus]] and [[Ptolemy (gnostic)|Colorbasus]]. [[Tertullian]] ({{Circa|155|230}}) from [[Carthage]] wrote ''Adversus Valentinianos'' ('Against the Valentinians'), c.{{nbsp}}206, as well as five books around 207–208 chronicling and refuting the teachings of [[Marcion]].

===Gnostic texts===
{{See also|Gnostic texts|Nag Hammadi library}}
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 [[Gnostic texts]] discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt. Twelve leather-bound [[papyrus]] [[codex|codices]] buried in a sealed jar were found by a local farmer named Muhammed al-Samman.<ref>[[Marvin Meyer]] and [[James M. Robinson]], ''The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition''. HarperOne, 2007. pp. 2–3. {{ISBN|0-06-052378-6}}</ref> The writings in these codices comprised fifty-two mostly Gnostic [[treatise]]s, but they also include three works belonging to the ''[[Hermetica|Corpus Hermeticum]]'' and a partial translation/alteration of Plato's ''Republic''. These codices may have belonged to a nearby [[Saint Pachomius|Pachomian]] monastery, and buried after [[Athanasius|Bishop Athanasius]] condemned the use of [[Biblical canon|non-canonical]] books in his [[Easter letter|Festal Letter of 367]].{{sfn|Robinson|1978|loc=Introduction}} Though the original language of composition was probably [[Greek language|Greek]], the various codices contained in the collection were written in [[Coptic language|Coptic]]. 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.{{refn|group=note|According to Layton, "the lack of uniformity in ancient Christian scripture in the early period is very striking, and it points to the substantial diversity within the Christian religion."{{sfn|Layton|1987|p=xviii}} }}

==Academic studies==

===Development===
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.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3531}} J.{{nbsp}}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.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3531}}

In the 1880s, Gnosticism was placed within Greek philosophy, especially neo-Platonism.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} [[Adolf von Harnack]] (1851–1930), who belonged to the ''School of the History of Dogma'' and proposed a ''Kirchengeschichtliches Ursprungsmodell'', saw Gnosticism as an internal development within the church under the influence of Greek philosophy.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}}{{sfn|Lahe|2006|p=221}} According to Harnack, Gnosticism was the "acute Hellenization of Christianity".{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}}

The ''[[Religionsgeschichtliche Schule]]'' ("history of religions school", 19th century) had a profound influence on the study of Gnosticism.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} The ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' saw Gnosticism as a pre-Christian phenomenon, and Christian ''gnosis'' as only one, and even marginal instance of this phenomenon.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} According to [[Wilhelm Bousset]] (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism,{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} and [[Eduard Norden]] (1868–1941) also proposed pre-Christian origins,{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} while [[Richard August Reitzenstein]] (1861–1931), and [[Rudolf Bultmann]] (1884–1976) also situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}} [[Hans Heinrich Schaeder]] (1896–1957) and Hans Leisegang saw Gnosticism as an amalgam of eastern thought in a Greek form.{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3532}}

[[Hans Jonas]] (1903–1993) took an intermediate approach, using both the comparative approach of the ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' and existentialist hermeneutics that predated [[Rudolph Bultmann]]'s [[demythologization]] procedure.{{r|jg|page=94-95}} Jonas emphasized the duality between the Gnostic God and the world, and concluded that Gnosticism cannot be derived from Platonism nor Judaism.<ref name=jg >Sariel, Aviram. "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/harvard-theological-review/article/jonasian-gnosticism/A9BAD085CFAD0384CA4B2E744119C764 Jonasian Gnosticism]." Harvard Theological Review 116.1 (2023): 91-122.</ref> {{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} Instead he proposed that Gnosticism manifested an existential situation triggered by the conquests of [[Alexander The Great]] and their impact over Greek city-states and "oriental" casts of priests-intellectuals.{{sfn|Jonas|1963|pp=3-27}} {{r|jg|page=107-108}} By contrast, contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish or Judeo-Christian origins;{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} this theses is most notably put forward by Gershom G. Scholem (1897–1982) and [[Gilles Quispel]] (1916–2006).{{sfn|Albrile|2005|pp=3533–3534}}

The study of Gnosticism and of early Alexandrian Christianity received a strong impetus from the discovery of the [[Coptic language|Coptic]] [[Nag Hammadi Library]] in 1945.{{sfn|Broek|1996|p=vii}}{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3535}} A great number of translations have been published, and the works of [[Elaine Pagels]], Professor of Religion at [[Princeton University]], especially ''The 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,{{r|National_Book_Award|group=web}}{{r|Beliefnet|group=web}} but also incited strong responses and condemnations from clergical writers.{{sfn|Quispel|2004|p=8}}

===Definitions of Gnosticism===
According to Matthew J. Dillon, six trends can be discerned in the definitions of Gnosticism:{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=24}}
* Typologies, "a catalogue of shared characteristics that are used to classify a group of objects together."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=24}}
* Traditional approaches, viewing Gnosticism as a Christian heresy{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=25}}
* Phenomenological approaches, most notably [[Hans Jonas]]{{sfn|Jonas|1963}}{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=26}}
* Restricting Gnosticism, "identifying which groups were explicitly called gnostics",{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=27}} or which groups were clearly sectarian{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=27}}
* Deconstructing Gnosticism, abandoning the category of "Gnosticism"{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=28}}
* Psychology and [[cognitive science of religion]], approaching Gnosticism as a psychological phenomenon{{sfn|Dillon|2016|pp=27–28}}

====Typologies====
The 1966 [[Messina]] conference on the origins of gnosis and Gnosticism proposed to designate
{{blockquote|... a particular group of systems of the second century after Christ" as ''gnosticism'', and to use ''gnosis'' to define a [[conception of knowledge]] that transcends the times, which was described as "knowledge of divine mysteries for an élite.{{sfn|Markschies|2003|p=13}}}}

This definition has now been abandoned.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=24}} It created a religion, "Gnosticism", from the "gnosis" which was a widespread element of ancient religions,{{refn|group=note|Markschies: "something was being called "gnosticism" that the ancient theologians had called 'gnosis'&nbsp;... [A] concept of gnosis had been created by Messina that was almost unusable in a historical sense."{{sfn|Markschies|2003|pp=14–15}}}} suggesting a homogeneous conception of gnosis by these Gnostic religions, which did not exist at the time.{{sfn|Markschies|2003|pp=14–15}}

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)."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=24}} Dillon further notes that the Messian-definition "also excluded pre-Christian Gnosticism and later developments, such as the Mandaeans and the Manichaeans."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=24}}

Hans Jonas discerned two main currents of Gnosticism, namely Syrian-Egyptian, and Persian, which includes [[Manichaeism|Manicheanism]] and [[Mandaeism]].{{sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} 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 Persian [[Zurvanism|Zurvanist 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 (the ''[[Apocryphon of John]]''){{sfn|Quispel|2005|p=3510}} 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.{{sfn|Quispel|2005|p=3511}} Other authors speak rather of "Gnostic Christians", noting that Gnostics were a prominent substream in the early church.{{sfn|Freke|Gandy|2005}}

====Traditional approaches – Gnosticism as Christian heresy====
The best known example of this approach is [[Adolf von Harnack]] (1851–1930), who stated that "Gnosticism is the acute Hellenization of Christianity."{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=25}} 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=26}}

====Phenomenological approaches====
[[Hans Jonas]] (1903–1993) took an [[Existential phenomenology|existential phenomenological]] approach to Gnosticism. According to Jonas, [[Social alienation|alienation]] is a distinguishing characteristic of Gnosticism, making it different from contemporary religions. Jonas compares this alienation with the existentialist notion of ''[[geworfenheit]]'', [[Martin Heidegger]]'s "thrownness", as in being thrown into a hostile world.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=26}}

====Restricting Gnosticism====
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 the ''Apocryphon of John'', and was used mainly by the Sethians and the [[Ophites]]. According to Layton, texts which refer to this myth can be called "classical Gnostic".{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=27}}

In addition, Alastair Logan uses social theory to identify Gnosticism. He uses [[Rodney 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=27}}

===Criticism of "Gnosticism" as a category===
According to the [[Westar 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fall 2014 Christianity Seminar Report on Gnosticism |url=https://www.westarinstitute.org/projects/christianity-seminar/fall-2014-meeting-report/ |website=westar institute |access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref>

According to [[Michael 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.{{sfn|Williams|1996}} According to Williams, the conceptual foundations on which the category of Gnosticism rests are the remains of the agenda of the [[heresiology|heresiologists]].{{sfn|Williams|1996}} The early church heresiologists created an interpretive definition of Gnosticism, and modern scholarship followed this example and created a ''categorical'' definition. According to Williams the term needs replacing to more accurately reflect those movements it comprises,{{sfn|Williams|1996}} and suggests to replace it with the term "the Biblical demiurgical tradition".{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=28}}

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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=28}}

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.{{sfn|Robertson|2021}}

==Psychological approaches==
[[Carl Jung]] approached Gnosticism from a psychological perspective, which was followed by [[Gilles Quispel]]. According to this approach, Gnosticism is a map for the human development in which an undivided person, centered on the [[Self in Jungian psychology|Self]], 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.{{sfn|Dillon|2016|p=28}}

According to [[Ioan Petru Culianu|Ioan Culianu]], gnosis is made possible through universal operations of the mind, which can be arrived at "anytime, anywhere".{{sfn|Dillon|2016|pp=28–29}} A similar suggestion has been made by Edward Conze, who suggested that the similarities between ''[[Prajñā (Buddhism)|prajñā]]'' and ''sophia'' may be due to "the actual modalities of the human mind", which in certain conditions result in similar experiences.{{sfn|Conze|1975|p=165}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

===Subnotes===
{{reflist|group=subnote|3}}

==References==
{{citation style|date=January 2024}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Works cited===
====Printed sources====
{{lacking ISBN|date=January 2024}}
{{refbegin|}}
<!-- A -->
* {{cite book |last=Albrile |first=Ezio |year=2005 |chapter=Gnosticism: History of Study |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |title=MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=MacMillan}}
<!-- B -->
* {{cite book |last1=Barnstone |first1=Willis |last2=Meyer |first2=Marvin |title=The Gnostic Bible: Revised and Expanded Edition |publisher=Shambhala Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-834-82414-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosticbible0000unse |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Bauer |title=Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity |publisher=Fortress |isbn=978-0-8006-1363-1 |year=1979}}
* {{cite book |last=Brakke |first=David |year=2012 |title=The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674262331}}
* {{cite book |last=Broek |first=Roelof van den |author-link=Roel van den Broek |year=1996 |title=Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}}
* {{cite book |last=Broek |first=Roelof van den |year=2013 |title=Gnostic Religion in Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Buckley |first=Jorunn Jacobsen |year=2010 |chapter=Turning the Tables on Jesus: The Mandaean View |editor-last1=Horsley |editor-first1=Richard |title=Christian Origins |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1451416640 |pages=94–111 |place=Minneapolis, Minnesota}}
<!-- C -->
* {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Joseph |title=Occidental Mythology |publisher=Penguin Arkana |year=1991}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |first=Henry |last=Chadwick |date=n.d. |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity/Early-heretical-movements |title=Early heretical movements |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=13 February 2023 |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Arthur A. |last2=Mendes-Flohr |first2=Paul |year=2010 |title=20th Century Jewish Religious Thought}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}}
* {{cite conference |last=Conze |first=Edward |year=1967 |chapter=Buddhism and Gnosis |editor-last=Bianchi |editor-first=U. |title=Origins of Gnosticism: Colloquium of Messina, 13–18 April 1966}}
* {{cite journal |last=Conze |first=Edward |year=1975 |title=Buddhist prajna and Greek Sophia |journal=Religion |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=160–167 |doi=10.1016/0048-721X(75)90017-2}}
<!-- D -->
* {{cite news |last=Deutsch |first=Nathaniel |date=6 October 2007 |title=Save the Gnostics |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06deutsch.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 November 2021}}
* {{cite book |last=Dillon |first=Matthew J. |pages=23–38 |year=2016 |chapter=Gnosticism Theorized: Major Trends and Approaches to the Study of Gnosticism |editor-last=DeConick |editor-first=April D. |title=Religion: Secret Religion |publisher=MacMillan Reference US |chapter-url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:34031/}}
* {{cite book |last=Dunderberg |first=Ismo |year=2008 |title=Beyond gnosticism: myth, lifestyle, and society in the school of Valentinus |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Dunn |first=James D. G. |year=2016 |chapter='The Apostle of the Heretics': Paul, Valentinus, and Marcion |editor-last1=Porter |editor-first1=Stanley E. |editor-last2=Yoon |editor-first2=David |title=Paul and Gnosis |pages=105–118 |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004316690_008 |isbn =978-90-04-31669-0}}
<!-- E -->
* {{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |year=2003 |title =Lost Christianities |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
<!-- F -->
* {{cite book |last1=Freke |first1=Timothy |last2=Gandy |first2=Peter |title=De mysterieuze Jezus. Was Jezus oorspronkelijk een heidense god? |publisher=Uitgeverij Synthese |year=2005 |language=nl}}
<!-- G -->
* {{cite book |last=Green |first=Henry |title=Economic and Social Origins of Gnosticism|publisher=Scholars Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-89130-843-0}}
<!-- H -->
* {{cite book |last=Haar |first=Stephen |year=2012 |title=Simon Magus: The First Gnostic? |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3110898828}}
* {{cite book |last=Halsall |first=Guy |year=2008 |author-link=Guy Halsall |title=Barbarian migrations and the Roman West |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-43491-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |oclc=910498369 |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}
* {{cite book |last=Huidekoper |first=Frederic |year=1891 |title=Judaism at Rome: BC 76 to AD 140 |publisher=D. G. Francis}}
<!-- J -->
* {{cite book |first=Hans |last=Jonas |title=The Gnostic Religion |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1963 |isbn=0-8070-5799-1 |orig-year=1958}}
<!-- K -->
* {{cite book |last=King |first=Karen L. |author-link=Karen Leigh King |year=2003 |title=What is Gnosticism? |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |oclc=51481684 |isbn=978-0-674-01071-0}}
<!-- L -->
* {{cite journal |last=Lahe |first=Jaan |title=Ist die Gnosis aus dem Christentum Ableitbar? Eine Kritische Auseinandersetzung mit Einem Ursprungsmodell der Gnosis |year=2006 |journal=Trames |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=220–231 |doi=10.3176/tr.2006.3.02 |s2cid=169297876 |doi-access=free |language=de}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Bentley Layton |last=Layton |first=Bentley |title=The Gnostic Scriptures |place=London |publisher=SCM Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-334-02022-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Layton |first=Bentley |editor1-first=L. Michael |editor1-last=White |editor2-first=O. Larry |editor2-last=Yarbrough |editor1-link=L. Michael White |chapter=Prolegomena to the study of ancient gnosticism |title=The Social World of the First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne A. Meeks |publisher=Fortress Press |place=Minneapolis |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-8006-2585-6}}
<!-- M -->
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Magris |first=Aldo |year=2005 |title=Gnosticism: Gnosticism from its origins to the Middle Ages (further considerations) |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |encyclopedia=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Religion |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=[[Macmillan Inc.]] |pages=3515–3516 |isbn=978-0028657332 |oclc=56057973}}
* {{cite book |last=Markschies |first=Christoph |title=Gnosis: An Introduction |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-567-08945-8 |translator=John Bowden}}
* {{cite journal |last=McVey |first=Kathleen |title=Gnosticism, Feminism, and Elaine Pagels |journal=Theology Today |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=498–501 |year=1981 |doi=10.1177/004057368103700411 |s2cid=170277327}}
* {{cite book |last=Mead |first=G. R. S. |title=Fragments of a Faith Forgotten |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-4179-8413-8}}
* {{cite book |first=Herbert Christian |last=Merillat |year=1997 |chapter=Buddhism and Gnosticism |chapter-url=http://gnosis.org/thomasbook/ch22.html |title=The Gnostic Apostle Thomas: "Twin" of Jesus |via=gnosis.org |access-date=13 February 2023}}
<!-- N -->
* {{cite book |first=Tilman |last=Nagel |title=Geschichte der islamischen Theologie: von Mohammed bis zur Gegenwart |publisher=C. H. Beck |year=1994 |isbn=978-3-406-37981-9 |language=de}}
<!-- P -->
* {{cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine |author-link=Elaine Pagels |year=1975 |title=The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters |isbn=978-1-56338-039-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosticpaulgnost00page |url-access=registration |publisher=Trinity Press International}}
* {{cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine |year=1979 |title=The Gnostic Gospels |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-679-72453-7 |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine |year=1989 |title=The Gnostic Gospels |publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-679-72453-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Birger Albert |year=2004 |title=Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}}
* {{cite book |last=Petrement |first=Simone |year=1990 |title=A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticism |publisher=Harper and Row |isbn=0-06-066421-5}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Perkins |first=Pheme |year=2005 |title=Gnosticism: Gnosticism as a Christian heresy |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |encyclopedia=MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=MacMillan}}
<!-- Q -->
* {{cite book |last=Quispel |first=Gilles |year=2004 |chapter=Voorwoord |editor-last=Pagels |editor-first=Elaine |title=De Gnostische Evangelien |publisher=Servire |language=nl}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Quispel |first=Gilles |year=2005 |chapter=Gnosticism: Gnosticism from its origins to the Middle Ages |edition=1st |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |encyclopedia=MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion |publisher=MacMillan}}
<!-- R -->
* {{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=David G. |title=Gnosticism and the History of Religions |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1350137691}}
* {{cite book |author-link=James M. Robinson |last=Robinson |first=James |title=The Nag Hammadi Library in English |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-06-066934-8 |location=San Francisco}}
* {{cite journal |first=J. M. |last=Robinson |title=Jesus: From Easter to Valentinus (Or to the Apostles' Creed) |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=101 |year=1982|issue=1 |pages=5–37 |doi=10.2307/3260438 |jstor=3260438 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Rousseau |first1=A. |last2=Doutreleau |first2=L. |year=1974 |title=Saint Irénée de Lyon: Traité contre les hérésies |language=fr}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}}
* {{cite book |last=Rudolph |first=Kurt |author-link=Kurt Rudolph |title=Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-06-067018-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosisnaturehist00rudo |url-access=registration}}
<!-- S -->
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Carl B. |year=2004 |title=No Longer Jews: The Search for Gnostic Origins |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Morton |author-link=Morton Smith |year=1981 |title=History of the Term Gnostikos |place=Netherlands |publisher=E.J. Brill}}
<!-- T -->
* {{cite book |last1=Temporini |first1=Hildegard |author-link1=Hildegard Temporini-Gräfin Vitzthum |last2=Vogt |first2=Joseph |last3=Haase |first3=Wolfgang |year=1983 |title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |trans-title=Rise and Decline of the Roman World |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-008845-8 |title-link=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt |language=de}}
* {{cite book |last=Turner |first=John |year=1986 |chapter=Sethian Gnosticism: A Literary History |title=Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism and Early Christianity |chapter-url=http://jdt.unl.edu/lithist.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211123653/http://jdt.unl.edu/lithist.html |archive-date=2012-12-11 }}
* {{cite book |last=Turner |first=John D. |year=2001 |chapter=Chapter Seven: The History of the Sethian Movement |title=Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition |publisher=Presses Université Laval}}
<!-- U -->
* {{cite book |first1=Dominic J. |last1=Unger |first2=John J. |last2=Dillon |year=1992 |title=St. Irenaeus of Lyons Against the heresies |volume=1}}{{full citation needed|date=January 2024}}
<!-- V -->
* {{cite book |last1=Valantasis |first1=Richard |title=The Beliefnet Guide to Gnosticiam and Other Vanished Christianities |publisher=Beliefnet |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-385-51455-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/beliefnetguideto00vala}}
* {{cite journal |last=Verardi |first=Giovanni |author-link=Giovanni Verardi |year=1997 |title=The Buddhists, the Gnostics and the Antinomistic Society, or the Arabian Sea in the First Century AD |journal=Aion |volume=57 |issue=3–4 |pages=324–346 |url=http://opar.unior.it/1042/1/Articolo_Verardi_pdf.pdf}}
<!-- W -->
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Michael |year=1996 |title=Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-01127-1}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=R. McL. |title=Nag Hammadi and the New Testament |journal=New Testament Studies |volume=28 |year=1982|issue=3 |pages=289–302 |doi=10.1017/S002868850000744X |s2cid=170876890 }}
{{refend}}

====Web sources====
{{reflist|group=web|refs=
<!-- B -->
<ref name=Beliefnet group=web>{{cite web | last =Sheahen | first =Laura | title =Matthew, Mark, Luke and... Thomas?: What would Christianity be like if gnostic texts had made it into the Bible? | website =[[Beliefnet]] | date =June 2003 | url =http://www.beliefnet.com/story/128/story_12865_1.html | access-date=June 7, 2009}}</ref>
<!-- N -->
<ref name=National_Book_Award group=web >{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1980 |title=National Book Awards&nbsp;– 1980 |publisher=[[National Book Foundation]] | access-date=March 8, 2012 }}</ref>
<!-- P -->
<ref name=perseus_LSJ group=web>perseus.tufts.edu, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=gnwstikos&la=greek#lexicon LSJ entry]</ref>
<ref name=perseus_gnostikos group=web>perseus.tufts.edu, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/wordfreq?lang=greek&lookup=gnwstiko%2Fs ''Gnostikos'']</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
'''Primary sources'''
* {{cite book |author-link=Willis Barnstone |last=Barnstone |first=Willis |title=The Other Bible: Gnostic Scriptures, Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Christian Apocyrypha, Kabbalah, Dead Sea Scrolls |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-06-081598-1 |location=San Francisco |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Barnstone |first1=Willis |last2=Meyer |first2=Marvin |title=Essential Gnostic Scriptures |publisher=Shambhala Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-1590305492 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author=Plotinus |author-link=Plotinus |title=The Enneads |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1989 |translator=A. H. Armstrong |isbn=978-0-674-99484-3 |volume=1 |title-link=Enneads |ref=none}}

'''General'''
* {{cite book |last=Aland |first=Barbara |title=Festschrift für Hans Jonas |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=1978 |isbn=978-3-525-58111-7 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Burstein |first=Dan |title=Secrets of Mary Magdalene |publisher=CDS Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-59315-205-5 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Filoramo |first=Giovanni |title=A History of Gnosticism |publisher=Basil Blackwell |location=Oxford |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-631-18707-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last1=Freke |first1=Timothy |last2=Gandy |first2=Peter |year=2002 |title=Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians |publisher=Three Rivers Press |isbn=978-0-00-710071-2 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Haardt |first=Robert |title=Die Gnosis: Wesen und Zeugnisse |publisher=Otto-Müller-Verlag |place=Salzburg |year=1967 |language=de |ref=none}} Translated as {{cite book |last=Haardt |first=Robert |title=Gnosis: Character and Testimony |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosischaractert0000haar |url-access=registration |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=1971 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Stephan A. Hoeller |last=Hoeller |first=Stephan A. |title=Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing |publisher=Quest |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8356-0816-9 |location=Wheaton, IL |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Hans Jonas |last=Jonas |first=Hans |title=Gnosis und spätantiker Geist |volume=2: Von der Mythologie zur mystischen Philosophie |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=1993 |isbn=978-3-525-53841-8 |location=Göttingen |language=de |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Charles William King |last=King |first=Charles William |title=The Gnostics and Their Remains |year=1887 |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/ |via=Sacred-texts.com |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Klimkeit |first=Hans-Joachim |title=Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia |publisher=Harper |place=San Francisco |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-06-064586-1 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Layton |editor-first=Bentley |title=The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Sethian Gnosticism |publisher=E.J. Brill |year=1981 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Pagels |first=Elaine |title=The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis |publisher=Scholars Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-1-55540-334-8 |location=Atlanta |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Tuckett |first=Christopher M. |author-link=Christopher M. Tuckett |title=Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library |publisher=T & T Clark |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-567-09364-6 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Van den Broek |first=Roelof |year=2013 |title=Gnostic Religion in Antiquity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Walker |first=Benjamin |year=1990 |author-link=Benjamin Walker (author) |title=Gnosticism: Its History and Influence |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-1-85274-057-3 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Yamauchi |first=Edwin M. |author-link=Edwin M. Yamauchi |title=Pre-Christian Gnosticism: A Survey of the Proposed Evidences |publisher=Baker Book House |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-8010-9919-9 |ref=none}}
* {{cite journal |last=Yamauchi |first=Edwin M. |jstor=3164879 |title=Pre-Christian Gnosticism in the Nag Hammadi Texts? |journal=Church History |volume=48 |year=1979 |issue=2 |pages=129–141 |doi=10.2307/3164879 |s2cid=161310738 |ref=none}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wiktionary|Gnosticism}}
<!-- All external links are in alphabetical order by page title or, where available, by author. If you add to the lists, please maintain this layout. Also see the subpages, e.g., [[Gnosticism in modern times]] (which have their own link lists) so you place links in the appropriate page. -->
'''Texts'''
* [http://www.gnosis.org/library.html Gnostic Society Library]&nbsp;– primary sources and commentaries
* [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gnostics.html Early Christian Writings]&nbsp;– primary texts
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/index.htm Gnostic texts] at sacred-texts.com

'''Encyclopedias'''
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Gnosticism|author=Bousset, Wilhelm|author-link=Wilhelm Bousset|volume=12|pages=152–159|short=x}}
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/gnostic/ Gnosticism], by Edward Moore, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gnosticism Gnosticism] by Kurt Rudolph, Encyclopædia Iranica
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06592a.htm Gnosticism] Catholic Encyclopedia

{{Gnosticism topics|state=expanded}}
{{Belief systems}}
{{History of Christianity}}
{{Heresies condemned by the Catholic Church}}
{{philosophy of religion}}
{{Religion topics}}
{{Thelema series}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Gnosticism| ]]
[[Category:1st-century establishments]]
[[Category:Comparative religion]]
[[Category:Spirituality]]
[[Category:Western esotericism]]