Editing Gnosticism (section)

===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 History of Dogma school 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 (1890–1951) 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 the existentialist hermeneutics of [[Rudolph Bultmann]].{{r|jg|page=94-95}} Jonas emphasized the duality between the Gnostic God and the world. Jonas concluded that Gnosticism cannot be derived from Platonism, nor from Judaism. Instead, he proposed that Gnosticism manifested an existential situation triggered by the conquests of [[Alexander The Great]]. Following Weber and [[Spengler]], he noted the impact of the conquests on Greek city-states (in the "West") and castes of priest-intellectuals (in the Persian "East").{{r|jg|page=107-108}}{{Sfn|Jonas|1963|pp=3-27}} Following Jonas's existential lead and some of his methods, scholarship contemporary to Jonas advocated a different proposal, claiming that Gnosticism has Jewish or Judeo-Christian origins;<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).</ref>{{Sfn|Albrile|2005|p=3533}} These theses were notably put forward by [[Gershom 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]], 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 provoked strong responses and condemnations from clerical writers.{{sfn|Quispel|2004|p=8}} As of the 1970s, these and other publications applied the revised version of Jonas's proposal and criticized it, mostly relating to the evidence regarding "Pre-Cristian" Gnosticism.{{r|jg|page=115}}

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

The effects of Williams and King cannot be understated, to the point that "Gnostic studies" often became "Nag Hammadi studies". Nevertheless, some scholars seem to retain either a nuanced version of the term, considered "the Gnostic school of thought",<ref>David Brakke, ''The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), pages 5–10</ref> or as a unique phenomenon regardless of defamation campaigns.<ref>Jonathan Cahana-Blum, ''Wrestling with Archons: Gnosticism as a Critical Theory of Culture'' (London: Rowman, 2018).</ref>