Editing Gnosticism (section)

===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/|publisher=westar institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717194839/https://www.westarinstitute.org/projects/christianity-seminar/fall-2014-meeting-report/ |access-date=31 August 2020|archive-date=17 July 2019 }}</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}}