INTRODUCTION 15
Seen in this light, statements of comparison are always relative and contextual.
This understanding of comparison and classification may be helpful to us in
our current discussion of what is gnostic.
Contrary to those who doubt whether there is any set of traits (N) that
allow us to compare and classify religions of gnosis as gnostic, in this volume
we wish to suggest a set of gnostic traits that in fact may be helpful in com-
paring and classifying texts and traditions.
To do this, we begin by building on the observation that, according to Ire-
naeus of Lyon, the people we here refer to as Sethians defined and described
themselves as gnostics. Here is the historical basis for the use of gnostic as a
valid term of self-definition.
Next we continue to explore who the gnostics were by identifying traits
that were characteristic of these Sethians who called themselves gnostics. Ire-
naeus helps us by citing sacred materials that were used by Sethian gnostics,
and it turns out that these materials are remarkably similar to the classic
Sethian text entitled the Secret Book of John, presented prominently below.
Through a careful examination of the Secret Book of John we identify five
traits that we suggest are central to this gnostic text and that guide us in un-
derstanding Sethian gnostics. The Secret Book of John proclaims the impor-
tance of (1) gnosis, or mystical knowledge, (2) understood through themes of
wisdom and (3) presented in creations stories, particularly in Genesis, and (4)
interpreted through a variety of religious and philosophical traditions, in-
cluding platonism, (5) in order to announce a radically enlightened way and
life of knowledge. These five traits, we propose, may help us describe the lead-
ing features of Sethian gnostics.
Finally, we extend the use of the terms gnostic and gnosticism to other
movements that appear to be linked to Sethian gnostics historically or that
resemble Sethian gnostics phenomenologically. Sometimes there seem to be
historical connections between Sethian gnostic texts and texts that are repre-
sentative of some other sort of gnosis, and at other times there seem to be clear
similarities in content and theme. This wider application of the terms gnostic
and gnosticism allows us to classify comparable texts and traditions as repre-
sentative of gnosticism.
In this volume, then, we understand the following to be the traits of gnos-
tic religions:
- While the spirit of late antiquity exhibits certain gnostic features, as Hans
Jonas has shown, religious movements that are to be classified as gnostic