ABSTRACT
Providing an analysis of and possible answers for the question of the existence of a pre-Christian “Gnosticism” in the ancient world is fraught with difficulties from the outset. First and foremost is the problem of the definition of terms, both of “Gnosticism” and of pre-Christian, neither of which is settled in contemporary scholarship. Further, there are two major challenges that loom large in the academy. The first is the challenge of methodology, particularly what evidence one considers essential and how critically and/or skeptically one approaches the extant materials and posits theories or hypotheses as history. The second is the challenge of motivation that often predetermines the questions one asks, the materials one considers, and the conclusions one reaches. In this article, each of these areas of scholarly dispute is examined and a review of some promising developments and directions in Gnostic studies is provided.
