Hans Jonas' Construct "Gnosticism": Analysis and Critique

Hans Jonas' influential account of "Gnosticism" as the expression of a unitary "Spirit of Late Antiquity" defined by "Entweltlichung" (acosmism) has recently come under strong attack by scholars who suggest that the category "Gnosticism" should be dismantled and discarded. This debate calls for a thorough critical analysis of Jonas' construct "Gnosticism." Jonas' construct has highly problematic roots, on the one hand, in Spengler's account of "Arabian culture" and, on the other hand, in the normative understanding of de-objectivated existence (Entweltlichung) in the existential philosophy of the early Heidegger. The principal defect of Jonas' construct is that it tends to misrepresent the actual history suggested by the Nag Hammadi texts. This criticism can be exemplified by an examination of the Apocryphon of John, generally considered to be a paradigmatic Gnostic text.