The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity,[note 13][18] but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects.[1][19][note 14][20] Scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in Neoplatonism and Buddhism , the due to similarities in beliefs

According to James M. Robinson, no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity,[note 15] and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all."[22] However, the Nag Hammadi library contained Hermetic teachings that can be argued go back to the Old Egyptian Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC).[23]

Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish Christian origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects

Neoplatonic influencesEdit See also: Platonic Academy, Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism and Christianity In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed.[34] Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins.[26] Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism,[35] using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as hypostasis (reality, existence), ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both Sethian Gnostics and Valentinian Gnostics seem to have been influenced by Plato, Middle Platonism, and Neo-Pythagoreanism academies or schools of thought.[36] Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy,[37] and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists, including Plotinus.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism