Was There a Gnostic Religion?

The last ten years have witnessed great changes in research on Gnosticism. Due to the discovery of new sources and an increasing demand for more analytical and precise definitions of the phenomenon, scholars have developed new and more nuanced understandings of Gnosticism. For others, this has not been enough. They have asserted that if the term Gnosticism is still used, each use will require careful reflection on how and for what purpose it is employed since the term no longer has a generally approved content that is independent of its use in a given situation.