The feminine as an intellectual category in gnosticism: proposing a methodological framework

Ever since the words “women’s studies” or “feminist studies” have made their long due appearance in early and late antique Christian studies,2 inves- tigating the role of the feminine in the history of Christianity has become a growingly pressing endeavor. In this chapter, I aim to illustrate the impor- tance of investigating the feminine as an intellectual category—that is, as a means of conveying theological ideas—by also presenting a case study on the theological use of the feminine in Gnosticism.3 Within Gnostic studies, the topic of gender (and women in particular) has drawn particular attention since the dawn of this field. Gnostic mythologies, so rich in female characters and feminine imagery, were fertile ground for the first studies on gender in early and late antique Christian studies.4 This chapter builds on previous research and expands their scope to propose the use of the feminine as a theological interpretative framework for understanding the complex phenomenon of Gnosticism and its collocation within the first centuries of Christianity.