The role of Gnosticism in the contemporary modernity debate.

What is modernity? What are its roots and what is its future? These arecentral questions today, in philosophy as well as in several other domains. Some twentieth century philosophers among others Hans Blumenberg,Eric Voegelin and Hans Jonas have argued that we can grasp the natureof modern thought by referring to an ancient religious movement called Gnosticism. Gnosticism itself can be defined as an amalgam of various spiritualities, characterized by a radical dualism between god and the world. The purpose of my project is to understand on a philosophical level why the notion of Gnosticism plays such a significant role in the contemporary debate about modernity and secularization. I will argue that the reference to Gnosticism in this debate is related to an essential tension in Christianity. This tension consists in an irresolvable ambiguity between immanence and transcendence. Gnosticism as well as modernity can be interpreted as a reaction to this ambiguity, as a stabilization of what essentially remains unstable in Christianity. This insight may open upthe contemporary modernity debate from an unexplored point of view. In this sense, I want to present an innovative approach to a very actual and important debate in contemporary philosophy.

Keywords:Gnosticism, Modernity, Hans Blumenberg, Secularization, Eric Voegelin

Disciplines:Philosophy

Project type:PhD project