ABSTRACT
In communicating their revelations of the nature of the divine and human world and the means to enlightenment, Gnostic authors of the first four centuries adopted a large variety of literary genres for the composition of their treatises, most of which were long established in the wider literary world. With certain exceptions, the reports and summaries of Gnostic teachings and practices by patristic authors such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Origen, Filastrius, Epiphanius, and Theodoret rarely contain original Gnostic sources, and thus provide little information on the literary genres of Gnostic revelations. Almost all extant Gnostic writings feature spoken performances on the part of a revealer, whether as monologues or as dialogues or letters between named interlocutors. The designation Classic Gnostic was first introduced in 1987 by Bentley Layton's anthology of Gnostic texts, The Gnostic Scriptures, whose first and most extensive part was devoted to what he calls "Classic Gnostic Scripture.".
