"The preeminent authorities on modern Gnosticism are Eric Voeglin, the political philosopher, and Hans Jonas, the existentialist philosopher and Gnostic scholar. For Voegelin, modern Gnosticism encompasses 'Such movements as progressivism, positivism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, communism, fascism, and national socialism.' Voegelin goes so far as to define modernity per se as 'the growth of gnosticism.' Moreover, modernity for Vegelin is no recent phenomenon. It begins 'perhaps as early as the ninth century.' Leading modern Gnostics for him include Joachim of Fiore, More, Calvin, Hobbes, Hegel, Comte, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hitler. Modern Gnostic individuals and movements share six characteristics that Voegelin calls 'the gnostic attitude': dissatisfaction with the world, confidence that the ills of the world stem from the way it is organized, certainty that amelioration is possible, the assumption that improvement must 'evolve historically,' the belief that humanity can change the world, and the conviction that knowledge--gnosis--is the key to change.

Where Voegelin seeks to show the Gnositc nature of modernity, Jonas seeks to show the modern nature of Gnosticism. Jonas draws parallels between ancient Gnosticism and modern, secular existentialism to prove that Gnosticism is existentialist, not that existentialism is Gnostic. For Jonas, both philosophies stress above all the radical alienation of human beings from the world.

Initially, Jonas assumed that existentialism was the key to Gnosticism because it was the key to all worldviews. Gradually, he came to see existentialism as a particular worldview and consequently to see Gnosticism not as the ancient version of existentialism but as its ancient counterpart: 'There is one situation, and one only that I know of in the history of Western man, where... that [existentialist] condition has been realized and lived out with all the vehemence of a cataclysimc event. That is the gnostic movement.'" --"The Gnostic Jung" by Robert A. Segal