But if ‘Gnostic’ can properly be used for a widespread spirituality which assumed a basic dualism between spirit and matter, which felt itself to be not at home in and at odds with the world, and which looked for an answer which resolved the paradox of human existence (in terms of knowledge of their true identity and an accordingly ascetic life-style), then Thomas can be described as ‘Gnostic’.297 The defining characteristic of John’s Gospel is its unfolding the fuller