Bentley Layton was an American educator and scholar who held distinguished professorships at Yale University, focusing on Ancient Christianity and Coptic language and texts. Born in 1941, he pursued his academic career with a strong foundation, graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University and later earning his PhD there.

Layton's scholarly contributions were particularly significant in the field of Gnosticism. He extensively studied Gnostic texts discovered at Nag Hammadi and the writings of the Egyptian monk Shenoute of Atripe. His work played a crucial role in the late 20th-century Rediscovery of Gnosticism, an international conference he hosted at Yale in 1980, which also resulted in a published volume. His academic interests spanned the early history of Christianity, Gnostic studies, and Coptic language and literature. He passed away in 2025.

Bentley Layton dedicated his academic career to the study of early Christianity and its related texts, with a particular emphasis on Gnosticism and Coptic literature. After teaching early Christian literature at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, he joined Yale University's religious studies department in 1976. At Yale, he became the Goff Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and a professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. His research delved deeply into the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi and the works of Shenoute of Atripe. Layton was instrumental in the late 20th-century resurgence of interest in Gnosticism, evidenced by the international conference he organized at Yale in 1980, titled 'Rediscovery of Gnosticism,' which also led to a significant publication. His scholarly pursuits covered the historical development of Christianity from its origins through the rise of Islam, Gnostic scholarship, and the Coptic language.

Layton's scholarly output includes seminal works that have influenced the fields of Gnosticism and Coptic studies. His book, 'The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations' (1987), made complex Gnostic Christian literature accessible to a wider audience by presenting translations and contextual information. In this work, he situated writings from Valentinus and his followers, as well as other texts with Gnostic leanings, within the broader historical framework of Early Christianity and Hellenistic Judaism. For scholars, his 'Coptic Grammar' is recognized as a standard textbook. Beyond his own writings, Layton meticulously cataloged all the Coptic manuscripts held at the British Library and served on the editorial boards of prestigious journals such as the Harvard Theological Review and the Journal of Coptic Studies.