Gospel of Thomas

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The Gospel of Thomas is a New Testament-era apocryphon completely preserved in a papyrus Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The book was bound in a method now called Coptic binding.

The Gospel of Thomas was written by a school of early Christians who claimed the Apostle Thomas as their founder and does not have a narrative framework, nor is it worked into any overt philosophical or rhetorical context. Unlike the four canonical gospels, which are well structured narrative accounts of the life of Jesus, Thomas is a "sayings Gospel" or a collection of sayings (called logia) attributed to Jesus (including brief dialogues), the writing down of which is credited in the incipit to "Didymus Judas Thomas". The words "Didymus" (Greek) and "Thomas" (Hebrew) both mean "twin" and the name Judas or Jude (believed to be the author of the canonical Epistle of Jude), is a derivative of Judah.

All the texts have been available to the general public since 1975. The Gospel of Thomas has been translated, published and annotated in several languages. The original manuscript is the property of Egypt's Department of Antiquities. The first photographic edition was published in 1956, and its first critical analysis appeared in 1959.^[1]

The Gospel begins with the words, "These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down. And he said, 'Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.'"

The work comprises 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Some of these sayings resemble those found in the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Others were unknown until its discovery, and a few of these run counter to sayings found in the four canonical gospels.

When this Coptic version of the complete text of Thomas was found, scholars realized that three separate Greek portions of it had already been discovered in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, in 1898. The manuscripts bearing the Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas (P. Oxy. I 1; IV 654; IV 655) have been dated to about AD 200, and the manuscript of the Coptic version to about 340. Although the Coptic version is not quite identical to any of the Greek fragments, it is believed that the Coptic version was translated from an earlier Greek version - which in turn was recorded from an earlier oral version.

Contents 1 Confusion with other works 2 Corresponding Oxyrhynchus papyri 3 Date of Composition 3.1 The early camp 3.2 The late camp 4 The Gospel of Thomas and the canon of the New Testament 5 The Theology of the Gospel of Thomas 6 The New Age Philosophical View of the Gospel of Thomas 7 The Gospel of Thomas's importance and author 8 The Gospel of Thomas and the historical Jesus Christ 9 Comparison of The Gospel of Thomas to the New Testament 10 Gospel of Thomas scholars 11 Jesus Seminar 12 Popular culture 12.1 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 External links 15.1 Translations 15.2 Translations with commentaries

[edit] Confusion with other works

The Gospel of Thomas is distinct and unrelated to the work called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which expands on the canonical texts to describe the miraculous childhood of Jesus. When Hippolytus and Origen (ca. 233) refer to a "Gospel of Thomas" among the heterodox apocryphal gospels, it is unclear whether they mean the Infancy Gospel of Thomas or this "sayings" Gospel of Thomas. Hippolytus may, however, cite logion 4 with reference to the Naassenes in his Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.20, although the literary connection is weak.^{[citation needed]}

In the 4th century, Cyril of Jerusalem mentioned a "Gospel of Thomas" in his Cathechesis V: "Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work, not of one of the twelve apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples." Very little trace of Manichaean dualism can be detected in this "sayings" Gospel, the Gospel of Thomas, which is agreed to be simpler and less legend-filled than one would expect from a Manichaean text.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Corresponding Oxyrhynchus papyri

Prior to the Nag Hammadi library discovery, the sayings of Jesus found in Oxyrhynchus were known simply as Logia Iesu. The corresponding Koine Greek fragments of the Gospel of Thomas found in Oxyrhynchus are:

• P.Oxy. 1: fragments of logia 26 through 33, and logia 77 (ordered: 26-30, 77, 31-33).
• P.Oxy. 654: fragments of the beginning through logion 7, logion 24 and logion 36 on the flip side of a papyrus containing surveying data.
• P.Oxy. 655: fragments of logia 36 through 39, comprised of 8 fragments named a through h, whereof f and h have since been lost.

[edit] Date of Composition

There is currently much debate about when the text was composed, with scholars generally falling into two main camps: an early camp favoring a date between the years 50 and 70, approximately before or contemporary to the composition of the canonical gospels, and a late camp favoring a date, well after the canonical gospels were written, in the early 2nd century^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] The early camp

The early camp argues that since it consists of mostly original material and does not seem to be based on the canonical gospels, it most likely was transcribed from an oral tradition. Since the practice of considering oral tradition as authoritative ended during the 1st century, the Gospel of Thomas therefore had probably been written before the year 100, perhaps as early as around 40. Since this date precedes the dates of the traditional four gospels, there is some claim that the Gospel of Thomas is or has some connection to the hypothetical Q document—a text (or oral verse) that, with Mark, is postulated to have been a source for the gospels of Matthew and Luke.^[2] The early camp argues that about half of the material in Thomas has no known parallels to the New Testament, and at least some of this material could plausibly be attributed to the historical Jesus, such as saying 42 "Be passers-by".

The early camp also notes that Q is almost universally regarded by secular biblical scholars as the most parsimonious explanation for the synoptic problem and is widely regarded to be the earliest written text of Jesus' teachings. It has been hypothesized that Q exists in 3 strata, termed Q1, Q2, and Q3, with the apocalyptic material belonging in Q2 and Q3. Secular biblical scholars have identified 37 sayings that overlap between Thomas and Q, all of which are conjectured to be in either Q1 or Q2 and none of which included the latter, apocalyptic material of Q3.^{[citation needed]} As Thomas does not incorporate material from Q3, it was not aware of Q3 and precedes it. The Q layers of Q1 and Q2 are thought to predate the four gospels. Hence the Gospel of Thomas is thought to be early.^{[citation needed]}

Another argument for the early date (originally brought forward as the central argument of Elaine Pagels' book Beyond Belief The Secret Gospel of Thomas) is that there seems to be conflict between the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas. Certain passages in the Gospel of John can only be understood in light of a community based on the theological teachings of the Gospel of Thomas. John is the only one of the Canonical Gospels that gives Thomas a speaking part - indicating respect for the Thomas community. This is because, the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas are theologically similar in almost every respect except one. In the story of Doubting Thomas - the Johannine Community is theologically rebutting the Thomas community. The Johannine Community believes in a bodily resurrection; Thomas community believes in a spiritual resurrection - and completely rejects a bodily resurrection. So the Gospel of John has Thomas physically touch the risen Jesus and acknowledges his bodily nature. Her interpretation of John requires that a Thomas community existed when John's Gospel was written.

Another argument for the early camp is that there is overlap between Paul's epistles and Thomas.^{[citation needed]} The authentic corpus of Paul's epistles, which includes First Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians, is regarded by almost all biblical scholars as predating the canonical gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John.^{[citation needed]} Some secular scholars see common themes in Paul and in Thomas absent from the canonical gospels (nor independently attested by them), and conclude that Thomas draws upon a common sayings pool also used by the canonical gospels and Paul.^{[citation needed]} According to this theory, Paul drew on sayings widely recognized to have come from Jesus, some of which are uniquely preserved in the Gospel of Thomas.^{[citation needed]}

The early camp argues that if the author of Thomas knew of the New Testament, including the Pauline epistles, and if it is thought that "Thomas" showed gnostic tendencies, then it is surprising that he did not take the opportunity to include many verses that would have supported such "gnostic" theology, which are present in the canonical New Testament, such as John 8:58, "Before Abraham was born, I AM." The Gospel of Thomas includes a great deal of material unparalleled in the New Testament, but lacks distinctive terms from second-century Gnosticism such as archons, pleroma, aeons, or demiurge that would be expected from a product of the later Gnostic period: this is seen by some as another justification for an earlier date of authorship.^{[citation needed]}

The early camp counters arguments from the history of religion (and the relatively late appearance of gnostic thought) that Thomas reflects very little to none of the full-blown Valentinian gnosticism as seen in many of the other texts in the cache of manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi.^{[citation needed]} In fact, some point out that not all of the Nag Hammadi texts are gnostic; for example, one of the texts is an excerpt of a paraphrase of Plato's Republic, which predates gnosticism by centuries. However, it is speculated that gnosticism was heavily influenced by the creation myth that Plato put forth in Timaeus, and that the fragment enclosed in Codex VI has Socrates make a rather far-fetched analogy of just and unjust behavior based on a gruesome image of the Chimaera, the same sort of argument and image that full-blown Gnostics revelled in.^{[citation needed]}

It is also noted that gnosticism was a fluid belief system containing both new elements and old, and that material identified as "gnostic" in Thomas may have been current as early as 50 especially since the Gospel of John is in many ways just as Gnostic as Thomas.^{[citation needed]}

As for the focus on the cross - which Thomas lacks - early daters contend that Thomas belonged to an early form of Christianity, exemplified by Q, that concentrated on the sayings and teachings of Jesus.^{[citation needed]}

Earl Doherty [1] argued that when the Gospel of Thomas does parallel Q or the New Testament, it shows a less developed, more "primitive" or "original" form than the latter. Stevan L. Davies provides statistical evidence that the lack of order with the synoptics shows that Thomas was most likely not reliant upon the canonical Gospels and probably predated them.^[3]

[edit] The late camp

The late camp, on the other hand, dates Thomas sometime after 100, generally in the mid-2nd century, and the theory of Nicholas Perrin argues that Thomas is dependent on the Syriac Diatessaron, which was composed shortly after 172^[4]. One of the Greek fragments of Thomas found in Egypt is typically dated around 200.^{[citation needed]}

The main argument put forth by the late camp is an argument from redaction.^{[citation needed]} Under the most commonly accepted solution to the Synoptic problem, Matthew and Luke both used Mark as well as a lost sayings collection called Q to compose their gospels. Sometimes Matthew and Luke modified the wording of their source, Mark (or Q), and the modified text is known as redaction. Proponents of the late camp argue that some of this secondary redaction created by Matthew and Luke shows up in Thomas, which means that Thomas was written after Matthew and Luke were composed. Since Matthew and Luke are generally thought to have been composed in the 80s and 90s,^{[citation needed]} Thomas would have to be composed later than that.^{[citation needed]} Members of the early camp respond to this argument by suggesting that 2nd-century scribes may have been the ones responsible for the Synoptic redaction now present in our manuscripts of Thomas, not its original author.^{[citation needed]} Both camps agree, however, that the fluidity of the text in the 2nd century makes dating Thomas very difficult.^{[citation needed]}

A related argument is that Matthew and Luke independently incorporated their own local traditions into their gospels in addition to the traditions they obtained from Mark and Q.^{[citation needed]} These local traditions are usually known as Sondergut, or special material. The late camp notes that Thomas parallels not just the shared material in the Synoptic gospels, but also the special material found in each one of them. The late camp concludes that accessing this diverse set of materials, including local traditions, would be much easier after the canonical gospels were circulating rather than before.^{[citation needed]} Those who argue for a later date for Thomas also call into question the assumption of those within the early camp that "sayings" material is necessarily earlier than full-fledged gospels that include narrative.^{[citation needed]}

Bart Ehrman, (in Jesus Apocalyptic Prophet of the Millennium) argues that the Jesus of history was a failed apocalyptic preacher, and that his fervent apocalyptic beliefs are recorded in the earliest Christian documents, Mark and the authentic Pauline epistles. The earliest Christians believed Jesus would soon return, and their beliefs are echoed in the earliest Christian writings. As the Second Coming did not materialize, later gospels, such as Luke and John, and pseudo-Pauline epistles, such as Timothy, deemphasized an imminent end of the world, with the epistle of Peter even rationalizing the delay: "A day is as thousand years . . . in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires . . . where is this 'coming' your Christ has promised, ever since our forefathers died" (2 Pet 3:3–5); and Luke: "No one will say the Kingdom is here or there for behold it lies within you" (17:21).^{[citation needed]} As Elaine Pagels pointed out, many sayings in the Gospel of Thomas relate to the coming end as a profoundly mistaken view, and that the real Kingdom is within the human heart, as stated in Luke above, and such a viewpoint implies a late date as the end of the world and Second Coming never materialized, and the early Christians had to explain Christ's non-appearance.^{[citation needed]}

The Gospel of Thomas makes no mention of Hell, Satan, Eternal Damnation, and demons, which is in contrast to the earliest extant Christian documents, the Pauline epistles and Mark, which some scholars argue show a belief in these areas. This may suggest that the Gospel of Thomas was produced by a community or author who did not believe in Hell, Satan, Eternal Damnation, and demons. So the author/community associated with the Gospel of Thomas appears to be unconnected with the early Christian community of followers of Paul and Mark.^{[citation needed]}

Another argument for the late dating of Thomas is known as the criterion of multiple attestation. Darrel Bock, (in "Studying the Historical Jesus") claims that the more a theme is repeated in the early texts about Jesus, the more likely this theme can be traced to Jesus himself. And since apocalyptic texts are found in all four of the canonical gospels, he argues that it is quite likely that Jesus did indeed teach apocalyptically. Supporting this claim are the multitudes of Jewish apocalyptic texts that appeared from the late 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Many scholars believe that the impetus for these apocalyptic texts came from the crises produced by Babylon's conquest of Israel, the occupation of Israel by the Greeks, and then the occupation of Israel by the Romans. By the time of Jesus, many Jews believed very strongly in these apocalyptic themes which had been circulating among them for two hundred or more years. Furthermore, like Ehrman's argument, this argument points out that the earliest Christian texts of the New Testament (e.g., 1 Thessalonians) also have apocalyptic themes in them. Therefore, it is thought odd that Thomas did not address such themes given the nature of the times.^{[citation needed]}

The last major argument for Thomas being later than the New Testament argues that Gnosticism is a later development, while the earliest Christianity, as evident in Paul's letters, was more Jewish than Gentile and focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus more than his words.^{[citation needed]} In this connection, it is observed that the Jesus of Thomas does not seem very Jewish, and that its current form reflects the work of 2nd-century Gnostic thought, such as the rejection of the physical world and women (see Thomas 114). Graham Stanton (The Gospels and Jesus, p. 129) finds in Thomas a Gnostic document: "removal of the Gnostic veneer will never be easy."

[edit] The Gospel of Thomas and the canon of the New Testament

The fact that the Gospel of Thomas does not seem to have been considered for the New Testament is seen by some as an indication of its being of a later date—had it actually been written by the apostle Thomas, they argue, it would have been at least seriously considered by those in the century immediately following Jesus' death. This opinion is popular among Christians who accept a divinely inspired New Testament canon as an article of their faith—especially those considering themselves fundamentalist or evangelical Christians.^{[citation needed]}

The harsh and widespread reaction to Marcion's canon, the first New Testament canon known to have been created, may demonstrate that, by 140, it had become widely accepted that other texts formed parts of the records of the life and ministry of Jesus. Although arguments about some potential New Testament books, such as the Shepherd of Hermas and Book of Revelation, continued well into the 4th century, four canonical gospels, attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were accepted among orthodox Christians at least as early as the mid-2nd century. Tatian's widely used Diatessaron, compiled between 160 and 175, utilized the four gospels without any consideration of others. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote in the late 2nd century that since there are four quarters of the earth ... it is fitting that the church should have four pillars ... the four Gospels (Against Heresies, 3.11.8), and then shortly thereafter made the first known quotation from a fourth gospel—the canonical version of the Gospel of John. The late 2nd-century Muratorian fragment also recognizes only the three synoptic gospels and John. Bible scholar Bruce Metzger wrote regarding the formation of the New Testament canon, "Although the fringes of the emerging canon remained unsettled for generations, a high degree of unanimity concerning the greater part of the New Testament was attained among the very diverse and scattered congregations of believers not only throughout the Mediterranean world, but also over an area extending from Britain to Mesopotamia."

It should be noted that information about the historical Jesus itself was not a singular criterion for inclusion into the New Testament Canon. Not all of the books that ended up in the New Testament contain information about the historical Jesus nor teachings from the historical Jesus, such as the Epistles and the book of Revelation.

The Gospel of Thomas may have been excluded from the canon of the New Testament because:

• It was deemed heretical.
• It was deemed inauthentic.
• It was unknown to certain early orthodox Christians.
• It was thought to be superseded by the narrative gospels.
• It belonged to a branch of Christianity outside the circle of Athanasius of Alexandria.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Theology of the Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas begins, "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas recorded." Both the words "Didymos" (Greek) and "Thomas" (Hebrew) mean "Twin" and are not actually names. Rather the author's surname is Judas or Jude, who is - according to Catholic Church tradition - the Apostle Jude who is credited as having penned the canonical Epistle of Jude and is also called the Apostle Thomas to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. This is the same Apostles who - in the Gospel of John - is referred to as "Thomas who is called Didymos."

According to the ancient Thomasian tradition, the author of the gospel had the unique position of being Jesus' twin brother. Though, in the Gospel of Thomas, this is clearly supposed to indicate a spiritual relationship; in other related pieces of Thomasian literature (such as the Book of Thomas the Contender and the Acts of Thomas - even in the canonical Epistle of Jude - which was not from the same sect) this relationship is supposed to be taken both spiritually and literally.

The introduction also says, "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke..." By using the word "secret" the author is telling you that these sayings are not for everyone's ears. These are the secret teachings that are only for a special chosen few - the solitary elect or monachos in Greek (which is where we get the word "Monk" from). Furthermore, they are the "secret" teachings of the "living Jesus." The term living Jesus is to distinguish the dualism of the mortal man - Jesus of Nazareth - and the immortal divine being living inside him. The living Jesus would be a pre-existent godly being conceptually similar to the Logos in the Gospel of John.

The theological framework for the Gospel of Thomas is determined by its cosmological outlook. The cosmology of the Gospel of Thomas is extremely dualistic. For Thomas there are only two realms of existence: the material realm and the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm is a blissful reality of goodness, life, and light; it is the Kingdom of the Father. The material realm is a reality of evil, death, and darkness. From Thomas' point of view, the material world is the world of death ruled over by the Lion (possibly a reference to the lion-headed Yaldabaoth in classically Gnostic literature) and his minions or rulers.

While most people in this material world, according to this ancient belief, are lifeless, soulless beings (little more than animated corpses) created to serve the Lion and his rulers; a few people are actually spiritual beings in disguise. These chosen few - though clothed in a mortal body - are actually immortal pre-existent beings of light and Children of the Living Father who have become intoxicated and fallen asleep under the weight of the material world and its vices. These solitary elect, upon hearing the words of the Living Jesus, will then shake off their slumber and - upon the death of the material body - will return to the Kingdom of the Father.

In this way, the theology of Thomas is not that different from the theological concepts within the canonical Gospel of John. In fact, in most ways the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas are very similar. However, this is where the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas part.

While the Gospel of John clearly has a strong accent on a future eschaton in which the risen Jesus overthrows the ruler of this world; Thomas believes that the eschaton is already happening. Also, while John clearly preaches the belief in a bodily resurrection; Thomas claims that the body will never inherit life. Rather, for Thomas, the resurrection is a spiritual one.

Perhaps the best summary of the theology of the Gospel of Thomas is found in the Hymn of the Pearl or the Hymn of the Apostle Thomas - which is found within the Acts of Thomas.

In the Hymn of the Pearl a young prince is sent by his father in the east (East - in antiquity - was seen as symbolic of light and life) to Egypt in the west (West was seen as symbolic of death) in which lies a great pearl guarded by the dragon. The prince puts on the clothes of the Egyptians, so as not to be recognized as a foreigner. However, the dragon learns of the prince and gets the prince to eat the heavy food of the Egyptians. After eating the Egyptian food the prince falls asleep and forgets who he is. He believes himself to be an Egyptian, when in fact he is really a prince from the East.

When the prince's father, the king, hears of his son's capture; he sends a personified message to his son reminding him who he is and where he is from. Upon hearing the message, the prince shakes off his drunkenness, defeats the dragon, takes the pearl, removes the Egyptian clothes and returns to his home in the East.

References

Riley, Gregory J (1995). Resurrection Reconsidered. Augsburg Fortress Publishers. ISBN 0800628462.

Riley, Gregory J (1997). One Jesus, Many Christs : How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, but Many. Harper San Francisco. ISBN 006066790.

Riley, Gregory J (2003). River of God: A New History of Christian Origins. Harper San Francisco. ISBN 0060669802.

Layton, Bentley (1987). The Gnostic Scriptures. Doubleday. ISBN 0385478437.

Meyer, Marvin (2004). The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060655815.

[edit] The New Age Philosophical View of the Gospel of Thomas

Within New Age philosophy the relationship between "Judas Thomas" and Jesus is what distinguishes this gospel from the four other books in the Catholic canon.^{[citation needed]} In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), Jesus is a wise teacher, prophet or an anointed (christos) leader. The 'Gospel of John, apart from the Thomas gospel and the synoptic gospels, sees Jesus as a divine heir of the godhead and an object of worship. The events in the John gospel are rearranged and told differently than the other gospels perhaps to support and emphasize this view.^{[citation needed]} In the Thomas gospel, Jesus is a spiritual role model, and he is offering everyone the opportunity to become (experience rebirth as) the anointed one (a Christ) as he is - though the word "Christ" never appears in the gospel.

For the New Age reader The Gospel of Thomas is mystical and emphasizes a direct and unmediated experience of the Divine through becoming a Christ. In Thomas v.108, Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become as I am; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him." Furthermore, salvation is personal and found through spiritual (psychological) introspection. In Thomas v.70, Jesus says, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not bring it forth, what you do not have within you will kill you." As such, this form of salvation is idiosyncratic and without literal explanation unless read from a psychological perspective related to Self vs. ego. In Thomas v.3, Jesus says,^[5]

...the Kingdom of God is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty, and it is you who are that poverty.

In the other four gospels, Jesus is frequently called upon to explain the meanings of parables or the correct procedure for prayer. In Thomas v.6, his disciples asked him, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give to charity? What diet should we observe?" Jesus dismisses the relevance of the questions with his reply, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain concealed;" correlating a state of unconflicted awareness with the external experience of the Real.

In contrast to the Gospel of John, where Jesus is likened to a (divine and beloved) Lord as in ruler, the Thomas gospel portrays Jesus as more the ubiquitous vehicle of mystical inspiration and enlightenment. In Thomas v. 77 where Jesus said,

I am the light that shines over all things. I am everywhere. From me all came forth, and to me all return.

Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift a stone, and you will find me there,

In most other respects, the Thomas gospel offers terse yet familiar if not identical accounts of the sayings of Jesus as seen in the synoptic gospels.^{[citation needed]}

Elaine Pagels, in her book Beyond Belief, argues that the Thomas gospel at first fell victim to the needs of the early Christian community for solidarity in the face of persecution, then to the will of the Emperor Constantine, who at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, wanted an end to the sectarian squabbling and a universal Christian creed. She goes on to point out that in spite of it being left out of the Catholic canon, being banned and sentenced to burn, many of the mystical elements have proven to reappear perennially in the works of mystics like Jacob Boehme, Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross (as long as they did not deny the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus). She concludes that the Thomas gospel gives us a rare glimpse into the diversity of beliefs in the early Christian community, an alternative perspective to the Johannine gospel and a check on what many modern Christians take for granted as being heretical. However the church at large considers the Thomas gospel not as a reflection of "Christian diversity" but as an example of one of the early heresies that attacked the church. Writings like the Thomas gospel motivated the church to define its long-held canon and belief in the death and resurrection of Christ in the four gospels which formed the heart of the message proclaimed by the early church in the book of Acts.

[edit] The Gospel of Thomas's importance and author

The Gospel of Thomas is regarded by some individuals as the single most important find in understanding early Christianity outside the New Testament.^{[citation needed]} While this preeminence is not universally accepted, what is clear is that the gospel attests to a diversity of viewpoints in early Christianity, including very different understandings of Jesus.^{[citation needed]} It offers a window into the worldview of ancient culture, as well as the debates and struggles within early Christianity. The gospel also assists in understanding early Christianity's relationship, and eventual split, with Judaism.^{[citation needed]}

The Gospel of Thomas is certainly one of the earliest accounts of the teaching of Jesus outside of the canonical gospels, and so is considered a valuable text.^{[citation needed]} It is unique in that it is ostensibly written from the point of view of Didymus Judas Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, and claims to contain special revelations and parables made only to Thomas. It is further unique in that the gospel is no more than a collection of Jesus' sayings and parables, and contains no narrative account of his life, which is something that all four canonical gospels include.

Furthermore, most readers are struck by the fact that this gospel makes no mention of Jesus' resurrection, an important point of faith among Christians. However, a minority opinion interprets the opening words of the book, "These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down" (Nag Hammadi library translation, 2d. edition, ISBN 0-06-066935-7), to mean that the sayings are being presented as the teaching of Jesus Christ after the resurrection, due to the use of the term "living".^{[citation needed]}The last verse in the book - which strikes many commentators as appended at a later date, perhaps reflecting a mainstream misogyny not otherwise found in this text - also refers to the "life" in a sense that can only mean the "life everlasting":

114. Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females do not deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

Some scholars consider the Gospel of Thomas to be a gnostic text, since it was found in a library among other, more clearly gnostic texts.^{[citation needed]} Yet others reject this interpretation, because Thomas lacks the full-blown mythology of Gnosticism as described by Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. 185) or recognized by modern scholarship.^{[citation needed]} Still other scholars see evidence of increasingly gnostic redactions over time, particularly when they compare sayings in the New Testament with parallel sayings in the Greek versions of the Gospel of Thomas (ca. 200), and sayings in the Coptic version (ca. 340).^{[citation needed]}

No major Christian group accepts this gospel as canonical or authoritative. Nonetheless, it is an important work for scholars working on the Q Gospel, which itself is thought to be a collection of sayings or teachings upon which later gospels are based.^{[citation needed]} Although no copy of Q has ever been discovered, the fact that Thomas is similarly a 'sayings' Gospel is taken by some as indication that the early Christians did write collections of the sayings of Jesus, and thus they feel it renders the Q theory more credible.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Gospel of Thomas and the historical Jesus Christ

Modern critical scholars use three criteria to determine what the historical Jesus may have taught: multiple attestations, dissimilarity, and contextual credibility.^{[citation needed]} Many modern scholars believe that the Gospel of Thomas was written independently of the New Testament, and therefore, is a useful guide to historical Jesus research.^{[citation needed]}

By finding those sayings in the Gospel of Thomas that overlap with Q, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, and Paul, scholars feel such sayings represent "multiple attestations" and therefore are more likely to come from a historical Jesus than sayings that are only singly attested, such as the vast majority of the material in John.^{[citation needed]}

The Gospel of Thomas has also been used by Christ mythicist theorists such as Earl Doherty, author of The Jesus Puzzle, and Timothy Freke, author of The Jesus Mysteries, as evidence that Christianity did not originate with a historical Jesus, but as a Jewish adaptation of the Greek mystery religions. The collection of teachings attributed to Jesus represent part of the initiation to the mysteries of their religion.

[edit] Comparison of The Gospel of Thomas to the New Testament

The Gospel of Thomas does not refer to Jesus as "Christ" or "Lord" as the New Testament does, but simply as "Jesus." The Gospel of Thomas also lacks any mention of such classic Christian doctrines as Satan, Demons, The Second Coming, sin, or signs. However, it includes several parables similar to ones found in the canonical gospels that contain themes including Hell, damnation, Heaven, the Kingdom of God, miracles (instructing his followers to heal people), and salvation.^{[citation needed]}

The Gospel of Thomas does not list the canonical twelve apostles, though it does mention James the Just, who is singled out ("No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being"); Simon Peter; Matthew; Thomas, who is taken aside and receives three points of revelation; Mary; and Salome. Though here Mary Magdalene and Salome are mentioned among the twelve disciples, the canonical Gospels and Acts only mention men, but make a distinction between "disciples" and the inner group of twelve "apostles" — a Greek term that does not appear in Thomas — with varying lists of names making up the canonical twelve. Despite the favorable mention of James the Just, generally considered a "pro-circumcision" Christian, the Gospel of Thomas also dismisses circumcision:

His disciples said to him, "Is circumcision useful or not?" He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect."

Compare Thomas 8 SV

8. And Jesus said, "The person is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and easily chose the large fish. Anyone here with two good ears had better listen!"

with Matthew 13:47–50 NIV:

⁴⁷"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Note that Thomas makes a distinction between large and small fish, whereas Matthew makes a distinction between good and bad fish. Furthermore, Thomas' version has only one fish remaining, whereas Matthew's version implies many good fish remaining. The manner in which each Gospel concludes the parable is instructive. Thomas' version invites the reader to draw their own conclusions as to the interpretation of the saying, whereas Matthew provides an explanation connecting the text to an apocalyptic end of the age.

Another example is the parable of the lost sheep, which is paralleled by Matthew, Luke, John, and Thomas.

This is the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12–14 NIV

¹²"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."

This is the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15: 3-7 NIV

³Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

This is the parable of the lost sheep in Thomas 107 SV

107. Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine and looked for the one until he found it. After he had toiled, he said to the sheep, I love you more than the ninety-nine."

This is the parable of the lost sheep in John 10: 1-18 NIV

¹"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. ³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. ⁷Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[1] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ¹¹"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

Other parallels include

• Matthew 10:16 parallels Thomas 39.
• Matthew 10:37 parallels Thomas 55 and 101
• Matthew 10:27b parallels Thomas 33a.
• Matthew 10:34–36 parallels Thomas 16.
• Matthew 10:26 parallels Thomas 5b.

[edit] Gospel of Thomas scholars

This is a list of scholars or intellectuals who either have committed significant scholarly work in Gospel of Thomas studies, or have commented on the Gospel.

• Joseph Campbell, mythologist
• Stevan L. Davies, Professor of Religious Studies at College Misericordia and author of The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom
• April DeConick, Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University and author of Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas
• Bart D. Ehrman, author of The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings (2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, Inc. NY 2004) and The New Testament : A Historical Introduction to Early Christian Writings (3rd Ed. Oxford University Press, Inc. NY 2004).
• Luke Timothy Johnson, Ph.D. Yale, Professor of New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory.
• Helmut Koester, Harvard University Divinity professor
• Marvin Meyer, translator of the scholars version SV
• Ronald H. Miller, Associate Professor of Religion at Lake Forest University and author of The Gospel of Thomas: A Guidebook For Spiritual Practice
• Elaine Pagels, author of Gnostic Gospels, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Epistles
• Stephen Patterson, Professor of New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary
• Hugh McGregor Ross
• Thin-min Tach, Zen Buddhist
• Richard Valantasis, Associate Professor of Early Christian Literature, Saint Louis University, and author of The Gospel of Thomas (Routledge, London and New York, 1997)
• N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham and author of the Christian Origins and the People of God series

[edit] Jesus Seminar

The Gospel of Thomas is one of the Five Gospels used by the Jesus Seminar in its attempt to determine the authentic sayings of the "historical Jesus." It designates sayings it deems fully authentic Red and sayings it believes to be very much like what Jesus might have said Pink.

Sayings in Thomas rated Red by the Jesus Seminar, with the percentage of Seminar scholars so rating them
Saying Number	Percentage (%)
54	90
100:2b-3	82
20:2-4	76
96:1-2	65
69:2	53

Sayings in Thomas rated Pink by the Jesus Seminar, with the percentage of Seminar scholars so rating them
Saying Number	Percentage (%)
36	75
31:1	74
45:1a	69
64:1-11	69
36:2	68
76:1-2	68
86	67
14:5	67
39:3	67
47:2	65
98	65
95	65
33:2-3	63
65:1-7	61
62:2	60
26	60
63:1-3	60
113:2-4	59
35	59
5:2	57
89	57
109	54
32	54
97	53
10	52
47:4	52
9	52
99:2	52
78:1-2	51
94	51
2:1	51
47:3	51
41	51
14:4a	51
6	50
55:1-2a	49
107	48
21:9	46
4:2	45

[edit] Popular culture

The plot of the 1999 Hollywood film Stigmata revolves around a cover-up within the Roman Catholic Church of an unnamed lost "Gospel" (that is revealed at the end of the film to be based upon the real-life Gospel of St. Thomas), whose teachings of the immanence of God are profoundly threatening to the church hierarchy. The DVD commentary of the film has the director saying that he believes the truth is "out there" and hopes the movie would encourage people to research alternative Christian writings, like the Gospel of St. Thomas.

In Gary Renard's book Your Immortal Reality, the character Pursah, who claims to be Thomas's reincarnation, gives what she claims is the full original text of the Gospel of Thomas with minor adjustments and spurious verses omitted, leaving 70 sayings, and discusses the book's origin and history, as well as related subjects such as the Q document. In Renard's prior book The Disappearance of the Universe, in addition to quoting verses frequently, Pursah also gives what she says were the original three sayings Jesus spoke aside to Thomas.

[edit] See also

• Five Trees
• Tree of Life

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Guillaumont, Antoine Jean Baptiste, Henri-Charles Puech, G. Quispel, Walter Curt Till, and Yassah ˁAbd al-Masīh, eds. 1959. Evangelium nach Thomas. Leiden: E. J. Brill Standard edition of the Coptic text
• Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986. (pp. 530-548.)
• Pagels, Elaine, 2003. Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas (New York: Random House)
• James McConkey Robinson et al., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (4th rev. ed.; Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1996)

[edit] External links

• Thomasine Church
• Gospel of Thomas Collection at The Gnosis Archive
• Gospel of St. Thomas - Lost book of the Bible? (Christian apologetics)
• The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus
• The Nag Hammadi Library
• An examination of the Gospel of Thomas by a Christian apologetics thinktank

[edit] Translations

• Patterson-Meyer Translation
• Patterson-Meyer Translation
• Thomas Lambdin Translation
• Ecumenical Coptic Project Fully-Annotated Edition
• Various Translations
• Patterson and Robinson Translation
• Brill Literal Translation
• Coptic Interlinear Gospel of Thomas
• Gospel of Thomas: Many Translations and Resources
• Translation of "The Gospel according to Thomas"
• Modern Layman's Interpretation from an original Translation of the Nag Hammadi coptic

[edit] Translations with commentaries

• Gospel of Thomas with detailed comparisons with canonical sayings
• Gospel of Thomas Commentary