Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Gospel of Thomas" - New World

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The '''''Gospel of Thomas''''' is a [[New Testament apocrypha|New Testament]]-era [[apocryphon]] completely preserved in a [[papyrus]] [[Coptic language|Coptic]] [[manuscript]] discovered in 1945 at [[Nag Hammadi]], [[Egypt]]. The book was bound in a method now called [[Coptic binding]]. Unlike the four canonical [[gospel]]s, which combine narrative accounts of the life of [[Jesus]] with sayings, ''Thomas'' is a "sayings gospel." It takes the less structured form of a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus (including brief dialogues), the writing down of which is attributed to [[Thomas (apostle)|Didymus Judas Thomas]].  The words Didymus and Thomas are both translated "twin" giving emphasis to the name Judas, a derivative of Judah.  The gospel does not have a narrative framework, nor is it worked into any overt [[philosophical]] or [[rhetoric]]al context.
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The '''''Gospel of Thomas''''' is an important but long lost work of the New Testament apocyhpa]] completely preserved and rediscovered in a [[Coptic language|Coptic]] [[manuscript]] discovered in 1945 at [[Nag Hammadi]], [[Egypt]]. Unlike the four canonical [[gospel]]s, which combine narrative accounts of the life of [[Jesus]] with sayings, ''Thomas'' is a "sayings gospel" with little narrative text, attributed to the apostle [[Thomas (apostle)|Didymus Judas Thomas]].   
  
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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 version 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.[http://www.nag-hammadi.com/gospel.html]
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The work 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.'"
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It comprises [[114 (number)|114]] sayings attributed to [[Jesus]]. Many of these sayings resemble or are identitical to those found in the four [[Biblical canon#Christian canons|canonical Gospel]]s ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], and [[Gospel of John|John]]). Others, however, were unknown until the gospel's discovery, and a few of these run counter to sayings found in the four canonical gospels.
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==Importance==
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The ''Gospel of Thomas'' is regarded by some as the single most important find in understanding early Christianity outside the [[New Testament]]. It offers a window into the worldview of ancient culture, as well as the debates and struggles within the early Christian community. The gospel also assists in understanding early Christianity's relationship, and eventual split, with [[Judaism]].
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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 by biblical scholars of all persuasions. 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.  
  
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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.'"
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Furthermore, most readers are struck by the fact that this gospel makes no mention of Jesus' resurrection, a crucial point of faith among [[Christian]]s. Nor does it emphasize the salvific value of Jesus death on the cross and the sacraments of baptism and communion. 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," 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."  
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The work comprises [[114 (number)|114]] sayings attributed to [[Jesus]].  Some of these sayings resemble those found in the four [[Biblical canon#Christian canons|canonical Gospel]]s ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], and [[Gospel of John|John]]). Others were unknown until its discovery, and a few of these run counter to sayings found in the four canonical gospels.
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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. 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. Many consider it a "proto-gnostic" work, affirm the basic gnostic believe that true knowledge of Jesus' teaching enables one to realizes his or her own inner Christhood, but not promoting a formal gnostic cosmology found in later gnostic texts.
  
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When a Coptic version of the complete text of ''Thomas'' was found, scholars realized that three separate [[Greek language|Greek]] portions of it had already been discovered in [[Oxyrhynchus]], Egypt, in 1898. The manuscripts bearing the Greek fragments of the ''Gospel of Thomas'' 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.  
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No major Christian church accepts this gospel as canonical or authoritative. However, the [[Jesus Seminar]], an association of noted biblical scholars, includes it as the "Fifth Gospel" in its deliberation on the [[historical Jesus]]. Virtually all biblical scholars recognize it as an important work for understanding the theoretical [[Q document]], a collection of sayings teachings used by Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark and John. The fact that Thomas is a "sayings Gospel" tends to confirm the theory of Q's existence and has stimulated much discussion on the relationship between Thomas and Q.
  
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==The philosophy of the ''Gospel of Thomas''==
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==Philsophy and theology==
 
The gospel begins, "These are the sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded."  The word "Didymos" (Greek) and "Thomas" (Hebrew) both mean "Twin" and may be titles rather than names. Some scholars speculate that he is called the "twin" of Jesus to denote a spiritual unity between the disciple and his master , as referenced in Thomas v. 13, where Jesus says, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drank and become drunk from the very same spring from which I draw."  
 
The gospel begins, "These are the sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded."  The word "Didymos" (Greek) and "Thomas" (Hebrew) both mean "Twin" and may be titles rather than names. Some scholars speculate that he is called the "twin" of Jesus to denote a spiritual unity between the disciple and his master , as referenced in Thomas v. 13, where Jesus says, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drank and become drunk from the very same spring from which I draw."  
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[[Image:Jesus-teaches-disciples.jpg|thumb|300px|Jesus teaches the disciples. A central theme of the Gospel of Thomas is that salvation comes through true understand of Jesus' teachings rather than by faith in the his bodily resurrection.]]
  
 
A central theme of the Gospel of Thomas is that salvation comes through true understanding of the words of Jesus, rather than through faith in his resurrection or partaking in the [[sacraments]] of [[bapitism]] and [[holy communion]]. This, and the fact that it is a "sayings" Gospel with very little discription of the activities of Jesus and no reference to his crucifixion and resurrection, is what distinguishes this gospel from the four canonical gospel.  
 
A central theme of the Gospel of Thomas is that salvation comes through true understanding of the words of Jesus, rather than through faith in his resurrection or partaking in the [[sacraments]] of [[bapitism]] and [[holy communion]]. This, and the fact that it is a "sayings" Gospel with very little discription of the activities of Jesus and no reference to his crucifixion and resurrection, is what distinguishes this gospel from the four canonical gospel.  
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The Gospel of Thomas is thus more [[mystical]] than the canonical gospels and emphasizes a direct and unmediated experience of the Divine. In Thomas v.108, Jesus says, "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 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." In Thomas v.3, Jesus says, ''...the Kingdom of God is within you.'' This saying also found in Luke 17:21, but in Thomas' gospel it is a consistent an central theme.
 
The Gospel of Thomas is thus more [[mystical]] than the canonical gospels and emphasizes a direct and unmediated experience of the Divine. In Thomas v.108, Jesus says, "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 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." In Thomas v.3, Jesus says, ''...the Kingdom of God is within you.'' This saying also found in Luke 17:21, but in Thomas' gospel it is a consistent an central theme.
  
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Elaine Pagels, one of the pre-eminent scholars of the Gospel of Thomas, argues in her book in her book ''Beyond Belief'', argues that the Gospel was widely read in the early church and that portions of both Luke's and John's gospels were designed specifically to refute its viewpoint. She concludes that the Thomas gospel gives us a rare glimpse into the diversity of beliefs in the early Christian community, 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, namely an early form of Gnosticism.
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Elaine Pagels, one of the pre-eminent scholars of the Gospel of Thomas, argues in her book in her book ''Beyond Belief'' that the Gospel of Thomas was widely read in the early church and that portions of both Luke's and John's gospels were designed specifically to refute its viewpoint. She concludes that the Thomas gospel gives us a rare glimpse into the diversity of beliefs in the early Christian community, 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, namely an early form of Gnosticism.
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==Relation to other works==
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When a Coptic version of the complete text of ''Thomas'' was found, scholars realized that three separate [[Greek language|Greek]] portions of it had already been discovered in [[Oxyrhynchus]], Egypt, in 1898. The manuscripts bearing the Greek fragments of the ''Gospel of Thomas'' 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.
  
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==Confusion with other works==
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The ''Gospel of Thomas'' is distinct and unrelated to other [[apocrypha]]l or [[pseudepigraphy|pseudepigraphal]] works, such as the ''[[Acts of Thomas]]'' or the work called the ''[[Infancy Gospel of Thomas]]'', which expands on the canonical texts to describe the miraculous childhood of Jesus. When the Church Father's [[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] and [[Origen]] (ca. 233) refer to a "Gospel of Thomas" among the [[heterodoxy|heterodox]] apocryphal gospels, it is unclear whether they mean the ''Infancy Gospel of Thomas'' or this "sayings" Gospel of Thomas. Hippolytus may, however, cite ''logia'' 4 with reference to the [[Naassene Fragment|Naassenes]] in his ''Refutation of All Heresies'' 5.7.20, although the literary connection is weak. The ''Gospel of Thomas'' is also distinct from the ''[[Book of Thomas the Contender]]'', a clearly [[Gnostic]] text.
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The ''Gospel of Thomas'' is distinct and unrelated to other [[apocrypha]]l or [[pseudepigraphy|pseudepigraphal]] works, such as the ''[[Acts of Thomas]]'' or the work called the ''[[Infancy Gospel of Thomas]]'', which expands on the canonical texts to describe the miraculous childhood of Jesus. When [[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] and [[Origen]] (ca. 233) refer to a "Gospel of Thomas" among the [[heterodoxy|heterodox]] apocryphal gospels, it is unclear whether they mean the ''Infancy Gospel of Thomas'' or this "sayings" Gospel of Thomas.   Hippolytus may, however, cite ''logia'' 4 with reference to the [[Naassene Fragment|Naassenes]] in his ''Refutation of All Heresies'' 5.7.20, although the literary connection is weak. The ''Gospel of Thomas'' is also distinct from the ''[[Book of Thomas the Contender]]'', a clearly [[Gnostic]] text.
 
  
 
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 (prophet)|Mani]]'s three wicked disciples." Very little trace of [[Manichaeism|Manichaean dualism]] can be detected in this "sayings" Gospel, the ''Gospel of Thomas'', which is agreed to be simpler and less legend-filled than that philosophy.
 
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 (prophet)|Mani]]'s three wicked disciples." Very little trace of [[Manichaeism|Manichaean dualism]] can be detected in this "sayings" Gospel, the ''Gospel of Thomas'', which is agreed to be simpler and less legend-filled than that philosophy.
  
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==Corresponding Oxyrhynchus papyri==
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The text of the Gospel of Thomas has been available to the general public since 1975. It has been translated, published and annotated in several languages. The original version 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.[http://www.nag-hammadi.com/gospel.html]
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Prior to the Nag Hammadi library discovery, the sayings of Jesus found in Oxyrhynchus were known simply as [[Logia|Logia Iesu]]. The corresponding [[Koine Greek]] fragments of the ''Gospel of Thomas'' found in [[Oxyrhynchus]] are:
 
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*P.Oxy. 1: fragments of logia 26 through 33.
 
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*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.
 
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*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.
 
  
 
==Date of Composition==
 
==Date of Composition==
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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 in the 50s{{Fact|date=April 2007}}, and a '''late camp''' favoring a time after the last of the canonical gospels in the 100s.  Among critical scholars, the early camp is more popular in North America{{Fact|date=April 2007}}, while the late camp is more popular in Europe (especially in the UK and Germany). The great majority of Biblical scholars at large favor a later dating.
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There is much debate about when the text was composed, with scholars generally falling into two main camps: an '''early camp''' favoring a date prior to the Gospels of Luke and John possibly as early as the mid 50s CE, and a '''late camp''' favoring a time after the last of the canonical gospels in the 100s CE.  
  
 
===The early camp===
 
===The early camp===
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The early camp argues that since it consists of mostly original material and does not seem to be based on the canonical gospels, it must have been transcribed from an oral tradition. Since the practice of considering oral tradition as authoritative ended during the [[1st century]], the ''Gospel of Thomas'' therefore must have been written before then, perhaps as early as around 40. {{Fact|date=April 2007}} 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.
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[[Image:Jesus-upper-room.jpg|thumb|300px|The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples and later eats a meal with them.]]
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[[Elaine Pagels]], in her book ''[[Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas|Beyond Belief]]'' (2003), argues that both John's and Luke's gospels were written in part to refute the "Thomas Christians" who believed that true followers of Jesus could attain Christhood equal to that of Jesus himself. Pagels interprets the "[[Doubting Thomas]]" episode of the Gospel of John as rebuttal of the "''Thomas'' community's de-emphasis on the idea of a physical resurrection, which is nowhere mentioned in the Gospel fo Thomas. In John's gospel, however, Thomas physically touches Jesus and acknowledges the fleshy nature of his resurrected body. This contrast to the [[docetism]] of Thomas Christians and later [[gnostic]] groups. Likewise, in the Gospel of Luke, the resurrected Jesus goes out of his way to prove that he is not a mere spirit, saying "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." (Luke 24:38) To further prove the physical nature of the resurrection Luke goes so far as to portray Jesus then eating a meal with the disciples, specifying that he ate a broiled fish in their presence.
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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."
 
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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. 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.
 
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The central argument of [[Elaine Pagels]]'s ''[[Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas|Beyond Belief]]'' (2003) is that there seems to be conflict between the Gospel of John and the ''Gospel of Thomas''. According to Pagels, specific passages in the Gospel of John can only be understood in light of a community based on a philosophy espoused by the ''Gospel of Thomas'', though not necessarily precisely represented by that document. Pagels interprets the "[[Doubting Thomas]]" episode of the Gospel of John as rebuttal for the "''Thomas'' community"—Thomas physically touches Jesus and acknowledges his fleshy nature, in contrast to the [[docetism]] of gnostic groups.  Her interpretation of John requires that ''Thomas''-like ideas or a ''Thomas''-like community existed when John's gospel was written.
 
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Another argument for the early camp is that there is overlap between Paul's epistles and ''Thomas''. The authentic corpus of Paul's epistles, which includes [[First Corinthians]], [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]], and [[Philippians]], is regarded by almost all biblical scholars as predating the canonical gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. 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. According to this theory, Paul drew on sayings widely recognized to have come from Jesus, some which are uniquely preserved in the ''Gospel of Thomas''.
 
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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 [[archon]]s, [[pleroma]], [[aeon]]s, or [[demiurge]] that would be expected from a product of historical Gnosticism: this is seen by some as another justification for an earlier date of authorship.
 
  
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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 [[Valentianism|Valentinian]] gnosticism as seen in many of the other texts in the cache of manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi.  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 (Plato)|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 (dialogue)|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.
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Some in the "early camp"  claim that the ''Gospel of Thomas'' is closely related connection to the hypothetical [[Q document]]—a collection of sayings found in Matthew and Luke, but absent from the [[Gospel of Mark]].
  
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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. As for the focus on the cross that 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.  If one is skeptical of Q, however, as several leading scholars in the UK are (see [[Farrer hypothesis]]), this argument is less probative.
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Other early camp—thos who argue for a date sometime in the 50s—see common themes in Paul's epistles and ''Thomas'' absent from the canonical gospels. According to this theory, Paul drew on sayings widely recognized to have come from Jesus, some which are uniquely preserved in the ''Gospel of Thomas''.
  
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Earl Doherty [http://home.ca.inter.net/oblio/jhcjp.htm] argued that when the ''Gospel of Thomas'' does parallel Q or the New Testament, it shows less development, more "primitive" form than the latter. Stevan L. Davies believes he has proven statistically that a lack of order with the synoptics shows that Thomas could have not been reliant upon the canonical [[Gospels]].<ref>http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/correl.htm</ref>
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The early camp also notes that ''Thomas'' reflects very little to none of the full-blown [[Valentianism|Valentinian]] gnosticism as seen in many of the other texts in the cache of manuscripts found at Nag Hammadi. It thus represents a kind of proto-gnosticism, reflecting a time when the Christian community had not yet divided between the groups who later became known as gnostic and [[orthodox]] Christians.
  
 
===The late camp===  
 
===The late camp===  
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The late camp, on the other hand, dates ''Thomas'' sometime after 100, generally in the  mid-[[2nd century]], and that ''Thomas'' is dependent on the ''[[Diatessaron]]'', which was composed shortly after 172. The Greek fragments of ''Thomas'' found in Egypt are typically dated between 140 and 200.  
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The late camp, on the other hand, dates ''Thomas'' sometime after 100, generally in the  mid-[[2nd century]]. Some argue that ''Thomas'' is dependent on the ''[[Diatessaron]]'', which was composed shortly after 172. The Greek fragments of ''Thomas'' found in Egypt are typically dated between 140 and 200.
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The main argument put forth by the late camp is an argument from ''redaction''.  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 document|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, ''Thomas'' would have to be composed later than that.  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.  Both camps agree, however, that the fluidity of the text in the [[2nd century]] makes dating ''Thomas'' very difficult.
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Bart D. Ehrman, in ''Jesus Apocalyptic Prophet of the Millennium'', argues that the Jesus of history was a failed [[apocalypse|apocalyptic]] preacher, and that his fervent apocalyptic beliefs are recorded in the earliest Christian documents, namely 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, deemphasized an imminent end of the world. Likewise, many sayings in the ''Gospel of Thomas'' relate to the imminent end of the world as a profoundly mistaken view, emphasizing that the real Kingdom of God is within the human heart. 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.
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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.  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.  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.
 
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Bart Ehrman, (in ''Jesus Apocalyptic Prophet of the Millennium'') argues that the Jesus of history was a failed [[apocalypse|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).  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.
 
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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 clearly 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.
 
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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 [[Common_Era|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.
 
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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. 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."
 
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It should be noted that the dating of key New Testament documents varies greatly among Biblical Scholars.
 
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==The ''Gospel of Thomas'' and the canon of the New Testament==
 
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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&mdash;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 [[Christian]]s who accept a divinely inspired New Testament [[Biblical canon|canon]] as an article of their faith&mdash;especially those considering themselves [[fundamentalist]] or [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] Christians.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
 
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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. The canonizers chose to include many books that contain neither much 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 [[heresy|heretical]].
 
−
*It was deemed inauthentic.
 
−
*It was unknown to the canonizers.
 
−
*It was thought to be superseded by the narrative gospels.
 
−
*It belonged to a branch of Christianity outside the circle of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]].
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
==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. 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. 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]].
 
−
 
 
−
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. 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 [[Christian]]s.  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." 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.  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. 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).
 
−
 
 
−
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. 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.
 
−
 
 
−
==The Gospel of Thomas and the historical Jesus==
 
−
Modern critical scholars use three criteria to determine what the historical Jesus may have taught: [[Criterion of multiple attestation|multiple attestations]], [[Criterion of dissimilarity|dissimilarity]], and contextual credibility. 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.
 
−
 
 
−
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.
 
−
 
 
−
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 [[Historicity of Jesus Christ|historical Jesus]], but as a Jewish adaptation of the Greek [[mystery religion]]s. The collection of teachings attributed to Jesus represent part of the initiation to the mysteries of their religion.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
== 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]], [[Demon]]s, [[The Second Coming]], [[Sin#Christian views of sin|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]].
 
−
 
 
−
The ''Gospel of Thomas'' does not list the canonical twelve [[apostle]]s, 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 the Evangelist|Matthew]]; [[Thomas (apostle)|Thomas]], who is taken aside and receives three points of revelation; [[Mary Magdalene|Mary]]; and [[Salome (disciple)|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" &mdash; a Greek term that does not appear in Thomas &mdash; 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 {{bibleref|Matthew|13:47–50}} NIV:
 
−
 
 
−
:<sup>47</sup>"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. <sup>48</sup>When 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. <sup>49</sup>This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous <sup>50</sup>and 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 {{bibleref|Matthew|18:12–14}} NIV
 
−
 
 
−
:<sup>12</sup>"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? <sup>13</sup>And 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. <sup>14</sup>In 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
 
−
 
 
−
:<sup>3</sup>''Then Jesus told them this parable:'' <sup>4</sup>"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? <sup>5</sup>And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders <sup>6</sup>and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' <sup>7</sup>I 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
 
  
−
<blockquote><sup>1</sup>"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. <sup>2</sup>The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. <sup>3</sup>The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. <sup>4</sup>When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. <sup>5</sup>But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." <sup>6</sup>Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
+
Another argument put forth by the late camp is an argument from ''[[redaction]]''. 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 document|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, ''Thomas'' would have to be composed later than that.
−
<sup>7</sup>Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. <sup>8</sup>All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. <sup>9</sup>I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[1] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. <sup>10</sup>The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
 
−
<sup>11</sup>"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. <sup>12</sup>The 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. <sup>13</sup>The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  
 
−
<sup>14</sup>"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me &mdash; <sup>15</sup>just as the Father knows me and I know the Father &mdash; and I lay down my life for the sheep. <sup>16</sup>I 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. <sup>17</sup>The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life &mdash; only to take it up again. <sup>18</sup>No 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."</blockquote>
 
  
−
Other parallels include
+
Various other arguments are presented countered by both camps, but are too detailed to present here.
−
*{{bibleref|Matthew|10:16}} parallels Thomas 39.
 
−
*{{bibleref|Matthew|10:37}} parallels Thomas 55 and 101
 
−
*{{bibleref|Matthew|10:27}}b parallels Thomas 33a.
 
−
*{{bibleref|Matthew|10:34–36}} parallels Thomas 16.
 
−
*{{bibleref|Matthew|10:26}} parallels Thomas 5b.
 
  
 
==Gospel of Thomas scholars==
 
==Gospel of Thomas scholars==
Line 174: Line 81:
 
*[[Tom Wright (Theologian)|N. T. Wright]], [[Bishop of Durham]] and author of the ''[[Christian Origins and the People of God]]'' series
 
*[[Tom Wright (Theologian)|N. T. Wright]], [[Bishop of Durham]] and author of the ''[[Christian Origins and the People of God]]'' series
  
−
==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.
 
−
<center>
 
−
{| align="center" style="text-align:center" class="wikitable"
 
−
| colspan=2 | 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
 
−
|}
 
−
{| align="center" style="text-align:center" class="wikitable"
 
−
| colspan=2 | 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
 
−
|}
 
−
</center>
 
  
−
==Popular culture==
 
−
The plot of the 1999 Hollywood film ''[[Stigmata (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''.
 
  
−
===See also===
 
−
*[[Five Trees]]
 
−
*[[Tree of Life]]
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Revision as of 03:58, 4 August 2007

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The Gospel of Thomas is an important but long lost work of the New Testament apocyhpa]] completely preserved and rediscovered in a Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Unlike the four canonical gospels, which combine narrative accounts of the life of Jesus with sayings, Thomas is a "sayings gospel" with little narrative text, attributed to the apostle Didymus Judas Thomas.

The work 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.'"

It comprises 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Many of these sayings resemble or are identitical to those found in the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Others, however, were unknown until the gospel's discovery, and a few of these run counter to sayings found in the four canonical gospels.

Importance

The Gospel of Thomas is regarded by some as the single most important find in understanding early Christianity outside the New Testament. It offers a window into the worldview of ancient culture, as well as the debates and struggles within the early Christian community. The gospel also assists in understanding early Christianity's relationship, and eventual split, with Judaism.

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 by biblical scholars of all persuasions. 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, a crucial point of faith among Christians. Nor does it emphasize the salvific value of Jesus death on the cross and the sacraments of baptism and communion. 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," 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."

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. 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. Many consider it a "proto-gnostic" work, affirm the basic gnostic believe that true knowledge of Jesus' teaching enables one to realizes his or her own inner Christhood, but not promoting a formal gnostic cosmology found in later gnostic texts.

No major Christian church accepts this gospel as canonical or authoritative. However, the Jesus Seminar, an association of noted biblical scholars, includes it as the "Fifth Gospel" in its deliberation on the historical Jesus. Virtually all biblical scholars recognize it as an important work for understanding the theoretical Q document, a collection of sayings teachings used by Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark and John. The fact that Thomas is a "sayings Gospel" tends to confirm the theory of Q's existence and has stimulated much discussion on the relationship between Thomas and Q.

Philsophy and theology

The gospel begins, "These are the sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded." The word "Didymos" (Greek) and "Thomas" (Hebrew) both mean "Twin" and may be titles rather than names. Some scholars speculate that he is called the "twin" of Jesus to denote a spiritual unity between the disciple and his master , as referenced in Thomas v. 13, where Jesus says, "I am not your teacher. Because you have drank and become drunk from the very same spring from which I draw."

File:Jesus-teaches-disciples.jpg
Jesus teaches the disciples. A central theme of the Gospel of Thomas is that salvation comes through true understand of Jesus' teachings rather than by faith in the his bodily resurrection.

A central theme of the Gospel of Thomas is that salvation comes through true understanding of the words of Jesus, rather than through faith in his resurrection or partaking in the sacraments of bapitism and holy communion. This, and the fact that it is a "sayings" Gospel with very little discription of the activities of Jesus and no reference to his crucifixion and resurrection, is what distinguishes this gospel from the four canonical gospel.

In the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), Jesus is the Messiah who has come to earth to die for our sins that we might be saved through by faith in his resurrection. The Gospel of John, adds that Jesus as a divine heir of the godhead and places particular emphasis on the sacrament of communion. In the Thomas gospel, on the other hand Jesus is primarily a teacher and a spiritual role model. One is not saved by faith in him, but by understanding his teachings and realizing the potential to attain Christhood, just as Jesus did.

The Gospel of Thomas is thus more mystical than the canonical gospels and emphasizes a direct and unmediated experience of the Divine. In Thomas v.108, Jesus says, "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 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." In Thomas v.3, Jesus says, ...the Kingdom of God is within you. This saying also found in Luke 17:21, but in Thomas' gospel it is a consistent an central theme.

Elaine Pagels, one of the pre-eminent scholars of the Gospel of Thomas, argues in her book in her book Beyond Belief that the Gospel of Thomas was widely read in the early church and that portions of both Luke's and John's gospels were designed specifically to refute its viewpoint. She concludes that the Thomas gospel gives us a rare glimpse into the diversity of beliefs in the early Christian community, 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, namely an early form of Gnosticism.

Relation to other works

When a 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 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.

The Gospel of Thomas is distinct and unrelated to other apocryphal or pseudepigraphal works, such as the Acts of Thomas or the work called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which expands on the canonical texts to describe the miraculous childhood of Jesus. When the Church Father's 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 logia 4 with reference to the Naassenes in his Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.20, although the literary connection is weak. The Gospel of Thomas is also distinct from the Book of Thomas the Contender, a clearly Gnostic text.

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 that philosophy.

The text of the Gospel of Thomas has been available to the general public since 1975. It has been translated, published and annotated in several languages. The original version 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]

Date of Composition

There is much debate about when the text was composed, with scholars generally falling into two main camps: an early camp favoring a date prior to the Gospels of Luke and John possibly as early as the mid 50s CE, and a late camp favoring a time after the last of the canonical gospels in the 100s CE.

The early camp

File:Jesus-upper-room.jpg
The resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples and later eats a meal with them.

Elaine Pagels, in her book Beyond Belief (2003), argues that both John's and Luke's gospels were written in part to refute the "Thomas Christians" who believed that true followers of Jesus could attain Christhood equal to that of Jesus himself. Pagels interprets the "Doubting Thomas" episode of the Gospel of John as rebuttal of the "Thomas community's de-emphasis on the idea of a physical resurrection, which is nowhere mentioned in the Gospel fo Thomas. In John's gospel, however, Thomas physically touches Jesus and acknowledges the fleshy nature of his resurrected body. This contrast to the docetism of Thomas Christians and later gnostic groups. Likewise, in the Gospel of Luke, the resurrected Jesus goes out of his way to prove that he is not a mere spirit, saying "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." (Luke 24:38) To further prove the physical nature of the resurrection Luke goes so far as to portray Jesus then eating a meal with the disciples, specifying that he ate a broiled fish in their presence.

Some in the "early camp" claim that the Gospel of Thomas is closely related connection to the hypothetical Q document—a collection of sayings found in Matthew and Luke, but absent from the Gospel of Mark.

Other early camp—thos who argue for a date sometime in the 50s—see common themes in Paul's epistles and Thomas absent from the canonical gospels. According to this theory, Paul drew on sayings widely recognized to have come from Jesus, some which are uniquely preserved in the Gospel of Thomas.

The early camp also notes 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. It thus represents a kind of proto-gnosticism, reflecting a time when the Christian community had not yet divided between the groups who later became known as gnostic and orthodox Christians.

The late camp

The late camp, on the other hand, dates Thomas sometime after 100, generally in the mid-2nd century. Some argue that Thomas is dependent on the Diatessaron, which was composed shortly after 172. The Greek fragments of Thomas found in Egypt are typically dated between 140 and 200.

Bart D. 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, namely 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, deemphasized an imminent end of the world. Likewise, many sayings in the Gospel of Thomas relate to the imminent end of the world as a profoundly mistaken view, emphasizing that the real Kingdom of God is within the human heart. 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.

Another argument put forth by the late camp is an argument from redaction. 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, Thomas would have to be composed later than that.

Various other arguments are presented countered by both camps, but are too detailed to present here.

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, and The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Epistles
  • Stephen Patterson
  • Hugh McGregor Ross
  • Thin-min Tach, Zen Buddhist
  • N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham and author of the Christian Origins and the People of God series


References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • 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).

External links

Translations

Translations with commentaries

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