Aspects of the Gospel of Thomas Puzzle (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Battle To Authenticate \u27The Gospel of Thomas\u27
2013
Many early Christian sects were aware of and accepted The Gospel of Thomas as authentic Christian scripture, despite its unorthodox, radical doctrine, igniting an ideological battle in and around the Thomasine communities of the ancient world. This ideological war is still raging and conflict renewed and amplified with the discoveries of the Greek and Coptic texts of The Gospel of Thomas in the first half of the 20th Century. Since it’s discovery, The Gospel of Thomas has presented scholars with ferocious debate, as serious probability exists that Thomas preserves an older tradition of the historical Jesus than that of the Synoptic Gospels. Though the fierce theological battle of religious scholars in the 1990s hardly sparked The Gospel of Thomas debate, their combined research has renewed questions of how to validate Thomas, and thus, Jesus scholarship over the last half century has been restrained in the use and acceptance of Thomas. Failure of modern scholars to develop a shared ...
Corrections to the Critical Reading of the Gospel of Thomas
Vigiliae Christianae, 2006
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The Battle to Authenticate The Gospel of Thomas
LUX: A Transdisciplinary Writing and Research Journal of the Claremont Graduate University, 2013
Many early Christian sects were aware of and accepted The Gospel of Thomas as authentic Christian scripture, despite its unorthodox, radical doctrine, igniting an ideological battle in and around the Thomasine communities of the ancient world. This ideological war is still raging and conflict renewed and amplified with the discoveries of the Greek and Coptic texts of The Gospel of Thomas in the first half of the 20th Century. Since it’s discovery, The Gospel of Thomas has presented scholars with ferocious debate, as serious probability exists that Thomas preserves an older tradition of the historical Jesus than that of the Synoptic Gospels. Though the fierce theological battle of religious scholars in the 1990s hardly sparked The Gospel of Thomas debate, their combined research has renewed questions of how to validate Thomas, and thus, Jesus scholarship over the last half century has been restrained in the use and acceptance of Thomas. Failure of modern scholars to develop a shared understanding of the proper role of The Gospel in reconstructing Christian origins underscores the importance of accurately dating documents from antiquity. Progress in Thomasine studies requires exploration of how texts and traditions were transmitted and appropriated in the ancient world. The greatest contribution of Thomas’ discovery will be to deepen knowledge and understanding of early Christianity. The Gospel clearly bares witness to an independent branch within early Christianity and is a prime example of the diversity of the early Christian Church.
Complete Thomas Commentary, logion 0-55, 2021
This most detailed analysis of the so-called gospel of Thomas evaluates and weighs every single Coptic word. The "Jesus" (I[h]S) that they reveal is radically different and polemic: Thomas reveals that we are split, separated, dualised; we are the Ego and the Self, and we created those two ourselves. Thomas points the way to salvation in the sense of liberation from both the Ego and the Self, slaveowner and slave: we are neither, those merely are the children of the living father - and we are the latter. The suckling infants in Thomas are still pristine, and stand in the Beginning - but then we bring about the end by "eating what is dead" and become dead ourselves. The cause for that is our upbringing, being patched with old patches: our new wineskins get filled with old wine. Thomas precedes modern psychoanalysis by one and a half millennium, and continuously points to the inside for finding answers: that is where the kingdom is. Thomas has nothing to do with Christianity at all, nor any Jesus that we know: Thomas precedes all that too
2009
The hypothesis that the Fourth Gospel is a theological response to the Gospel of Thomas is a recent development in the study of the New Testament and early Christianity. Assuming an early date for the Gospel of Thomas, the proponents of this hypothesis argue that the supposed "polemical" presentation of Thomas in the Fourth Gospel is evidence of a conflict between the early communities associated respectively with John and Thomas. However, a detailed narrative study reveals that the Fourth Gospel portrays a host of characters--disciples and non-disciples--in an equally unflattering light where an understanding of Jesus's origins, message, and mission are concerned. The present study attempts to demonstrate that the Fourth Gospel's presentation of Thomas is part and parcel of its treatment of "uncomprehending" characters. If this thesis is correct, it poses a significant challenge to the assumption that the Fourth Gospel contains a polemic against Thomas, or that it was written in response to the Gospel of Thomas or the community associated with Thomas.