Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas Collection -- Translations and Resources

In my recommended reading list, I've mentioned the Nag Hamadi Codex several times. Philip K. Dick's VALIS is based on the writings from that discovery which are more or less a time capsule of early Christian thought. Dick grants the ideas contained in the codex a near sentient status as living information (logos.) The Gospel of Thomas found me in high school through Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth series with Bill Moyers. He references it briefly and quotes only one section but it caught my attention because it was familiar but where it differed from the Gospels of the New Testament it was profound. I make no judgements about the validity of the gnostic interpretation or the orthodox interpretation of Jesus's teachings, but I've found gnosticism to be very enlightening... or at least thought provoking with regards to accepted Christian bias (both for and against.)

Campbell's quote was, "Jesus said, 'Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him.'" (108) The Gospel of Thomas is different from the four Gospels of the Bible in that it is not narrative... it is simply a collection of things Jesus said. Many of the sayings are corroberated in the accepted Gospels... a few liek the one above is not. Scholars do suspect that the Gospel of Thomas from Nag Hamadi may pre-date the accepted Gospels by a hundred years or more and may provide the most accurate record of Jesus's wisdom. Remember that the Nag Hamadi texts were burried in the 400s to prevent their discovery and have not been tampered with in any way since. Scholars estimate the Gospel of Thomas may have originally been set down in 160 AD. It's not a long read. If it strikes your fancy, or you're just curious, Elaine Pagels has written a book which astutely examines the text and its signifigance.