The Gospel of Thomas

“The Gospel of Thomas” Audio lecture by Elaine Pagels

Reviewed by Bill Schaeffer

The discussion of Elaine Pagels’ lecture on The Gospel of Thomas, and the Q source is
quite involved.   Nevertheless, here is a brief summary :

1) Early in the nineteenth century (1800's) German scholars began doing a
linguistic study of the Bible. They looked at a number of factors to guess
when certain parts were written and which parts were related to others.
They also began to identify sections that had been changed, or "enhanced"
through time. This was before archaeology, geology, or most of the
sciences existed. The Geological age of the earth wasn't commonly accepted
till the 1840's

2) Since the quotes of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels (Mathew, Mark and Luke)
are identically similar, these scholars speculated that there was a common
source that the Gospel writers referenced. This has come to be known as
the Q source after the German word "Quelle."

3) When the Gospel of Thomas was found, and translated, many scholars
assumed that this could very well be the Q source. Many scholars still
believe this and I personally think that is a likely possibility.
Incidentally, The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of quotes, much like
the Koran, but it is much smaller that the Koran

4) Almost all the quotes of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels are found in the
Gospel of Thomas. However, there are also sayings of Jesus in the Gospel
of Thomas that are very unlike anything to be found in the Canonical Bible
(official Bible). They are more like Zen koans than the typical Christian
parables.

5) In the lecture on the Gospel of Thomas, Elaine Pagels advanced the theory
that the Gospel of Thomas is really a composite work and that sayings were added
to it at different times. She even identified certain passages as "not
belonging" (or erroneous).  I found this to be an astounding claim.

6) However, Elaine Pagels herself is very traditional Christian woman and is
an Episcopalian protestant although she is drawn to both the Quaker and the
Evangelical interpretations of the Scripture (both very different from each
other). I found this a little strange, because she has devoted her career
to interpreting early Gnosticism (the most feared, and persecuted, heresy in
history).

7) It seems that her belief system (psychological foundation of her
Faith) limits the degree to which she can accept the Gospel of Thomas as
being entirely authentic sayings of Jesus.

8)  However, I think  that "Occam’s Razor" is applicable in this case. 

Named after William of Occam around 13th century,   Occam’s Razor

says that "the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.”

9) It seems to me that the Gospel of Thomas is a verbatim record of the

memorable saying of Jesus.  It was probably written by Jesus' brother Judas

Thomas (a different person than Judas Iscariot).  It probably is the Q source.

This would lend a strongly eastern, or  Buddhist flavor, to the original

teachings of Jesus.

10) Ironically this corresponds very well with Nietzsche's interpretation of
the life of Jesus as delineated in his book "The Anti Christ.“   Far from

being a condemnation of the original teachings of Jesus, it is really a

condemnation of the Christian church and can be read as an affirmation of

Jesus himself.

11) One would probably need to read "The Anti Christ", the Synoptic Gospels,
some of Elaine Pagels book "Gnosticism" and the Gospel of Thomas to
really understand these arguments. A familiarity with Christian History
and the writings and spirit of Zen Buddhism would help immensely.

12) Nevertheless, Elaine Pagel's audio lecture "The Gospel of Thomas" was
still quite good and I learned quite a bit about the Gospel of John and
early Christian history in general. She has a sincere sounding voice and
"a fair and balanced" presentation of different interpretations of the
available data.

Copyright© 2007,2014 William Schaeffer