Thomas,

the Other Gospel

Nicholas Perrin

First published in Great Britain in 2007

Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

36 Causton Street

London SW1P 4ST

Copyright © Nicholas Perrin 2007

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952 and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-281-05871-6

In Memory of Nancy Ann Brown

(1942–2007)

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: The quest of the historical Gospel of Thomas

Part 1

What they are saying about The Gospel of Thomas

1 The Thomas community on the move: Stephen J. Patterson

2 The Thomas community on the run: Elaine Pagels

3 The Thomas community on the way: April D. DeConick

Part 2

What should be said about The Gospel of Thomas

4 The Syriac Gospel of Thomas

5 Challenging the apostolic line

6 The Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas: An extreme makeover

References

Index of ancient and biblical sources

Index of subjects and modern authors

Preface

If postmodernity has taught us anything, it has taught us that there is no such thing as just a story. Nor are there just texts. Whatever stories we possess, whatever texts have come to our attention, they do not come down to us innocently. Texts are interpreted things. And just as the Bible comes down to us through the media of tradition and traditional interpretation, the same thing goes for an intriguing ancient text called The Gospel of Thomas. Today most people who know anything at all about this Coptic gospel know what they do because they have heard what others have already said about it. From authoritative-looking web sites, to off-the-cuff comments made by a university professor, from Muslim—Christian debates at Hyde Park, to office water-cooler conversations about the Da Vinci Code and Gnostic gospels—Thomas has earned a name for itself. Not just a name, but a popular interpretation as well, a street-level reception. And what typically drives the opinions of those who have insufficient time or interest to investigate the matter for themselves is, at the end of the day, scholarly opinion.

I have written this book for two reasons. First, I write because there needs to be a scholarly yet accessible treatment of what researchers have been saying lately about the Gospel of Thomas. A long time has passed since the Nag Hammadi discovery some six decades ago. It’s time to pause and see where we have got to in the discussion, ...