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Thomas Thought provoking sayings of Jesus Intoduction Click to go to other chapters |
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| Introduction |
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Introduction to the 'Thought-provoking Sayings', (otherwise known as 'The Gospel of Thomas'.) The Gospel of Thomas was discovered in 1945 in Egypt among a collection of ancient documents found by accident in an old jar. The assessment of scholars is that the document, in Coptic, is a translation of an early Christian scripture in Greek, now lost but known to the early church, and a matter of controversy. It is mentioned by Hippolytus of Rome in the third century, in the context of refuting heresy. Those who have studied the work in detail conclude that it probably is to be included among the earliest of Christian writings, possibly as early as the gospels we use, or second century at the latest. It is not a gospel in the sense that we understand it, but a collection of the sayings of Jesus on the lines of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and its equivalent in Luke, sharing some common material with both. Some of the sayings of Jesus are presented in a rougher and less polished form than their parallels in the other gospels and one way of explaining this would be to say that Thomas is closer to the original. Other sayings strike us as odd on first acquaintance, especially in the word-for-word translations which have been produced to date. Oddity may account in part for the decision of the Church councils not to include Thomas in their authorized collection of scriptures. The other reason was that Thomas was likely identified with the Gnostics. Grant and Freedman, who in the 60s introduced Thomas to the English-speaking public, take as an a-priori assumption that Gnosticism is what Thomas is all about and interpret it accordingly, seeking illumination of Thomas’s meaning from other Gnostic texts of the early centuries. By doing this they ensure a bizarre interpretation of sayings which might otherwise be interpreted in a more intelligible way. A definition of Gnosticism is not easy. The word 'Gnosis' (knowledge) sometimes refers to the knowledge of an exclusive élite whose company one cannot join without accepting the codes and practices of the élite. That's a very good definition of the Christian Church and also of each of its denominations and sub-cultures! As applied to Thomas, it is argued that its emphasis on the importance of understanding the teachings of Jesus and making them the basis of individual practice, amounts to an intellectual path to salvation, indicative of one type of Gnosticism. But Matthew and Luke also conclude their accounts of the teaching of Jesus with the parable of the housebuilder, in which salvation depends on paying attention to the words of Jesus. Like the other gospel writers, Thomas frequently records the saying of Jesus, "If you've got ears, use them!" The teaching method of Jesus was based on the practice of inviting his listeners to reflect on, wrestle with, debate his stories and sayings, and to come up with the truth that makes sense to them. Thomas's collection includes some sayings which take considerable unravelling, possibly because we have not met them before. We would do better, however, to use our own ears rather than those of the Gnostics of the early Christian era. As with the other gospels, the question of authorship cannot ever be answered with any certainty. There is good reason to believe that Mark was responsible for Mark, and Luke for Luke and Acts, but not Matthew for Matthew or John for John. It is attribution to the very earliest members of the disciple group which is always suspect. Twin was a member of the very earliest group and on balance it is doubtful if he penned the work. As in the case of Matthew or John, a disciple or admirer may have done so. The fact that there is so much common material between Matthew, Luke and Thomas, and Mark and John for that matter, does not mean they all copied from documents that were circulating before them, but rather that the stories and sayings of Jesus were well-known and recited by many of Jesus's first hearers. However, the writer that appears behind the selection of sayings and stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, with its emphasis on thinking things out, is consistent with the character of Thomas as portrayed in the Gospel of John. So it is not implausible that we have an authentic line to Jesus via Twin. In updating Thomas we use the freedom we have employed in our approach to the other Christian writings, and have applied the concepts of cultural and contextual translation. We admit to gently helping the reader by pushing her or him in the direction of an intelligent meaning. But enough is left of puzzle for the challenge to remain valid, "If you've got ears, use them!" |
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