Thank God they have found out now, the book written by Thomas!

[Guest guest]

, " Violet " <violetubb

wrote:

 

" Yet, despite these similarities, the authors of John and Thomas take Jesus'

private teaching in sharply different directions. For John, identifying Jesus

with the light that came into being " in the beginning " is what makes him

unique--God's " only begotten son. " John calls him the " light of all humanity, "

[29] and believes that Jesus alone brings divine light to a world otherwise sunk

into darkness. John says that we can experience God only through the divine

light embodied in Jesus. But certain passages in Thomas's gospel draw a quite

different conclusion: that the divine light Jesus embodied is shared by

humanity, since we are all made " in the image of God. " [30] (p.41) Thus Thomas

expresses what would become a central theme of Jewish--and later

Christian--mysticism a thousand years later: that the " image of God " is hidden

within everyone, although most people remain unaware of its presence. "

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

Chapter 2, p.40-41

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

 

" Actually, thank God they have found out now the book written by Thomas who has

described Gnostic way of life, where gnya means 'to know.' In Sanskrit language,

gnya means 'to know,' gnya. So he has described very nicely the gnostic life.

This was the Gnostic Bible, or whatever we call it, saying about a personal

experience of achieving God realization, self realization. It talks about Sahaja

Yoga out and out. Thomas on his way to India, went to Egypt and there he has put

this in a big vessel of some metal. Thank God it was done in Egypt, otherwise in

any other place they would have used it for some other purpose. And already it

would have been perverted. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Christmas Puja, Pune, India, 25 December, 1987.

 

 

 

>

> Dear All,

>

> We concluded Part 4 with:

>

> (p.40) " John and Thomas give similar accounts of what Jesus taught

privately. Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who say that Jesus warned

of the coming " end of time, " both John and Thomas say that he directed

his disciples instead toward the beginning of time--to the creation

account of Genesis 1--and identify Jesus with the divine light that

came into being " in the beginning. " [26] Thomas and John both say that

this primordial light connects Jesus with the entire universe, since,

as John says, " all things were made through the word ['logos'; or, the

light]. " [27] Professor Koester has noted such similarities in detail,

and concludes that these two authors drew upon common sources. [28]

While Mark, Matthew, and Luke identify Jesus as God's human agent,

John and Thomas characterize him instead as God's own light in human

form. "

>

> Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas) Chapter 2, p.37-40.

>

> Notes:

>

> [26] Genesis 1:3. For an excellent discussion, see Steven Davies

" Christology and Protology in the Gospel of John, " 'Journal of

Biblical Literature' 111 (1992), 663-683.

>

> [27] John 1:3.

>

> [28] Koester, 'Ancient Christian Gospels', 86-128; see also

Patterson, 'Gospel of Thomas and Jesus'.

>

> Here now, is Part 5.

>

> Enjoy,

>

> violet

>

>

>

> Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 5

>

> (p.40) Yet, despite these similarities, the authors of John and

Thomas take Jesus' private teaching in sharply different directions.

For John, identifying Jesus with the light that came into being " in

the beginning " is what makes him unique--God's " only begotten son. "

John calls him the " light of all humanity, " [29] and believes that

Jesus alone brings divine light to a world otherwise sunk into

darkness. John says that we can experience God only through the divine

light embodied in Jesus. But certain passages in Thomas's gospel draw

a quite different conclusion: that the divine light Jesus embodied is

shared by humanity, since we are all made " in the image of God. " [30]

(p.41) Thus Thomas expresses what would become a central theme of

Jewish--and later Christian--mysticism a thousand years later: that

the " image of God " is hidden within everyone, although most people

remain unaware of its presence.

>

> What might have been complementary interpretations of God's presence

on earth became, instead, rival ones; for by claiming that Jesus alone

embodies the divine light, John challenges Thomas's claim that this

light may be present in everyone. John's views, of course, prevailed,

and have shaped Christian thought ever since. For after John's

teaching was collected along with three other gospels into the New

Testament, his view of Jesus came to dominate and even to define what

we 'mean' by Christian teaching. Some Christians who championed the

" fourfold gospel " [31]--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--of the New

Testament denounced the kind of teaching found in the Gospel of Thomas

(along with many other writings that they called " secret and

illegitimate " ) [32] and called upon believers to cast out such

teaching as 'heresy'. How this happened, and what it means for the

history of the Christian tradition, is what this work will explore.

>

> To appreciate the tremendous leap that John--and Thomas--took, let

us recall how the gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke characterize

Jesus. The earliest of these gospels, Mark, written about forty years

after Jesus' death (c. 70 C.E.), presents, as its central mystery, the

question of who Jesus is. Mark tells how Jesus' disciples

discussed--and discovered--the secret of his identity:

>

> (p.42) And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of

Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, " Who do

people say that I am? " And they told him, " John the Baptist; and

others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets. " And he asked

them, " But who do you say that I am? " Peter answered him, " You are the

messiah. " [33]

>

> Then Mark immediately shows how Peter, although rightly seeing Jesus

as God's 'messiah', literally " anointed one " --the man designated to be

Israel's future king--does not understand what is going to happen.

When Jesus explains that he must suffer and die, Peter protests in

shock, since he expects God's " anointed one " not to die but to be

crowned and enthroned in Jerusalem.

>

> At the desolate scene of the crucifixion, Mark tells how Jesus cried

out that God had abandoned him, uttered a final, inarticulate cry, and

died; yet a Roman centurion who watched him die declared, " Truly, this

man was a son of God. " [34] Although to a non-Jew like the centurion,

" son of God " might have indicated a divine being, Jesus' earliest

followers, like Mark, were Jewish and understood that " son of God, "

like " messiah, " designated Israel's human king. During Israel's

ancient coronation ceremonies, the future king was anointed with oil

to show God's favor while a chorus singing one of the ceremonial

psalms proclaimed that when the king is crowned he becomes God's

representative, his human " son. " [35] Thus when Mark opens his gospel

saying that " this is the gospel of Jesus, the 'messiah', the 'son of

God', " [36] he is announcing that God has chosen Jesus to be the

future king of Israel. Since Mark writes in Greek, he translates the

Hebrew term 'messiah' as 'christos' ( " anointed one " in Greek), which

later becomes, in English, " Jesus [the] christ. "

>

> Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

> Chapter 2, p.40-42

> Elaine Pagels

> Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

> ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

>

> Notes:

>

> [29] John 1:9; the Greek phrase 'phos ton anthropon' can be

translated " light of human beings. "

>

> [30] Genesis 1:26-27; again, for a more detailed and technical

version of the discussion presented in this chapter, see Pagels,

" Exegesis of Genesis 1. "

>

> [31] A term that may have been coined by Irenaeus: AH 3.11.8.

>

> [32] Ibid., 1.20.1.

>

> [33] Mark 8:27-29.

>

> [34] Mark 15:39.

>

> [35] Psalm 2:7; discussion of the way such passages are worked into

the birth stories of Matthew and Luke, see Raymond E. Brown, S.J.,

'The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in

Matthew and Luke', 2nd ed. (New York, 1993).

>

> [36] Mark 1:1.

>