Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 11

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 10 with the following:

 

(p.55) " According to Genesis, " in the beginning " there was, first of all, the

primordial light. For Thomas this means that in creating 'adam' [humankind] in

his image, " as Genesis 1:26 says, God created us in the image of the primordial

light. Like many other readers of Genesis, then and now, Thomas suggests that

what appeared in the primordial light was " a human being, very marvellous, " a

being of radiant light, the prototype of the human Adam, whom God created on the

sixth day. This " light Adam, " although human in form, is simultaneously, in some

mysterious way,also divine. [86] Thus Jesus suggests here that we have spiritual

resources within us precisely because we were made " in the image of God. "

Irenaeus, the Christian bishop of Lyons (c.180), warns his flock to despise

" heretics " who speak like this, and who " call humankind ['anthropos'] the God of

all things, also calling him 'light', and 'blessed', and 'eternal'. " [87] But,

as we noted, what Irenaeus here dismisses as heretical later became a central

theme of Jewish mystical tradition--that the " image of God " is hidden within

each of us, secretly linking God and all humankind. [88]

 

Thus Thomas's Jesus tells his disciples that not only 'he' comes forth from

divine light but so do we all:

 

(p.56) If they say to you, " Where did you come from? " say to them, 'We came from

the light, the place where the light came into being by itself', and was

revealed through their image. " If they say to you, " Who are you? " say, " We are

its children, the chosen of the living father. " [89]

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 2, p. 55-56

 

Notes:

 

[86] See, for example, On the Origin of the World 108.7-9, in NHL 177; Eugnostos

76.14-81.12, in NHL 228-232; Apocryphon (Secret Book) of John II, 14.13-15.13,

in NHL 113; for a more complete edition, comparing the available manuscripts,

see Frederick Wisse and Michael Waldstein, eds., 'The Apocryphon of John: A

Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II, 1;III, 1; and IV, 1 with BG 8502,2' (Nag

Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 33, Leiden, 1995), 82-89.

 

[87] Irenaeus, AH 1.30.1. For references, see Pagels, " Exegesis of Genesis 1, "

202-205; and for a masterful discussion, see Hans-Martin Schenke, 'Der Gott

" Mensch " in der Gnosis: Ein religionsgeschichtlicher Beitrag zur Diskussion uber

die paulinische Anschauung von der Kirche als Leib Christi' (Gottingen, 1962);

and the fascinating articles by Gilles Quispel, " Der Gnostiche 'Anthropos' und

die judische Tradition, " 'Eranos Jahrbuch' 22 (1953), 195-234, and " Ezekiel 1:26

in Jewish Mysticism and Gnosis, " 'Vigiliae Christianae' 34 (1980), 1-13.

 

[88] For a classic discussion see Gershom Scholem, 'Major Trends in Jewish

Mysticism' (New York, 1965); see also Ithamar Gruenwald, 'Apocalyptic and

Merkavah Mysticism' (Leiden, 1980), and 'From Apocalypticism to Gnosticism:

Studies in Apocalypticism, Merkavah Mysticism and Gnosticism' (Frankfurt, Bern,

New York, and Paris, 1988); Moshe Idel, 'Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven,

1988); Elliot Wolfson, 'Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination

in Medieval Jewish Mysticism' (Princeton, 1994); and Peter Schafer, 'The Hidden

and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism' (Albany, 1992).

 

[89] Gospel of Thomas 50, in NHL 123.

 

Here now, is Part 11.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

Gospels In Conflict: John and Thomas - Part 11

 

(p.56) According to Thomas, Jesus rebukes those who seek access to God

elsewhere, even--perhaps especially--those who seek it by trying to " follow

Jesus " himself. When certain disciples plead with Jesus to " show us the place

where 'you' are, since it is necessary for us to seek it, " he does not bother to

answer so misguided a question and redirects the disciples away from themselves

toward the light hidden within each person: " There is light within a person of

light, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is

darkness. " [90] In other words, one either discovers the light within that

illuminates " the whole universe " or lives in darkness, within and without.

 

But discovering the divine light within is more than a matter of being told that

it is there, for such a vision shatters one's identity: " When you see your

likeness [in a mirror] you are pleased; but when you see your images, which have

come into being before you, how much will you have to bear! " [91] Instead of

self-gratification, one finds the terror of annihilation. The poet Rainer Maria

Rilke gives a similar warning about encountering the divine, for " every angel is

terrifying. " Giving oneself over to such an encounter, he says, involves terror,

as if such an angel

 

would come more fiercely to interrogate you,

and rush to seize you blazing like a star,

and bend you as if trying to create you,

and break you open, out of who you are. [92]

 

What " breaks [us] open, out of who [we] are, " shatters the ways in which we

ordinarily identify ourselves, by gender, name, ethnic origin, social status.

So, Thomas adds, " Jesus said, 'Let the one who seeks not stop seeking until he

finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will

be astonished. " [93]

 

Finally Jesus reveals to Thomas that " whoever drinks from my mouth will become

as I am, and I myself will become that person, and the mysteries shall be

revealed to him. " [94] This, I believe, is the symbolic meaning of attributing

this gospel to Thomas, whose name means " twin. " By encountering the " living

Jesus, " as Thomas suggests, one may come to recognize oneself and Jesus as, so

to speak, identical twins. In the Book of Thomas the Contender, another ancient

book belonging to Syrian Thomas tradition discovered at Nag Hammadi, " the living

Jesus " addresses Thomas (and, by implication, the reader) as follows:

 

Since you are my twin and my true companion, examine yourself, and learn who you

are.... Since you will be called my [twin],...although you do not understand it

yet... you will be called " the one who knows himself. " For whoever has not known

himself knows nothing, but whoever has known himself has simultaneously come to

know the depth of all things. [95]

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas)

Chapter 2, p. 56-57

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[90] Gospel of Thomas 24, in NHL 121.

 

[91] Ibid., 84, in NHL 127.

 

[92] I am grateful to Stephen Mitchell for his insight and his translation; for

this poem, see 'Meetings with the Archangel' (New York, 1998), 137.

 

[93] Gospel of Thomas 2, in NHL 118.

 

[94] Ibid., 108, in NHL 129.

 

[95] Book of Thomas the Contender 138.7-19, in NHL 189.