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latin_rite
Guest
Would it be fair to say, that the reason the Church rejected the gospel of Thomas. Is because the author is unknown?
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Rolltide
Guest
I’m pretty sure that it had much more to do with the fact that it was a Gnostic work.
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
I’d say it was rejected because it wasn’t inerrant, God-breathed Scripture. All Scripture which was inerrant and God-breathed was, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, put as canon by the Church many centuries ago.
Many fine works such as the Didache were examined, along with other works which were popular, and still others which were gnostic.
One could make an imperfect corollary by for example stating that if one were to look for the greatest literary works of the 20th century, ALL the books written in that period would be examined.
Some would be truly great works. . .after all, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were 20th century authors.as well as Chesteron, Belloc, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Some would be ‘popular’ works. . .imagine the piles of Danielle Steel, Barbara Taylor Bradford, or even Agatha Christie. Some would be works that only appeal to a certain few (Ayn Rand, Camus, Russell) and of course, there would be works that were actually obscene and vile (pornographic works. No, I don’t know of any per se but only that they do exist).
So. . .if you had a panel of experts going through, you’d expect that they would only put into the ‘great works’ category those which were really great works.
But the Holy Spirit could do even better than that. Among purely ‘human’ beings, there exists the capacity for error. It would be possible that among humans alone, a ‘popular’ work might (though it had no merit in itself to do so) make it into the ‘great’ books through the bias of one of the committee. The Holy Spirit made SURE that this did not happen with the Bible. No matter how fond a given person might be of, say, the Didache, the Spirit made sure that he (and all others) realized that despite it’s being a fine piece of prose work, it was not the same ‘level’ as the INSPIRED work of authentic God-breathed Scripture.
No chance of a 'popular but not inspired" work slipping into Scripture. . .still less an ‘anonymous’ and gnostic, heretical work!
Many fine works such as the Didache were examined, along with other works which were popular, and still others which were gnostic.
One could make an imperfect corollary by for example stating that if one were to look for the greatest literary works of the 20th century, ALL the books written in that period would be examined.
Some would be truly great works. . .after all, Hemingway and Fitzgerald were 20th century authors.as well as Chesteron, Belloc, Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Some would be ‘popular’ works. . .imagine the piles of Danielle Steel, Barbara Taylor Bradford, or even Agatha Christie. Some would be works that only appeal to a certain few (Ayn Rand, Camus, Russell) and of course, there would be works that were actually obscene and vile (pornographic works. No, I don’t know of any per se but only that they do exist).
So. . .if you had a panel of experts going through, you’d expect that they would only put into the ‘great works’ category those which were really great works.
But the Holy Spirit could do even better than that. Among purely ‘human’ beings, there exists the capacity for error. It would be possible that among humans alone, a ‘popular’ work might (though it had no merit in itself to do so) make it into the ‘great’ books through the bias of one of the committee. The Holy Spirit made SURE that this did not happen with the Bible. No matter how fond a given person might be of, say, the Didache, the Spirit made sure that he (and all others) realized that despite it’s being a fine piece of prose work, it was not the same ‘level’ as the INSPIRED work of authentic God-breathed Scripture.
No chance of a 'popular but not inspired" work slipping into Scripture. . .still less an ‘anonymous’ and gnostic, heretical work!
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roveau
Guest
The Gospel of Thomas is not a Gnostic work, it was found with Gnostic works - hence the slur.
It is a book of the sayings of Jesus, not a narrative like the other Gospels - half of the sayings are found in the canon Gospels. I found nothing too controversial in them but the very fact that Eusebius dismissed them as a fraud puts a damper on them being used in any constructive way by the Catholic Church. I find the book very interesting.
It’s surprising that more books didn’t turn up regarding the sayings of Jesus because it does say in the NT that there wouldn’t be enough books to be able to contain all the sayings of Jesus.
It is a book of the sayings of Jesus, not a narrative like the other Gospels - half of the sayings are found in the canon Gospels. I found nothing too controversial in them but the very fact that Eusebius dismissed them as a fraud puts a damper on them being used in any constructive way by the Catholic Church. I find the book very interesting.
It’s surprising that more books didn’t turn up regarding the sayings of Jesus because it does say in the NT that there wouldn’t be enough books to be able to contain all the sayings of Jesus.
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StrawberryJam
Guest
The slur? Are you saying the Gnostics are being somehow slurred by this association with this book?
I agree with Rolltide.
I’m sure you can come up with wonderful reasons why the book was found with Gnostic works, but yet not a Gnostic work.
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thistle
Guest
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diggerdomer
Guest
No.
It’s because it was either:
- written significantly later than the other Gospels or
- known not to be truly apostolic in origin or
- or contained teachings that were clearly not coherent with the true tradition
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Vouthon
Guest
Dear Roveau
I know this thread is two years old but I very much like what you said and agree with you.
The Gospel of Thomas is not a Gnostic text. I have studied it for many years now and that’s the conclusion I have reached.
Pope Benedict XVI considers the Gospel of Thomas and the Acts of Thomas as occupying a unique place of importance among the apochrypha in terms of Christian origins:
“…Indeed, the Acts and the Gospel of Thomas, both apocryphal works but in any case important for the study of Christian origins, were written in his name…”
- Pope Benedict XVI, General Address, 2006
“…The application of this passage primarily to Christ—as we saw earlier—does not have to exclude a secondary interpretation referring to the believer. A saying from the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas (108) points in a direction compatible with John’s Gospel: “Whoever drinks from my mouth shall become as I am” (Barrett, Gospel, p. 328). The believer becomes one with Christ and participates in his fruitfulness. The man who believes and loves with Christ becomes a well that gives life. That, too, is something that is wonderfully illustrated in history: The saints are oases around which life sprouts up and something of the lost paradise returns. And ultimately, Christ himself is always the well-spring who pours himself forth in such abundance…”
- Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth (Volume I), 2008
“…New Testament scholars might also be surprised to discover non-canonical Christian texts quoted favorably by the Pope. For example, when interpreting the metaphorical imagery of the Gospel of John, Pope Benedict uses both the Gospel of Thomas and the Didache to illuminate aspects of John’s message. Despite the Pope’s championing of “canonical exegesis” (“reading the individual texts of the Bible in the context of the whole”), he does not in practice treat the canonical boundary as an impermeable wall. It is a barrier, to be sure, but more like a fence, through whose gaps the Spirit can still blow insightful seeds from beyond—whether…”
St Augustine once said this:
"…Our Father who art in Heaven: what is this – Heaven? And where is Heaven? Then comes a surprising response: “… who art in Heaven – that means: in the saints and in the just. Yes, the heavens are the highest bodies in the universe, but they are still bodies, which cannot exist except in a given location. Yet if we believe that God is located in the heavens, meaning in the highest parts of the world, then the birds would be more fortunate than we, since they would live closer to God. Yet it is not written: ‘The Lord is close to those who dwell on the heights or on the mountains’, but rather: ‘the Lord is close to the brokenhearted’, an expression which refers to humility. Just as the sinner is called ‘Earth’, so by contrast the just man can be called ‘Heaven’.”
These words of St Augustine were quoted by Popee Benedict XVI in his 2007 Christmas Eve Mass Sermon.
“If we believe that God is located in the heavens, then the birds would be more fortunate than we”
Now, this idea is not in the Bible. Oh but guess what? Well there was this ancient text, you know found in Nag Hammadi in 1945 and in it this saying is attributed to Jesus, in this document alone and nowhere else:
"…Jesus said, “If those who lead you say, ‘See, the Kingdom is
in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they
say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you.
Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.
When you come to know yourselves, then you will find the Kingdom, and
you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living
Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty
and it is you who are that poverty.”
(The Gospel of Thomas)
(continued…)
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Vouthon
Guest
Now you would have to be really, really biased not to admit here that we have the Gospel of Thomas witnessing to a Sacred Tradition that is not in the Bible but which was attested to in the theology of St Augustine and other Church Fathers, up and until today with Pope Benedict.
And this is not the only instance where Thomas seems to have access to genuine Sacred Tradition not preserved in the Bible.
The following agrapha comes from the book of 2 Clement, which is an Orthodox writing and an Apostolic Father from the 2nd century.
“For the Lord himself, being asked when the kingdom would come, replied, ‘When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’” ( 2 Clement 12).
This is clearly a quote from the Gospel of Thomas, saying 22, or at least derived from the same common source (which is thus Orthodox). The saying in Thomas 22 reads:
Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants tasting milk are like those who enter the kingdom.”
They said to him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?”
Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand … then you will enter”
This saying is also referred to by the Church Father, Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata:
“When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female.” - (Stromateis iii)
Augustine, Against Adversaries of the Law and Prophets 2.4.14 (it is now known that this saying comes from Thomas 52):
The apostles asked the Lord: Has the advent already happened in the past?
And the Lord answered: You have dismissed the living one who is before your eyes and talk idly of the dead.
Here is the saying from the Gospel of Thomas 52:
His disciples said to him: Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and they all spoke of you. He said to them: You have abandoned the living one before your eyes, and spoken about the dead.
Origen, On Jeremiah, Latin homily 20.3:
He that is near me is near the fire.
He that is far from me is far from the kingdom
Gospel of Thomas saying 82
Jesus said: He who is near to me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 10, 64:
“For not grudgingly, he saith, did the Lord declare in a certain gospel: My mystery is for me and for the sons of my house.”
Gospel of Thomas 62:
I tell my mysteries to those who are worthy of my mysteries
There are many other such agrapha quoted by the Church Fathers which crop up in Thomas. We can only conclude then that the Gospel of Thomas is not a heretical Gnostic gospel.
It actually has access to genuine Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church. Even Orthodox Wiki says of Thomas:
“(The First Epistle of Clement) ranks with Didache and the Gospel of Thomas as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of extant Christian documents outside the canonical New Testament”
orthodoxwiki.org/First_Epistle_of_Clement
And this is not the only instance where Thomas seems to have access to genuine Sacred Tradition not preserved in the Bible.
The following agrapha comes from the book of 2 Clement, which is an Orthodox writing and an Apostolic Father from the 2nd century.
“For the Lord himself, being asked when the kingdom would come, replied, ‘When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female’” ( 2 Clement 12).
This is clearly a quote from the Gospel of Thomas, saying 22, or at least derived from the same common source (which is thus Orthodox). The saying in Thomas 22 reads:
Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants tasting milk are like those who enter the kingdom.”
They said to him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?”
Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand … then you will enter”
This saying is also referred to by the Church Father, Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata:
“When Salome inquired when the things concerning which she asked should be known, the Lord said: When ye have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female.” - (Stromateis iii)
Augustine, Against Adversaries of the Law and Prophets 2.4.14 (it is now known that this saying comes from Thomas 52):
The apostles asked the Lord: Has the advent already happened in the past?
And the Lord answered: You have dismissed the living one who is before your eyes and talk idly of the dead.
Here is the saying from the Gospel of Thomas 52:
His disciples said to him: Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and they all spoke of you. He said to them: You have abandoned the living one before your eyes, and spoken about the dead.
Origen, On Jeremiah, Latin homily 20.3:
He that is near me is near the fire.
He that is far from me is far from the kingdom
Gospel of Thomas saying 82
Jesus said: He who is near to me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 10, 64:
“For not grudgingly, he saith, did the Lord declare in a certain gospel: My mystery is for me and for the sons of my house.”
Gospel of Thomas 62:
I tell my mysteries to those who are worthy of my mysteries
There are many other such agrapha quoted by the Church Fathers which crop up in Thomas. We can only conclude then that the Gospel of Thomas is not a heretical Gnostic gospel.
It actually has access to genuine Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church. Even Orthodox Wiki says of Thomas:
“(The First Epistle of Clement) ranks with Didache and the Gospel of Thomas as one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of extant Christian documents outside the canonical New Testament”
orthodoxwiki.org/First_Epistle_of_Clement
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Leon_Bloy
Guest
As far as I know, this is true, here.
Also, what’s interesting is that it has a bit of an anti-feminine attitude toward it, at the end, if you look at it.
I laugh so hard when I encounter the attitude “the Church must have suppressed the non-canonical gospels because they must certainly endorse married and female priests, contraception, abortion, gay marriage, etc.” lol. For them to learn that in fact they contain things like anti-feminism in them and got condemned by the Church should be an eye-opener.
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