The Gospel of Thomas

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

The Gospel of Thomas Collection

www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thomas_poxy.htm

Introduction

There is a growing consensus among scholars that the Gospel of Thomas – discovered over a half century ago in the Egyptian desert – dates to the very beginnings of the Christian era and may well have taken first form before any of the four traditional canonical Gospels.

During the first few decades after its discovery several voices representing established orthodox biases argued that the Gospel of Thomas (abbreviated, GTh) was a late-second or third century Gnostic forgery.

Scholars currently involved in Thomas studies now largely reject that view, though such arguments will still be heard from orthodox apologists and are encountered in some of the earlier publications about Thomas.

Today most students would agree that the Thomas Gospel has opened a new perspective on the first voice of the Christian tradition.

Recent studies centered on GTh have led to a stark reappraisal of the forces and events forming "orthodoxy" during the second and third centuries. But more importantly, the Gospel of Thomas is awakening interest in a forgotten spiritual legacy of Christian culture.

The incipit (or "beginning words") of Thomas invite each of us "who has ears to hear" to join in a unique quest:

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke,
and that Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. And He said:
"Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death."

The Greek Oxyrhynchus Fragments

www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thomas_poxy.htm

In 1897 and 1903 three ancient fragments from Greek versions of the Gospel of Thomas were discovered during archeological excavations on the site of an ancient town at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt -- a project that eventually recovered over 5000 fragments of ancient Greek texts, and also included fragments from the Gospel of Mary.

The three papyrus fragments of Thomas found at Oxyrhynchus apparently date to between 130 - 250 CE, and each probably represents a separate unique copy of the Gospel.

The textual source of the sayings contained in the fragments was initially unclear; based on the logion found in pOxy 654 – now identified as containing the prologue and first saying – it was speculated they might represent remains of the lost Gospel of Thomas.

The Nag Hammadi discovery in 1945 which unearthed a complete and well-preserved version of Thomas in Coptic made it possible to definitely identify the Oxyrhynchus texts as fragments from a lost Greek edition of the Gospel.

Prologue and Saying 1 (pOxy 654.1-5)

Coptic version of same saying as found in the Nag Hammadi manuscript:

These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. And he said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death."

Saying 3 (pOxy. 654.9-21)

Coptic version:

Jesus said,

"If those who lead you say to you, '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 become known, 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."

God Bless

[bimetalaupt]

A++,
Q or later to known as the G of St Thomas was quoted by the other five G's.. ( counting St Mary's).. The problem is the added verse at the end does not belong to Q.. The writing is inferior.

Just a thought,
BTI

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

The problem is the added verse at the end does not belong to Q.. The writing is inferior.

Which added verse? You mean all the stuff that has been added to this?

[dothedd]

Aham, GOOD "You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."

Thank you for sharing!



Blessings,

dot

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

"You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."

That one is great dot... Says a lot about staying sharp!

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

The next point that I would like to make about this Gospel is tied together with Thomas Jefferson. A good poster around here shared this with me..

Andrew Sullivan: Christianity in Crisis
Apr 2, 2012 1:00 AM EDT
Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests, and get-rich evangelists. Ignore them, writes Andrew Sullivan, and embrace Him.
www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/01/andrew-sullivan-christianity-in-crisis.html

I know that a few posters in this area have said that they feel that Christianity is under attack. I also find it interesting that heart said......

Mar 26, 2012 9:56:18 GMT -5 @heart2heart said:

"Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you . For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."

Matthew, Mark and Luke make mention of the above in their account of Jesus words.. It is an often abused scripture reference. Yet, the meaning is something beautiful..



Let your language be always seasoned with the salt of grace, so that you may know how to give every man a fitting answer. Col. 4:6

May the word of my heart and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight oh Lord, my Rock and Redeemer.. Ps. 19:14

Like I stared off saying, it ties together with Thomas Jefferson. The reason that it sound like parts of those Gospels heart is because of what Bruce had mentioned above.. The Q source..

Q source
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source

How Thomas Jefferson Ties into the Gospel of Thomas and ties this post together, this if from the Christianity in Crisis article...

If you go to the second floor of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., you’ll find a small room containing an 18th-century Bible whose pages are full of holes. They are carefully razor-cut empty spaces, so this was not an act of vandalism. It was, rather, a project begun by Thomas Jefferson when he was 77 years old.

Painstakingly removing those passages he thought reflected the actual teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, Jefferson literally cut and pasted them into a slimmer, different New Testament, and left behind the remnants (all on display until July 15). What did he edit out? He told us: “We must reduce our volume to the simple evangelists, select, even from them, the very words only of Jesus.”

Personally I find a bit of irony in the fact that Jefferson was making his own Q source roughly 150 yrs before the Gospel of Thomas is uncovered(the rumored Q source). Especially since one of the goals of the founding fathers was to bring on the word of JC!!

[Deleted]

Actually, it is enough for me just to try to keep up with established Scriptures, finding new books is only more to read and who has time?

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

LOL, I hear you. Personally, I like to find time each week to read something new.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Mar 18, 2012 2:22:04 GMT -5 Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger said:

The Gospel of Thomas Collection

www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thomas_poxy.htm

Today most students would agree that the Thomas Gospel has opened a new perspective on the first voice of the Christian tradition.

Jesus said,

"If those who lead you say to you, '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 become known, 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."

Christian traditions that show up in...

THE GOSPELS OF ISLAM

I have been tracking the ancient “lost gospels” through the Middle Ages, when these alternative scriptures continued to exercise a remarkably wide influence. This was especially true in the cultures of Islam, which emerged in a largely Christian world fascinated by apocryphal writings..............

........................Not surprisingly, then, early Islam knew a great deal about Christianity and its writings, but not in forms accepted by the mainstream churches of either East or West. Both Jesus and Mary make frequent appearances in the Qur’an...............

.................In other cases, though, we clearly see the signs of alternative traditions that originated within Christianity itself, and which were usually imported through apocryphal gospels. Such a source supplies the Qur’anic account of Mary, whose virginity is a tenet of faith for Muslims as well as Christians.
Mary’s life is described in the third Sura, Imran. Her mother prays for a child, and delivers a girl, who is promised to God. Mary is then raised in the sanctuary of the Temple, under the guardianship of Zechariah, where she receives her food miraculously, by divine gift. Zechariah then prays God for the gift of offspring, and the story then follows the canonical account of the conception of John the Baptist. We then return to Mary, to the angelic promise that she will bear a child, Jesus: “He will speak unto mankind in his cradle and in his manhood, and he is of the righteous.”

For a modern Christian reader, what stands out in this account is Mary’s “back-story,” the narration of who or what she was prior to receiving the angelic visitation. Medieval Europeans would however have recognized the tale immediately. Every one of the Qur’an’s statements is rooted in the second century Protevangelium, from the woman’s initial prayer for a child, to her pledging Mary to lifelong service to God, and Mary’s childhood in the Temple – where she receives food from the hand of an angel..................

................Apocryphal texts apart, the Qur’an drew on the ideas of non-orthodox Christian movements. On the crucifixion, the Qur’an declares, “They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain but Allah took him up unto Himself.” (4.157-58) That is pure Docetism, of a kind that had flourished for centuries in Christianity’s eastern regions.

God Bless. 

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Further proof that Islam is a form of Christianity. As Trevor and I debated in the Zealotry thread on the topic of Islams roots - it was Muhammad's followers that turned him into a false prophet. In other words, Isa/JC is the Messiah according to Islam because Muhammad believed Jesus was the one true prophet of God.

Christmas in the Koran: Luxenberg, Syriac, and the Near Eastern and Judeo-Christian Background of Islam

Centering on the pioneering work of Christoph Luxenberg, this anthology of scholarly yet accessible studies of the Koran makes a convincing case that Islam's holy book borrowed heavily from Christian texts in Syriac and other Near Eastern sources.

In this important compilation, Ibn Warraq focuses on the pioneering work in Syriac and Arabic linguistics of Christoph Luxenberg, a native speaker of Arabic who lives in the West and writes under a pseudonym. Luxenberg's careful studies of the Koran are significant for many reasons. First, he has clarified numerous obscurities in the Koran by treating the confusing passages as poor translations into Arabic of original Syriac texts. He demonstrates that when one translates the difficult Arabic words back into Syriac, the meaning becomes clear. Beyond textual clarity, Luxenberg's scholarship provides ample evidence that the Koran developed from a Judeo-Christian background, since Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic) was the main language of both Jews and Christians in the Middle East before the advent of Islam.

Ibn Warraq supplies English translations of key articles by Luxenberg that originally appeared in German and have never before been available to an English readership. This is followed by commentary by other scholars on Luxenberg's work. Also included are articles by earlier specialists who anticipated the later insights of Luxenberg, and more recent scholarship inspired by his methodology.

Erudite but accessible, this groundbreaking collection is must reading for anyone with an interest in the origins of the Koran and the early history of Islam.

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Muhammad was a Christian, and Agusta used JC to bring on Pax Roma. Don't believe me? Just watch!

Evidence Points To Quran Pre-Dating Muhammad

[Deleted]

Being a prophet is not being the messiah. 

Jesus was a Jew.

Yes, the three major monotheistic religions basically share an Old Testament... 

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

Sept 14, 2015 17:57:56 GMT -5 oped said:

Being a prophet is not being the messiah. 

Jesus was a Jew.

Yes, the three major monotheistic religions basically share an Old Testament... 

They don't basically share and Old testament, there is only on old testament story, just told in different languages.

What is being revealed here is that Muhammad was a Christian Zealot and his revelations in the koran were mostly just him and his followers rewriting the bible their way with a blueprint for how Islam could take over the world.

The thing is the messiah is the one true prophet of the one true God. It's his message and his life that changed everything. Muhammad has merely been a pawn in the larger plan that was put into place by the Messiah with God's power when he walked this earth.

34“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.

35‘I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36Your enemies will be right in your own household!’l

Mathew 10:34-36