The Sayings of the Collection. . The feminine side would leave us susceptible to worldly things (not to be insulting, just generalizing), and the masculine side would leave us more single-minded of purpose in all things. Once you have become one he said, so in this time in history the thought that a male might have a female characteristic would be unheard of, or that a female could feel equal to a male. Perhaps Logion 114 was added to the Gospel of Thomas only at a relatively late stage. Granted that more could be said about the saying, this doesn’t mean the description is inaccurate or misleading. For us to grow spiritually he encourages us let go of our attachment to the material plane and in doing so to silence our busy rational mind. . The metaphor is actually a Platonic paradigm, also found in Plotinus and elsewhere in which the material and Psychic is called 'female' and the noetic, the Divine Mind, called 'male'. - kevlynn, A similar theme exists in the gospel of Matthew, where the metaphor of Lady Wisdom (Hochmah/Sophia) is used to describe Jesus as Wisdom. Like many of the traditional New Testament books, it is very difficult to date this gospel. No doubt this is a fairly good representation of past and present ideas on women. Women may be part of this group only if they negate what is female and “unworthy” and “make themselves male.”[8]. Gospel of Thomas Saying 114: Simon Peter said to Him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life." The Gospel of Thomas Logion 114 is fairly controversial and (like many questions on BH.SE, it seems) has generated a healthy specialist bibliography. and Pseudo-Clementine Homilies parallels which attest to the view that the Kingdom consists of … If this is a correct interpretation of Gospel of Thomas saying 114, then the saying is intended to be a statement of liberation, although the specific use of gender categories may be shocking to modern sensitivities." We might be tempted to take this notion symbolically were it not for the existence of Gnostic parallels, for example in the Gospel of Mary (page 9), in Clement of Alexandria (Excerpta ex Theodoto 21, 3), and among the Naassenes. Most of the sayings begin simply with the words “Jesus said.” These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. Answer: The Gospel of Thomas is a Coptic manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Women were always regarded as second class citizens, and inferior. ); the one provided by OP is that of Thomas Lambdin (a very fine scholar). Whether or not one agrees with Burke’s criticism of Witherington’s description “misogynistic” as “far too simplistic,” this criticism will much harder to sustain against the consistent point that Witherington and other conservative scholars make about Thomas 114. This if I recall is noted within the new testament gospels as well. The Thomas Gospel was written during the lifetime of Jesus or shortly afterwards, presumably by the apostle Thomas. The Gospel of Thomas, with its 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, is a portrayal of a universal experience of God that many people have had, and written about, over the centuries. The Text of the Gospel of Thomas from the Scholars Version translation published in The Complete Gospels PROLOGUE These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded. A slightly different version of this translation is available online. 1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death." The Gospel of Thomas consists of a brief prologue followed by 114 sayings of Jesus. [1] “The Gospel of Thomas,” trans. This statement is repeated almost verbatim from The Woman Jesus Loved: Mary Magdalene in the Nag Hammadi Library and Related Documents, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 40 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 50-51. Thomas O. Lambdin, in. What is more, Mary (it is not clear which Mary is intended here) is taken as the predecessor of all women who would become disciples. When he finds, he will be intensely troubled. Meyer goes on to put this saying in its religious and cultural context: Further, within gnostic texts this theme of gender transformation, with the female becoming male, occurs quite frequently…. (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 109). Mary is thus to undergo a spiritual transformation from her earthly, material, passionate nature (which the evangelist equates with the female) to a heavenly, spiritual, intellectual nature (which the evangelist equates with the male). This Gospel of Thomas Commentary is part of the Gospel of Thomas page at Early Christian Writings. Discovered near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945, the Gospel of Thomas is likely the most famous non-canonical gospel. F.F. In my previous response to Burke, I expressed surprise at his claim that the description of Thomas 114 as misogynistic was “anachronistic.” I really think this claim is indefensible, and I wonder on what basis Burke makes it. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 133; see also Bock, [13] Marvin Meyer, “Albert Schweitzer and the Image of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas,” in, Women and Gospel of Thomas 114: Reply to Tony Burke (V), Burke vs. C.f. This symbolic interpretation of the saying does not negate the assumed disparity between males and females, but only pushes it into the background of cultural values that the saying uncritically assumed. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus that was discovered in 1945 at the village of Nag Hammadi in Egypt. A few ancient accounts, in authors like Ovid and Phlegon of Tralles, communicate fantastic stories of women sprouting male genitals and thus becoming male, but most of the accounts use the gender categories in a metaphorical sense. 3:28). This stands in contrast to the more traditional feminine roles assigned to Mary in the synoptic and Johannine traditions (whether one speaks of Mary the mother of Jesus or of Mary Magdalene). Unlike the canonical Gospel accounts, there’s no overarching narrative to the text, which makes its designation as a “gospel” problematic. "- John, This saying could also be interpreted as: Jesus responds to this ploy in a way that not only puts Peter in his place but also encompasses and simultaneously transcends the cultural norms of that society. Nor are they set within any context, except in a few instances in which Jesus is said to reply to a direct question of his disciples. The only saying that even seems to hint at gnosticism to me is 114 and that is known to be a later addition to the text. Noticeably absent from the gospel are birth accounts, travel chronicles, miracle stories, and any narrative of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. This process is alluded to in the Woman and the Dragon of Revelation.- elyon1234@yahoo.com, Perhaps, in addition to the question of equality, it was also a reference to a type of Adam Kadom, the asexual man. Male, in the Bible, is clearly stated as spiritual head of guidance and authority. The Gospel of Thomas is very different from the gospels that have become part of the New Testament. She will become a man; just so, Ignatius of Antioch says that when he receives the pure light he will 'become a man' (Romans, 6, 2; for another parallel to Ignatius see Commentary on Saying 82). Perhaps the words male and female offered a much greater picture before the onslaught of 'politically correct'. (Part of the same work survives in a Coptic version in the Berlin papyrus 8502.) Gospel of Thomasor actually: The Gospel According to Thomas also known as Codex II was found in Egypt in 1945. For that speaks of the dissolution of sexuality, whereas this logion speaks of a transformation of the female into the male, of a kind that occurs in numerous Gnostic ascetic texts. Many of the sayings are difficult to interpret and others are not. The general rabbinic idea that women were incapable of appreciating religious doctrine - compare the disciples' astonishment at Jacob's well when they found Jesus 'talking with a woman' (John 4.27) - was reinforced in Gnostic anthropology, where woman was a secondary and defective being. - ken, When we do a Hermanutical study on the contex of what is being said one tends to find that with out wemon there are no men. The collection belongs to the genre of wisdom sayings, and some of the sayings parallel those of Jesus in the synoptic gospels and Q. Almost all of these sayings begin with "Jesus says…." Perhaps no one has written more extensively on Thomas 114 than Marvin Meyer, who observes: Some scholars have recognized a similar sort of misogyny in other ancient and late antique sources, such as the Gospel of Mary and Pistis Sophia, while others have been more optimistic in sensing that the saying in Thomas advocates androgyny or even the elevation of Mary.[10]. “Thomas” consists of a collection of 114 “sayings of Jesus,” that are supposed to be a secret revelation the Lord gave to the apostle Thomas. The 114 Sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. That is why Jesus told Peter that he will make woman a man, because in heaven, men are the same as women; people live in spirit, not in body.- laijon, Perhaps in the culture only men were worthy of great things such that (male = worthy person) or (worthy person = male). Christ asks us to love and treat one another with respect. Often the transformation of the female into the male involves the transformation of all that is earthly, perishable, passive, and sense-perceptible into what is heavenly, imperishable, active, and rational. A Kingdom Not Found Out There At Any Particular Place. [9] Antti Marjanen, “Women Disciples in the Gospel of Thomas,” in Thomas at the Crossroads: Essays on the Gospel of Thomas, ed. Roughly half of these sayings … [Hippolytus Ref. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi Library. (The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, p. 109), Marvin Meyer quotes Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts from Theodotus 79 for comparison: "As long, then, as the seed is still unformed, they say, it is a child of the female, but when it was formed, it was changed into a man and becomes a son of the bridegroom. [13], According to Meyer, then, Thomas 114 reflects a cultural perspective that can be described as depreciating, even demonizing women, and acknowledges that the saying expresses its message in “strikingly misogynist terms.”. How difficult is this parable? The Text of the Gospel of Thomas from the Scholars Version translation published in The Complete Gospels PROLOGUE These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded. And the one that sees should lead the blind.- ajee, When a woman becomes spiritual in Christ she is made alive. Nor are they set within any context, except in a few instances in which Jesus is said to reply to a direct question of his disciples. This time, however, his emphasis is not on the inwardness of the kingdom … For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Thomas 114)[1]. (114) Simon Peter said to them: Let Mariham go out from among us, for women are not worthy of the life. This is the fifth installment of my response to Tony Burke’s article on the SBL Forum, “Heresy Hunting in the New Millennium.” In that article Burke had mentioned Ben Witherington’s description of saying 114 in the Gospel of Thomas as “misogynist” as an example of a conservative scholar misrepresenting the “Christian Apocrypha” (CA) by focusing on the supposed odd, absurd, or bizarre elements of those works taken out of context. Risto Uro, Studies of the New Testament and Its World (New York: Continuum International, 1998), 102 (89-106). GOSPEL OF THOMAS 114 247 pretation of logion 114, Jesus' directions to Mary imply that she must return, via the male element, to the spiritual being in Gen. 2:7.5 Both de Suarez and Menard understand the logion to hint at the primordial androgyny.6 Menard draws Exc. Some gnostics, reasoning that as, This symbolic interpretation of the saying does not negate the assumed disparity between males and females, but only pushes it into the background of cultural values that the saying uncritically assumed. Most of the sayings begin simply with the words “Jesus said.” In terms of genre, the … For every female (element) that makes itself male will enter the kingdom of heaven. 'When Eve was in Adam, there was no death; but when she was separated from him, death came into being' (Gospel of Philip 71)." In these texts the female is typically depreciated—a better word may be demonized—and comes to symbolize perishability, corporeality, and all that characterizes this mortal world, while the male typically is glorified and comes to symbolize imperishability, incorporeality, and all that characterizes God and God’s world.[11]. Then he will be re-born, he will be … Perhaps Logion 114 was added to the Gospel of Thomas only at a relatively late stage. 1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the … I can see two distinctly different approaches to life in each, and I can see how they interrelate and strengthen one another, but I can also see how they can hold each other down. This is the fifth installment of my response to Tony Burke’s article on the SBL Forum, In my previous response to Burke, I expressed surprise at his claim that the description of, Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. cit., pp. The Thomas Gospel is a very interesting text for studying the teachings of Jesus. The sayings are not arranged in any recognizable order. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas Logion 114 is fairly controversial and (like many questions on BH.SE, it seems) has generated a healthy specialist bibliography. 1 The translation alone is disputed (or at least discussed! This dispute was likely one which would be carried on within early Christianity for many years to come.

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