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TheCopticQospelofThomas

The Coptic Gospelof Thomaswasoneof themostsensational rchaeolog-ical discoveriesof the twentieth century.rThe documentwas unknownexceptby namebefore 1945,when peasants igging for fertilizer nearthevillage of Nag Hammadi,Egypt accidentallyuncovereda jar containingthirteen eather-boundmanuscripts uried sometimen the late fourth cen-tury. When the manuscriptscame o the attentionof scholarsof antiquity'their significancewas almost mmediately ecognized:heycontained ifty-two tractates,principally of "heretical" writings of Gnostic Christians.2Althoughoriginally composedn Greek, hewritingswere n coptic (ancientEgyptian) translation.Many of them had beenpreviouslyknown by titleonly. Today hesewritings areknown as the "Nag HammadiLibrary'":None of the fifty-two tractateshas attracted more attention than theGospelof Thomas.For this is a collectionof Jesus'sayings hat claimstohave been written by Didymus JudasThomas.According to someearlyChristian egends,ThomaswasJesus'twinbrother.The book records114"secret eachings"of Jesus.t includesno othermaterial: no miracles,no passionnarrativen o storiesof any kind. whatultimately mattered or the author of Thomas was not Jesus'death andresurrection,which he does not narrate or discuss,but the mysteriousteachingshathe delivered.ndeed, heGospelbeginsby stating hat anyonewho learnsthe interpretationof thesewords will have eternal ife (say-ing l).

Many of the sayingswill sound amiliar to readersalreadyconversantwith the Gospelsof Matthew,Mark, andLuke.For example,hereone inds,in slightly different wording, the warning against he "blind leading the

rFora full discussion,eeEhman, usl Cft istianities,44-66. 2Onwhatsuch Gnostics" elieved,se Ehrmm, Iosr Christianities,122-25. 3Ftll tanslationsof all the writings, with incisive ntro-Robinson,TheNag Hamdi Library in English,4th rev' ed'

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blind" and the parablesof the sowerand of the mustardseed sayings9,20,34). Othersayings, owever, requitedifferentandappearo prouplor.a Gnosticpoint of view, in which peopleare understoodo be spirits whohave allen from the divine realm and becomeentrappedn matter(i.e., intheprisonsof theirmaterialbodies).Salvation, ccording o thisperspective,comes o thosewho leam the truth of their ptight.and so are enabled oescape his impoverishedmaterial existenceby acquiring the knowledgenecessaryor salvation e.g.,sayings l, 22, 29, 37,and g0).Jesuss theonewho conveyshis knowledge.Somescholars avemaintainedhat the sayingsof Thomasmay becloser o whatJesus ctually aught hanwhatwe find in theNew Testament;others,however,have pointed out that the theology implicit in the moreGnosticteachingscannotbe datedwith confidenceprior to the beginningof thesecond entury. hus,while some f these ayingsmaybequiteold-may, n fact, go back to Jesushimself'-the documentasa whole probablycameto be written sometimeafter the New TestamentGospels althoughperhapsndependently f them),possibly n the early second entury.

Theseare he secretsayingswhich theliving Jesus pokeand which DidymosJudasThomaswrotedown.1 And he said,"Whoever inds the in-terpretationof thesesayingswill not ex-periencedeath."2 Jesus aid, "Let him who seeks on-tinue seeking until he finds. When hefinds,he will become roubled.Whenhebecomesroubled,he will be astonished,andhe will rule over the all."3 Jesussaid, "If those who lead yousay to you, 'See, the kingdom is in thesky,' hen hebirdsof theskywill precede'you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,'then hefishwill precede ou. Rather,hekingdom s insideofyou, and t is outsideof you. When you come to know your-selves,henyou will becomeknown,andyou will realize hat t is you who are hesonsof the living father.But if you willnot knowyourselves ou dwell in povertyand it is you who are thatpoverty."4 Jesus aid, Themanold n dayswillnot hcsitatco ask a smallchild seven

daysold about the placeof life, and hewill live. For many who are first willbecome ast, and they will becomeoneand he same."5 Jesussaid, "Recognizewhat is inyour (sg.)sight,and hatwhich s hiddenfrom you (sg.)will become lain to you(sg.).For there s nothinghiddenwhichwill not becomemanifest."6 His disciplesquestionedhim andsaid to him, "Do you want us to fast?How shall we pray?Shallwe give alms?What diet shallwe observe?"Jesus aid, Do not tell lies.anddo notdo what you hate, or all thingsareplainin the sightof heaven. or nothinghiddenwill not becomemanifest, and nothingcovered will remain without beinguncovered."7 Jesus aid, Blessed s the ion whichbecomesman when consumedby man;and cursed is the man whom the lionconsumes, nd the lion becomesman.,,8 And he said, Theman s like a wisefishermanwho casthis net into the sca