Tuesday, January 9, 2007

reading the gospel of Thomas

Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all.”
I’ve been reading several translation of the Gospel of Thomas over the last week or so. The Gospel of Thomas has many passages I agree with and many that intrigue me. As I read I’ve been pondering the question of weather what I see as the central truths of Thomas are also unique to this Gospel or weather they are also found in other Gospels within the Bible. I have so fare come to the conclusion that many of the parts of Thomas I find meaningful; the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, that of God in every person, the need for a personal relationship with God, and what good you do with more important that revering religious creed, is also discussed in other Gospels if not in the same way. I am, however by no means done with studying this very interesting text.

4 comments:

Divine Joan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RichardM said...

The passage from Thomas which you quote is one that I can unite with up to the last part. The stuff about "reigning over all" bothers me. It seems to be appealing to the reader's pride and desire for power instead of emphasizing how we are all to serve each other.

Anna said...

Richardm: The passage I quote is actually not one of my favorites from Thomas. When I wrote the post I was working with a different translation of Thomas then the one I was used to or had been using, so I couldn't fine one of the passages I like better. I will agree with you that the first part of the passage appeals more to me, while the last part I took to be more in the style of the beatitudes “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,”(Matthew 5:5 ).

Peace and Joy,
Anna

RichardM said...

Anna,

I have a copy of the gospel of thomas around somewhere. I'll look up the passage in that translation and compare. It's surprising how different translations can be.