Thomas, Gospel of

Thomas, Gospel of, a collection of sayings, composed originally in Greek, attributed to the “living” (i.e., resurrected) Jesus. Some of the sayings were previously known from papyri discovered at Oxyrhynchus and published in the late 19th cent. The sayings are similar to those of Jesus in the canonical Gospels. It is possible that the Gospel of Thomas is as early as the New Testament Gospels; more likely, the work is based on the sayings of Jesus preserved in the Gospels and edited from a gnostic point of view. The Gospel of Thomas is more encratite (antimarriage) and ascetic in tone than most gnostic works. See also Nag Hammadi.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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