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| The Specialized Book Study WebLink Collection for: |
 The Gospel of Thomas
An introduction
"113. His disciples said to him, "When will the Father's imperial
rule come?" "It will not come by watching for it. It will not
be said, 'Look, here!' or "Look, there!' Rather, the Father's imperial
rule is spread out upon the earth, and people don't see it.." |
| Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. ...
Proverbs 23:12 (NIV) |
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Bill, one of our members, spotted an article in Harpers magazine, recently
(December, 2005) that helps to make Thomas timely. There is good background
on the Thomas gospel in this article, as well as helpful information on
the Nag Hammadi discoveries mentioned below. The author shares his views
on the value of Thomas for thoughtful people today. The article is entitled:
Jesus Without the Miracles by Erick Reece, Reece mentions the Gospel of Thomas and the Jefferson
Bible. See below. |
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Gospels and Bibles |
Gospel of Thomas
Commentary |
www.gospelthomas.com This is a scholar's site, where comparisons are made between Greek and
English text and commentary. A bit intimidating, but shows how the net
has become a tool for scholars and citizens sharing. For their is a chance
for you to post your comments. |
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The Gospel of Thomas - tr. Lambdin. From the Gnostic Society, and their Gospel of Thomas Collection, here is the Lambdin translation
of the lost gospel. The Gospel of Thomas is entirely a collection of sayings
of Jesus. It's first words: "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." '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.' |
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| Favourite Verses. From the church website, here are 5 verses to introduce the Gospel of
Thomas |
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The Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson was a free thinker who distilled his own version of the
gospel. It's worth a read to understand Jefferson and his times. Also check
out the wikipedia article.. |
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The Whole Bible: analysis of the Canonical and Apocryphal New Testament
Scriptures. Geoff Trobridge is a progressive Christian whose path of understanding
led him into new testament history. His website has links and commentary
with views from the left and right and centre. His essays are personal
and interesting. He has logged a debate with an inerrantist that is remarkable
both for it's holy manner and that it covers the salient points of difference
rather well. That Geoff and David are laymen not ministers makes it valuable
and relevant in the issues covered and the language used. Many will find
it close to home. |
Early
Christian
Writings |
Early Christian Writings is the most complete collection of documents from the first two centuries with translations and commentary. Includes the New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, and Church Fathers. The "Early Christian Writings: New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, Church Fathers" site is copyright © 2001-2005 Peter Kirby. There are 156 works here!! Pretty much everything known. Of special interest, they are listed according to their probably dates of writing. This alone is worth a visit to the list. The Gospel of Thomas page on this site is 8 screens of reference links! |
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The Bible Gateway is a friendly way to search the Bible for verses, themes and topics. It
is very fast. It's search engine is "concordance-based" with
19 English Versions and 24 other languages! It is the continuing work of
Nick Hengeveld. Check out "The Message" version - it is an exemplary
translation into contemporary english. You can find anything quickly, and
once found, compare the various versions and translations. This is very
handy to track the parallels in Thomas to the other gospels. |
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Crosswalk.com's Bible Study Tools® are designed to facilitate in-depth study and exploration of God's Word.
We hope these free resources foster a desire for Christians to learn more
about the Bible, deepening their relationship with God. We also hope they
help church leaders in their teaching preparation. |
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Historical Jesus - Early Church |
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The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church Of Egypt The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of Saint Mark who brought
Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the
first century, a dozen of years after the Lord's ascension. It is very
much alive today. Here is found a most exhaustive list of links and documents:
early church history, church art, documents, archives, museums and much
more. One of the best collections of early church history. |
| 101 Sayings |
Common Sayings Tradition in Gospel of Thomas and Q Gospel © John Dominic Crossan, published by permission on FaithFutures. "I count as Q Gospel only units with secure attestation in both Matthew and Luke. I also watch carefully the consensus reconstruction of the Q Gospel proposed by the International Q Project (IQP)." Crossan gives credence to 101 of these reputed sayings of Jesus. |
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Jesus DataBase, Based on the work of John Dominic Crossan, this FFF project is developing
an annotated online inventory of all extant items in the ancient Jesus traditions, with historical assessments
by selected scholars and links to related files on this site. |
| HODOS |
HODOS, is a Greek term (meaning "way" or "path") used by
early Christians to identify themselves as followers of the vision taught
by Jesus of Galilee. This egroup aims to be a cyber community where people
can be intentional in shaping their lives by the wisdom and the practice
of the historical Jesus. Drawing on the work of contemporary Jesus studies,
as well as other traditional and modern sources, participants encourage
one another in exploring, developing and sustaining ways of life that are
shaped by the wisdom of the Galilean sage. The only requirement for participation
is a genuine interest in these goals and processes. These folk (also on
Yahoo) are an eclectic ecuemenical community that support and debate Funk's
work. Drop in and listen once in a while. |
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The Westar Institute - home of The Jesus Seminar, with more than two hundred participating scholars, has attempted to distinguish
fact from fiction in the words and deeds ascribed to Jesus in the gospels.
The Jesus Seminar was organized under the auspices of the Westar Institute
to renew the quest of the historical Jesus. They are the publicists who
are intent to bring the scholarship out from the seminaries to the public
ear. John Spong is a fellow. Click HERE to review our page on Robert Funk the founder of the Jesus Seminar - from our 75 Spiritual Innovators study.
Current projects include the Paul Seminar, the Canon Seminar, & the
Acts Seminar which are being conducted on the same lines as the Jesus Seminar
whose present aspect is Historical Jesus.. |
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Almost the Whole Truth - John Dominic Crossan - An autobiographical sketch from the foremost Historical Jesus Scholar -
an Irish American trained in Chicago as a priest. and a fellow of the Jesus
Seminar.
"Christianity often asserts that its faith is based on fact not interpretation,
history not myth, actual event not supreme fiction. I find that assertion
internally corrosive and externally offensive. And because I am myself
a Christian, I have a responsibility to do something about it. My reconstruction
of the historical Jesus, for example, must be able to show why some people
wanted to execute him but others wanted to worship him, why some thought
him criminal but others thought him divine." |
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Snowstar Institue of Religion - A Canadian organization, SnowStar examines the world, its believers
and what they believe. SnowStar promotes mutual understanding and tolerance
of the world's belief systems. SnowStar does not promote one point of view;
it presents concepts and truths, founded in scholarly research, global
awareness and current, cutting-edge discoveries in theology, science, archaeology,
the arts, popular culture and other important fields. |
Early
Christian
Writings |
Early Christian Writings A private site by a Peter Kirby (who appears an rather critical and open
agnostic) with original text for very many of the available ancient texts
- New Testament, Apocrypha, Gnostics, Church Fathers. together with much
art, qualified commentary, related authors and books, and cross web links
on the theme - including more ancient texts, booksand qualified comment.
I discovered it on a Didache link - for which he has a superb collection
including a photo of the greek writing. |
Historical
Jesus
Theories |
24 Authors on Jesus - This useful site (also by Peter Kirby) suggests 10 different visions
of Jesus and groups the 24 authors accordingly, each of which he introduces.
Then an amazing 180 works of these authors are linked to book reviews (mostly
Amazon.com). Included are Borg, NT Wright, Crossan, Funk. Caution. Kirby's "Did Jesus Exist?" (linked from this site) and which
is a collection of Historical Jesus researches has a most negative agenda,
unlike his other rather objective collections. Not recommended. |
2 Reviews of
Beyond Belief |
BEYOND BELIEF: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels
The first review is by Luke Timothy Johnson (Emory University, Atlanta) who takes a critical but constructive look at Pagels. The second I wrote in several versions for various Canadian periodicals 30 months ago. Hopefully, these two reviews help to chart the contours of this instiguing study for those interested. |
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