Evangelical Philosophical Society Conference 2010 - November 18-20

Sessions and Tracks

Why I have doubts about the Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas has enjoyed a great deal of attention in the scholarly world since its discovery in 1945 and publication in 1948. With the publication of the complete document, in Coptic, scholars quickly realized that three portions, in Greek, had already been published in the Oxyrhynchus papyri series. Some Gospel scholars, many of them members of the North American Jesus Seminar, have argued that Thomas could well be our oldest Gospel (perhaps dating to the middle of the first century) and may well contain authentic sayings of Jesus noticeably different from the sayings of Jesus preserved in the four New Testament Gospels. Accordingly, some scholars think research into the historical Jesus should rely on Thomas. In my view, however, there are factors that should lead these scholars to reconsider. First, the Gospel of Thomas utterly lacks verisimilitude with all that we know of first century Jewish Palestine. For this reason historians and archaeologists make no use of Thomas. This lack of verisimilitude stands in sharp contrast to the New Testament Gospels, which historians and archaeologist utilize in their work. Secondly, the Gospel of Thomas coheres with the encratitism that emerged among Syrian Christians in the second half of the second century. We also find parallels between Thomas and distinctive forms of the sayings of Jesus as circulating in second century Syria. This coherence with second century Syria and non-coherence with first century Palestine argue for a late second-century date of the Gospel of Thomas.

Presenting at this session:

• Dr. Craig Evans - Concordia University

This is part of Breakout Sessions: Friday Evening.

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