The Gospel of Thomas

New Testament Readings is designed as a group of individual interpretations of biblical texts, using fresh methods of approach. Valantasis asks, what is this gospel’s unique understanding of the Christian life? He looks at Thomas as a discrete document without digging into the relationship with the Synoptics or the Gnostic systems of the second century. While we might argue that this approach means isolating the gospel from its context, I think Valantasis would say that we have become so enamored of the context that we have never taken the gospel seriously in its own right.

Valantasis argues that Thomas (composed 100–110, though with a core that goes back to 60–70) is part of a theological dialogue with the Gospel of John and the Letters of Ignatius. All three try to define how Jesus is present and related to the church. John, he argues, is an early renewal movement: how do we get back to the ways of the first Christians? Ignatius, on the other hand, pushes the sacraments and the church offices as a way of replicating the presence of Christ in the community. The Christian ideal of “John” is the Beloved Disciple; for Ignatius, it is the bishop.

Thomas is a third option, connecting the hearer to the voice of Jesus speaking in the midst of the community. Jesus is present and relates to the community through the sayings, and the reader’s understanding is changed in the hearing.

This tradition of relating directly to Jesus through his sayings appears “old-fashioned,” partly because it neither develops a narrative (as in the Synoptics) nor develops the sayings into discourses (as in John).

With this background, we can turn to methodology. Valantasis’ strategy is literary; through a careful reading of the text, he intends to build the “theological perspective of the various sayings without bias . . . to later categories of orthodoxy or heresy” (p. 25). His entire aim is to “present a consistent, literary analysis of each saying in the order in which they appear in the tractate” (p. 25).

As a final prelude to the commentary, Valantasis provides a chapter on the Greek fragments from Oxyrhyncus as a “window” on the Gospel of Thomas. By “window” he means something like: here is an introduction to the material. You can look at it and say, that’s enough. Or you can look at it (as you would through a window) and say, I’d like to see the whole picture. Then you enter the commentary on the entire text.

The bulk of the book is a commentary on the sayings, in the light of the strategy and the theological debate outlined above. The commentary is faithful to the methodology, and helps develop a dialogue with the reader about the content of the sayings. A bibliography and index complete the book.

Valantasis’ presentation of the theological discourse at the end of the first century is a helpful perspective for classes in early Christian thought and literature. In addition, the commentary on the sayings is a refreshing insight into this gospel, which for too long has been lost in the debate about the development of gnosticism.