The Gospel of Thomas: Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus (review)

John Dart and Ray Riegert. Introduction by John Dominic Crossan. The Gospel of Thomas: Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus. Berkeley: Seastone, 2000. Pp. 117. $11.95.

This book has almost everything: pictures, tales of archaeological discoveries, war, intrigue, greed, deception, betrayal, and, yes, a translation of the Gospel of Thomas. A paperback edition of the 1998 hardback, Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus: The Discovery and Text of the Gospel of Thomas, this slim volume provides convenient access to a text important to both patrologists and New Testament scholars.

Part 1 is Crossan's introduction, entitled "Paradise Regained." He describes the concern of the text as salvific. Thomas provides the knowledge necessary to return to Eden. There are three steps: (1) a recognition that it is absurd to look to the apocalyptic future because the kingdom is already within us; (2) a reclaiming of the original, ideal androgynous formulation of the Human, an origin in which the asexual provided for equality; and (3) a radical negation of the world through celibate asceticism captured poignantly in saying 42: "Become passersby."

Part 2 presents a translation of Thomas preceded by a brief introductory essay and a limited amount of interpretive notes. The introduction seems to prefer a mid-first century date for Thomas and, along with the Jesus Seminar, Thomas' s presentation of Jesus' teaching over that of the New Testament. It also warns, "Let the reader beware: this is not the Jesus taught in Sunday School and worshipped in glass cathedrals . . . . Here is Jesus as a sage, the personification of Wisdom, cast in the tradition of King Solomon or Buddha, a humble man with a powerful message" (13). The notes compare and contrast the sayings of Thomas with the canonical Gospels, show the affiliation of its teaching with Gnosticism, elucidate a saying's meaning, frequently through reference to Jewish and ancient culture, and occasionally suggest the priority of Thomas over the Synoptics.

This last point of the closer proximity of Thomas' s teaching to that of Jesus in contrast to the New Testament (and particularly the canonical Gospels) is suggested again in part 3. Portions of Thomas may date to the middle of the first century A.D., prior to Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Such comments arise amidst a fascinating recounting of the discovery and eventual publication of the Nag Hammadi documents. The whole story is here with all the main figures: Muhammed Ali, James M. Robinson, Jean Doresse, Phocian J. Tano, Togo Mina, and Albert Eid.

This volume provides a succinct introduction to Thomas, some selected aspects of modern scholarship's understanding of it, and the history of Nag Hammadi. A note does mention that scholars differ over whether Thomas follows or precedes the canonical Gospels, but the reasoned alternative of a late dating for Thomas is not provided. Neither does the book direct the reader to sources which would challenge Thomas'srepresentation of Jesus' teaching. Although worth reading, the Gospel of Thomas stands in need of supplementation.