In 367 AD, a directive from the newly organized Catholic Church listed 27 books that would go on to form the New Testament. All other so-called “apocryphal” or “gnostic” accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus were to be destroyed. But some were secretly preserved, buried in the soil of upper Egypt. They were discovered in 1945, and among them, a strikingly different account, which was dubbed the Gospel of Thomas. The Church had considered it a heresy for most of two millennia.
Renowned biblical scholar Elaine Pagels has spent much of her distinguished career digging into the account of Jesus and his teaching left by the apostle Thomas, and comparing it with the Bible’s New Testament Gospels. The accounts, she says, are different.
Click the “Listen” link to hear scholar Elaine Pagels discuss the Gospel of Thomas, and how it speaks to nearly 2,000 years of orthodox Christian thought and tradition.
Guests:
Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University and author of “Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas”
Elaine Pagels thank you very much for your research on the SECRET GOSPEL OF THOMAS, it shows me the light on what Christianity is all about, the Gospel capsulized the four gospel of the NT into one, a higher level of Christianity yet simple and profound. I have 3 books by Elaine Pagels: 1- the Secret Gospel of Thomas 2- the Gnosti Gospel and 3- the Gnostic Paul, all books given generously to me by my sister and daugther in the US. I am from the Philippines, and have some contact with Gnostic Christians by e-mail. THANK YOU.
Posted by Max Tandan, Jr., on January 17th, 2009 at 4:08 am EST