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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper. The full text of the Gospel of Thomas was found in 1945 in Egypt and it has been the subject of controversy since its finding. This essay reports the dating of the Gospel, describes the nature of the document and discusses why it is not accepted and the source of this controversy. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGgsthm.RTF
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
In 1945, a Coptic version of the Gospel was found in the Nag Hammadi dessert in Egypt (Schenk, 1992). The Coptic version is a complete document (Schenk, 1992). It has
been suggested that the text was probably originally written in Greek and then translated (Schenk, 1992). The Greek version was dated to at least 200 A.D. (Schenk, 1992). This
means the testing of paper, ink, and all the other indicators are consistent with those used during that century. This Gospel is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus
(Schenk, 1992). It is like the infamous "Q" in that there is no narrative that connects the sayings or that offer any explanation or any background about them, it is
just a list (Schenk, 1992). The Gospel of Thomas has been linked with the Gnostic traditions (Van Biema 2003; Schenk 1992). The text does indicate that the sayings reported
in the document "are intended to be esoteric in nature. The Sayings are not intended to be interpreted literally" (Schenk 1992). As an example, one of the sayings that causes
an enormous amount of furor is #114: Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females dont deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to
make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven" (Gospel of
Thomas). Interpreters suggest the term "male symbolizes the pneumatic (spiritual, or Gnostic) Christians, and female symbolizes the psychic (unenlightened, or orthodox) Christians" (Schenk, 1992). This seems like a
reasonable interpretation based on the character of Jesus as illustrated in the other four Gospels. The text has been attributed to Judas Thomas, i.e., Doubting Thomas, the Apostle (Schenk
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