Documents and Images for the Study of the Gospels

David R. Cartlidge, David L. Dungan

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781451494372
• eBook ISBN: 9781506402598
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Since its first appearance in 1980, Documents for the Study of the Gospels has been a welcome and highly regarded sourcebook for the study of the historical environment of the Gospels, introducing religious, philosophical, and literary texts comparable to various aspects of the Gospels and illuminating their genre and the subgenres included in them. In this edition, David R. Cartlidge has added new discoveries (including the Gospel of Mary Magdala and the Gospel of Judas) and previously known texts from the Greco-Roman world that shed light on the Gospels (including Augustus's Res Gestae). He has updated introductions to texts throughout the book in light of contemporary scholarship and illustrated the texts with a rich repertoire of images from the ancient world and from the cultural reception of the Gospels through centuries of Christian interpretation. The result is an inviting and intriguing treasure that will enrich every student's appreciation of the New Testament Gospels and early Christianity.

1

The Christian Savior

The purpose of part 1 is to provide the reader with a broader perspective on the variety of Christian portrayals of Jesus Christ that had appeared by the year 300 ce. It is to be expected that some of these selections will contain confusing and possibly even startling ideas regarding Jesus Christ. It is our hope that the reader will compare these documents with the more familiar New Testament Gospels, and thereby arrive at a more vivid impression of the vitality and diversity of the Christian movement during its first three hundred years.

Each selection has been provided with a brief introduction to indicate the generally accepted views regarding date of authorship and place of origin, as well as to explain our reason for including it in this collection.

The Coptic Gospel of Thomas

Introduction: When it was discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt, this gospel caused a sensation. It was found, along with the Gospel of Philip and other writings in thirteen bound books, near the ruins of an ancient Coptic monastery and probably belonged to that monastery’s library. Bits of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas had been known in Greek, but the extent and nature of the whole work were unexpected. Suddenly, the world had a book that called itself a gospel but is only a collection of sayings. It looked like no other gospel. It had no narratives, no miracles, and no passion story.^[1]

Attempts to show that this gospel was derived from the first three (Synoptic) Gospels are not convincing. There are sayings in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas that do not occur in the New Testament Gospels. Some of the sayings in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas that are also found in Matthew or Luke appear to have been less influenced by later Christian alteration than the same sayings in the Synoptic Gospels. This is particularly true of certain parables. Could it be that (1) the Coptic Gospel of Thomas represents a tradition of Jesus’ sayings that is independent of the New Testament Gospels, and (2) this gospel has some sayings that are older in form than their parallels in the Synoptic Gospels? Many scholars tend to answer yes to both questions.

These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke, and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.

1. And he said, “He who finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.”

2. Jesus said, “Let him who seeks not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he shall be troubled, and when he is troubled, he will marvel, and he will rule over the All.”

3. Jesus said, “If the ones who lead you say, ‘There is the kingdom, in heaven,’ then the birds of heaven shall go before you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish shall go before you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will know that you are sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty and you are poverty.”

4. Jesus said, “A man who is old in his days will not hesitate to ask a baby of seven days about the place of life and he will live. For many who are first shall [be] last, and they shall become a single one.”

5. Jesus said, “Know what is in front of your face, and what is concealed from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing concealed which will not be manifest.”

6. His disciples asked him, “Do you want us to fast, and how shall we pray, and shall we give alms, and what food regulations shall we keep?” Jesus said, “Do not lie, and do not do what you hate, because all is revealed before heaven. For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is covered that shall remain without being revealed.”

7. Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which the man eats, and the lion thus becomes man; and cursed is the man whom the lion shall eat, when the lion thus becomes man.”

8. And he said, “The man is like a wise fisherman who threw his net into the sea. He drew it up from the sea; it was full of small fish. The fisherman found among them a large, good fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea; with no trouble he chose the large fish. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

9. Jesus said, “Behold, the sower went out; he filled his hand; he threw. Some fell on the road. The birds came; they gathered them up. Others fell on the rock and did not send roots into the earth and did not send ears up to heaven. Others fell among thorns. They choked the seed, and the worm ate [the seed]. And others fell on good earth, and it raised up good fruit to heaven. It bore sixty per measure and one hundred-twenty per measure.”

10. Jesus said, “I have hurled fire on the world, and behold, I guard it until it burns.”

11. Jesus said, “This heaven will pass away and your heaven above it will pass away, and the dead are not living and the living shall not die. In the days when you ate what is dead, you made it alive; when you come into the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you have become two, what will you do?”

12. The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will go away from us; who will become ruler over us?” Jesus said, “Wherever you may be, you will go to James the righteous; heaven and earth came into being for him.”

13. Jesus said to his disciples, “Make a comparison and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous angel.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise man.” Thomas said to him, “Master, my mouth will not be able to say what you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your master. Because you drank, you are drunk from the bubbling spring which I measured out.” And he took him; he went aside. He spoke to him three words. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you one of the words which he said to me, you will pick up stones; you will throw them at me. And fire will come from the stones and consume you.”

Fig. 1.1. The Sower, by Vincent van Gogh, ca. 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Commons.wikimedia.org.

14. Jesus said to them, “If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves and, if you pray, you will be condemned and, if you give alms, you will do evil to your spirits. And if you enter any land and wander through the regions, if they receive you, whatever they set before you, eat it. Heal the sick among them. For that which goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which comes out of your mouth is what will defile you.”

15. Jesus said, “When you see him who was not born of woman, throw yourself down on your faces [and] adore him; that one is your Father.”

16. Jesus said, “Men might think I have come to throw peace on the world, and they do not know that I have come to throw dissolution on the earth; fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house: three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father, and they shall stand as solitary ones.”

17. Jesus said, “I will give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and no hand has touched and what has not come into the heart of man.”

18. The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us how our end will occur.” Jesus said, “Have you found the beginning that you search for the end? In the place of the beginning, there the end will be. Blessed is he who will stand at the beginning, and he will know the end, and he will not taste death.”

19. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you become my disciples [and] you hear my words, these stones shall serve you. For you have five trees in paradise which are immobile in summer or winter and they do not shed their leaves. Whoever knows them shall not taste death.”

20. The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us, what is the kingdom of heaven like?” He said to them, “It is like a mustard seed, smaller than all seeds. But when it falls on plowed ground, it puts forth a large shrub and becomes a shelter for the birds of heaven.”

21. Mary said to Jesus, “Whom are your disciples like?” He said, “They are like little children; they settle themselves in a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field come, they [the owners] say, ‘Give us our field.’ They undress before them and release it [the field] to them and give back their field to them. Because of this I say, if the owner of the house knows that the thief is coming, he will watch before he comes and will not let him break into his house of his kingdom and carry away his goods. But you watch especially for the world; gird your loins with great power lest the robbers find a way to come upon you, because the troub...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
• PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
• Introduction
• The Christian Savior
• Greek, Jewish, and Roman Parallels Illustrating the Milieu of the Gospels
• Roman, Greek, and Jewish “Gospels”