Gospel of Thomas

The article offers a reflection on the first part of the saying 52 of the Gospel of Thomas. The disciples state that 24 prophets spoke ‘in’ Jesus. What does it mean? A number of scholars felt that the context of the saying suggests that the prophets spoke ‘about’ Jesus and thus translated the phrase as ‘all of them spoke of you.’ However, none of these scholars offered any explanation for such an interpretation. The author’s suggestion is that the Coptic expression used in saying 52 renders ἐν σοί of the Greek Vorlage. The Coptic translator found in the Greek text an expression λαλεῖν ἔν τινι. The preposition ἐν in this expression had an unusual meaning ‘about’, specific to the translation Greek. The Coptic translator did not understand the meaning of the phrase and rendered ἐν with its usual Coptic equivalent.

The authentic davarim or Aramaic sayings of Yeshua were remembered by disciples in their gatherings, dictated, and translated into Koine Greek between the years 30 and 50 C.E. That was during the era of Apostolic discipleship and messianic communities immediately following the crucifixion of Yeshua. In other words, it was before the proliferation of second and third generation proto-orthodox gentile Christian churches. This was the non-literary era before Paul had dictated his epistles or the Gospels had been compiled. Many scholars agree that the sayings of the original Aramaic kernel of the Gospel of Thomas are older and more authentic than the earliest writings of the New Testament. Sometime in the second century, the Greek collection of the kernel sayings of Thomas was reworked by ascetic Syrian Gnostics who claimed to derive their tradition from the Apostle Thomas. They added their spin to the existing sayings of Yeshua and created new ones of their own. As a Coptologist, I have translated all of the logia, and as a New Testament scholar have identified the 80% of them that originated in the Aramaic kernel. Then I reconstructed them as prophetic Aramaic davarim and mashalim and explained them in their first-century Jewish midrashic, apocalyptic, and Merkabah context.

Within the relevant literature there have been different (often conflicting) approaches to the issue of the sources of the Gospel of Thomas. This topic is connected to the relationship between Th and the Synoptics (and other early Christian texts)—hence, to the vexata quaestio of Th’s
“dependence”/“independence.” The article begins with some methodological considerations on the composition and sources of Th, also trying to provide a list of the sources that have been proposed for this gospel. The second part examines the possibility of a relationship between Th and the Pauline epistles, a theme which is emerging with new perspectives in the research on Th’s sources and parallels: some of Th’s logia seem to have connections with certain Pauline trajectories and texts. The final part focuses on Th 17 and 1 Cor 2:9, also exploring
their relationship with some parallel texts (e.g. 1 Clem. 34.8, Turfan M 789, and 1 John 1:1), in order to investigate the possible sources of Th 17.

Seven years, and a bibliography of over 100 pages: that is what Detlev Koepke invested in researching the gospel of Thomas.
Over 600 carefully worded pages disclose in great detail his intricate study and findings on Jesus in the gospel of Thomas as well as in the New Testament, and Q.
Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist and James are discussed in a separate chapter each, and we are presented with a full translation from Coptic, and a commentary on the gospel of Thomas.

The second half of this book focuses on the New Testament and history of Christianity: its historical background, Josephus, Paul, the Roman Empire and Christian persecution are some of the highlights.
Detlev Koepke passed away in 2015, leaving behind a truly majestic piece of work on the gospel of Thomas, its relation to Christianity, and the historical Jesus. A most complete work on the combination of these topics.

Detlev Koepke was fluent in 4 languages, and learned ancient Greek and Coptic specifically for and during his research. Most of his research was conducted utilising Harvard Divinity School library as well as his own extensive personal library: "no stone has been left unturned".

2021 edition, republished with permission from his son, David Koepke

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Convocation Address at Bethel University, August 29, 2016 about recent troubles in Minnesota, particularly the shooting of Philando Castille, and our responsibility as followers of the Gospel. There is an audio link also available. After you click the link, it's the first one in the queue; fast-forward to 15:00:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/2016-2017-chapel-college-arts/id1148681753?mt=10

The Shroud of Turin, Christianity's most precious relic is firmly linked to its foundational doctrine: Jesus's miraculous resurrection from the dead. This well defended connection limits Shroud research to the investigation of the mechanics of image formation, the underlying cause (the cause of the cause), being a foregone, non-debatable conclusion; it was a miracle. The miracle status limits the investigation because otherwise it would infringe on foundational doctrine. Advances in science, scholarship, observation and experience since the Gospels were written reveal a natural explanation for what actually took place on the first Easter Sunday and, thus, the cause underlying the cause of image formation. Arriving at this conclusion requires outside the box thinking: looking beyond the Bible into other religious expressions for answers, engaging in non-literal interpretation of the Bible, invoking principles of quantum science and inserting the role of human consciousness into the investigation platform.

The word arché, by which Jesus is in Col 1:18 described, is most often interpreted and translated as “beginning”. There are however hints that arché also bears connotations to arché defined as philosophical principle. It is supported by: 1) depiction of Jesus in Col 1:15-20 in categories appropriate for philosophical arché; 2) invocation in Col 2:8 of „philosophy according to the elements of the world” as a negative alternative for Christ; 3) the fact that, Paul possessed at minimum
elementary knowledge of Greek philosophy.

Abstract:
The relationship and possible influence of Hermetism in primitive Christianity can be seen in allusions and intertextual relationships between the Gospel of Thomas and the two hermetic works: Corpus Hermeticum and A Holly Book of Hermes Trismegistus addressed to Asclepius. This apocryphal gospel shares a similar source material with the canonical gospels, however, it bears the marks of a highly mystical source and may have been a collection of hermetic sentences. In this paper, we discuss the subjects of self-knowledge and heaven ascent as common beliefs between two hermetic texts and the Gospel of Thomas.
Keywords: Gospel of Thomas; Hermetism; Self-Knowledge; Heaven Ascent.

The Talmud often suggests that male and female together image Elohim and that their separation reduced humanity from that reflective nature. The Gospel of John has Jesus seeking to restore humanity to this original ideal by his death, reuniting him with his feminine aspect.

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar o Evangelho de Tomé em sua forma e conteúdo; seu contexto de emergência e a discussão em torno da memória como base para a reconstrução desse cenário histórico, sobretudo a partir de critérios menos dependentes da subjetividade de quem os escreve. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em três seções. No primeiro momento, apresentamos o texto copta de Tomé num brevíssimo apanhado bibliográfico que pretende situar o leitor em relação a esta obra e seu significado. Em seguida, discutimos a emergência deste evangelho, situado num período que pode ir de meados do século I a fins do século II. A abordagem será feita a partir de uma questão chave diretamente relacionada à importância de suas origens na Galileia, dentro de um quadro político-geográfico que favorecia intercâmbios culturais entre etnias, por meio de conquistas territoriais, do comércio e, principalmente, da capilarização do helenismo no etos da época. Na terceira e última parte, tratamos de um ponto fundamental em conexão com essa situação vital: a importância da memória como vetor necessário para uma reconstrução posterior das palavras de Jesus, tanto do ponto de vista da tradição oral em questão, quanto das narrativas preservadas posteriormente em sua forma escrita, além de discutirmos a possibilidade de novos paradigmas em operação a partir desta condicionante mnemônica. Palavras-chave: Evangelho de Tomé; Galileia; Cristianismo Primitivo; Memória. Abstract: The objective of this paper is to present the Gospel of Thomas in its form and content; Its emergency context and the discussion around memory as the basis for the reconstruction of this historical scenario, especially from criteria less dependent on the subjectivity of the writer. The work was developed in three sections. In the first moment, we present the Coptic text of Thomas in a very brief bibliographical survey that intends to place the reader in relation to this work and its meaning. Next, we discuss the emergence of this gospel, situated in a period from the middle of the first century to the end of the second century. The approach will be based on a key issue directly related to the importance of its origins in Galilee, within a political-geographical framework that favors cultural exchanges between ethnic groups, through territorial conquests, trade and, mainly, capillarization Hellenism in the ethos of the time. In the third and final part,

Logion 69.2 of the Gospel of Thomas is quite similar to its parallels in Mt. 5.6 and Lk. 6.21a, the beatitude for the hungry, except for one detail: while in the Synoptic Gospels, the second part of the logion is a causal clause, in the Gospel of Thomas it is a purpose clause. If this twist of grammar is taken seriously, Gos. Thom. 69.2 finds material parallels in a range of early Christian texts that speak of fasting for the benefit of others. There may even be an otherwise neglected connection to a very similar macarism preserved in Origen's Homilies on Leviticus (10.2) that is sometimes classified as an Agraphon

Le Jésus « authentique » hors du Nouveau Testament, avec Pierluigi Piovanelli https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/chretiens-dorient/le-jesus-authentique-hors-dunouveau-testament-avec-pierluigi-piovanelli https://player.fm/series/chrtiens-dorient/le-jsus-authentique-hors-du-nouveau-testamentavec-pierluigi-piovanelli

(181018 rev 181027)(Session paper revised and retitled) This is a one-page introduction to, and timeline of milestones in, the 2012-2016 controversy over what was called "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife." Combines Christian Askeland's timeline of 6/16/16 with my own introduction, additions, and rewordings.

In December of 1945 Mohammed Ali, an Egyptian farmer, and his brother were searching for a type of fertilizer in the area of Upper Egypt around a town called Nag Hammadi. They were searching for the fertilizer so it could be spread on their fields. During this search, the brothers discovered an earthenware jar that apparently looked like it could be very ancient in origin. Obviously the brothers were intrigued and wondered what was inside of the jar, so they opened it. The jar contained thirteen leather-bound codices. These codices were books made of papyrus and contained over fifty unique tractates.

L’objet de ce livre consiste en une éludication croisée de la philosophie organique whiteheadienne et de la gnose thomasienne. Il cherche à répondre à deux questions. La philosophie de l’événement, du processus ou du procès, d’Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) possède-t-elle, volens nolens, un fond gnostique syrien ? L’évangile apocryphe de Thomas, le gnostique juif qui a couché par écrit l’enseignement de Jésus probablement trente ans après son décès, offrant ainsi une source qui pourrait être plus ancienne que les évangiles canoniques et leur hypothétique texte-racine Q, gagne-t-il a être lu à partir de prémisses whiteheadiennes ?

Imagine taking a document written in the Middle Ages, available only in European languages, then insisting that it is a long lost "Gospel" from the First Century AD written by the Barnabas of the New Testament. From a scholarly academic perspective it seems unthinkable, impossible. Yet this is exactly what many Muslim polemicists and authors have done for a hundred years and continue to do today! The claim is so absurd that many non-Muslims decline to dignify the claim with an answer. But when one takes time to research the matter, one finds quickly that the claim falls like a house of cards. We need to do better in our Christian-Muslim discussion of the truth about Jesus.

What if you were to discover that you were not entirely you, but rather one half of a whole, that you had, in other words, a divine double? In the second and third centuries CE, this idea gripped the religious imagination of the Eastern Mediterranean, providing a distinctive understanding of the self that has survived in various forms throughout the centuries, down to the present. Our Divine Double traces the rise of this ancient idea that each person has a divine counterpart, twin, or alter-ego, and the eventual eclipse of this idea with the rise of Christian conciliar orthodoxy.

Charles Stang marshals an array of ancient sources: from early Christianity, especially texts associated with the apostle Thomas “the twin”; from Manichaeism, a missionary religion based on the teachings of the “apostle of light” that had spread from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean; and from Neoplatonism, a name given to the renaissance of Platonism associated with the third-century philosopher Plotinus. Each of these traditions offers an understanding of the self as an irreducible unity-in-duality. To encounter one’s divine double is to embark on a path of deification that closes the gap between image and archetype, human and divine.

While the figure of the divine double receded from the history of Christianity with the rise of conciliar orthodoxy, it survives in two important discourses from late antiquity: theodicy, or the problem of evil; and Christology, the exploration of how the Incarnate Christ is both human and divine.

Aphorisms—or philosophical short sayings—appear everywhere, from Confucius to Twitter, the Buddha to the Bible, Heraclitus to Nietzsche. Yet despite this ubiquity, the aphorism is the least studied literary form. What are its origins? How did it develop? How do religious or philosophical movements arise from the enigmatic sayings of charismatic leaders? And why do some of our most celebrated modern philosophers use aphoristic fragments to convey their deepest ideas? In A Theory of the Aphorism, Andrew Hui crisscrosses histories and cultures to answer these questions and more.

With clarity and precision, Hui demonstrates how aphorisms—ranging from China, Greece, and biblical antiquity to the European Renaissance and nineteenth century—encompass sweeping and urgent programs of thought. Constructed as literary fragments, aphorisms open new lines of inquiry and horizons of interpretation. In this way, aphorisms have functioned as ancestors, allies, or antagonists to grand systems of philosophy.

Encompassing literature, philology, and philosophy, the history of the book and the history of reading, A Theory of the Aphorism invites us to reflect anew on what it means to think deeply about this pithiest of literary forms.



“This is a landmark book of enormous originality and breathtaking scope, immensely learned and beautifully written. Andrew Hui shows us why the aphorism has been omnipresent in world philosophy and religion: the aphorism provokes, confuses, reveals, and inspires in a different way on every page. His explanatory model draws vital new connections over geography and time as authors and their readers move constantly between density and unfolding, canonization and radical openness.”—Kristine Haugen, California Institute of Technology

Qual è l’attendibilità storica dei vangeli? Come si sono formati e su quali informazioni si basavano? Come si è arrivati ai diversi racconti orali e scritti della straordinaria vicenda di Gesù?

Per rispondere a queste domande, nella prima parte del libro gli autori propongono una teoria critica della memoria e della tradizione; nella seconda, invece, suggeriscono una lettura antropologica e un esame storico dei testi.

L’intento è riscoprire le tracce degli eventi, incorporate ma spesso nascoste nelle testimonianze dei vangeli.

Sulla figura di Gesù, subito dopo la sua morte, vi fu una molteplicità di informazioni trasmesse da gruppi che avevano conoscenze parziali ed erano dislocati in zone diverse della Terra di Israele.

A partire da questo dato, gli autori ricostruiscono la mappa dei luoghi da cui provengono le fonti su cui si basa ciascun vangelo.

In the opening words the Gospel of Thomas offers a stunning hermeneutic challenge: "whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death." Unfortunately, the modern reader comes to this incipit or preface devoid of a technique of interpretive reading—a hermeneutics—that grants entry into the mysterious meaning vouchsafed by such words. The question I pose is this: Was there an original tradition of interpretation, a hermeneutic technique, implicit in early transmissions of the Thomas tradition that gave an organic coherence to readings of the text, and if so, is that hermeneutic method still accessible? Can modern readers meet the challenge of the Thomas preface?

It has been proposed that references to Jesus’ relationship to Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of Philip represent a possible context for an early gospel fragment in which Jesus refers to her as ‘My wife’. It will be argued here that Mary’s relationship to Jesus in Philip is determined by her role as privileged recipient of revelation, not by her marital status. More significant in accounting for the Jesus’ Wife fragment is the Gospel of Thomas, which the author appears to have known in precisely the text-form represented by the one surviving Coptic exemplar.

'Thomas in context' is my latest series, that I have started after finishing my interactive translation, which revealed so many details that have been thoroughly neglected by all previous translations.
Basically I will be republishing a good part of my work on Thomas so far, with many more characteristics: this series will see to light the 16 Thomas parables and the metamorphosis model, and it will focus entirely on Thomas - not the canonicals.
I will carefully evaluate every single word in Thomas, possible alternative translations or choices of word, and dive deep into the text. As usual, the text of Thomas will be the most important context - yet I'll peek around a bit here and there, comment (rather scarcely) on what other authors have to say, and frequently analyse and quantify Tanakh material

Part III: The Parable of the Mustard Seed in Context: work that earth

El "Evangelio según Tomás" o "Evangelio de Tomás" de la "Biblioteca Copta de Nag Hammadi" (NHC II, 2) es, posiblemente, uno de los textos más singulares del "Cristianismo Gnóstico Primitivo".

En esta publicación se abordan, sintéticamente, a la luz de los últimos estudios, cuestiones principales tales como su origen, conformación y naturaleza.

Finalmente se ofrece por parte del autor, una traducción al español casi literal, "palabra por palabra", del original copto y la traducción en inglés que realiza "Michael W. Grondin", cotejada con las más destacadas traducciones en inglés y en español existentes hasta la fecha.
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The "Gospel according to Thomas" or "Gospel of Thomas" of the "Coptic Library of Nag Hammadi" (NHC II, 2) is possibly one of the most unique texts of "Primitive Gnostic Christianity".

In this publication, the main issues such as their origin, conformation and nature are addressed, synthetically, in the light of the latest studies.

Finally, an almost literal translation, "word by word", of the Coptic original and the English translation by "Michael W. Grondin", collated with the most outstanding English and Spanish translations till the date, is offered by the author.

Jesus speaks three words - or sayings - to Thomas in a moment of revelation, and when his comrades urge Thomas to reveal them he issues a warning: "If I tell you one (...) you will stone me (...)"

Which are these words that have such a profound impact?

The 'where' can be disclosed already; they're right in the text where they have been hiding in plain sight all along, for two millennia

Of the documents unearthed near Nag Hammadi in 1945 1 , none has attracted so much attention, scholarly and otherwise, as the Gospel of Thomas. The second volume of David Scholer's Nag Hammadi Bibliography, for instance, covering the period from 1970 to 1994 2 , devotes 39 pages to listing academic bibliography on Thomas. To put this in perspective, consider that Scholer requires a scant six pages to list all books, articles, reviews, and dissertations on the Apocryphon of John over a period of more than two decades. In 2012 alone, three significant new Englishlanguage books on Thomas were released 3 ; in 2014, Journal for the Study of the New Testament had a special issue largely devoted to Thomas, Simon Gathercole published a full-blown commentary 4 , and Stephen Patterson published a popular treatment 5 . The fact that Thomas is so disproportionately (at least vis-à-vis the other Nag Hammadi writings) the subject of scholarly interest means that most avenues relating to original language 6 , 1. Or otherwise acquired. See n.D. LewIs -J.

For those who are new to the work of the New Classical Scholarship (NCS), we have discovered that history at least before the 1500's, was an "inside job". What that means is that it was being written only by royals who were either closely related to each other, or had royal ancestors in common with each other. That in turn, meant that in order for that to have been the case, a closed or controlled environment existed (my term is 'Royal Supremacy') that amounted to a royal oligarchy. Everything that was being written was tightly controlled, and no one other than royalty could write anything for publication under penalty of death. There were several reasons for why they had demanded such tight security over the material that was allowed to reach the public. Much of that is explained in many of my other papers. Suffice it to say that all that was being written was being written by this royal oligarchy, and not by just anyone. There was no freedom of speech, only the illusion of it which was created by these royals. In fact, since they were the only ones who were writing for publication, they were writing BOTH the biblical texts and the non-biblical texts. It means that in order to understand history correctly and biblical texts, that we must now consider it in an entirely different context. Before anything can happen to me and/or my notes, I have been trying to save as much of that information as possible, in the form of research papers and compilations. From time to time, people will ask me just who the authors of the Gnostic gospels and other material were. This paper gives the most probable authorship and dates for 20 non-canon and/or Gnostic New Testament texts. The term 'Gnostic' has been used to describe some of the Christian material that was not included in the canon New Testament texts. Since I see that material as having been written by the same individuals as the canon material, I generally refer to it as the 'Apocryphal New Testament' material or non-canon New Testament texts. People have thought of this material or these texts as having been "rejected" from the NT canon for reasons known to those who were compiling what would be included in the "official" New Testament or texts that were ordained by the early Christian Church. But the real reason that much of that material wasn't included was because it either revealed too much, or it contained items that did not represent Jesus or other NT characters in the best light. Over the course of the years in which I had studied this material, at times I had worked with others in order to make more precise determinations regarding not only various component parts, passages, word usage, but several other factors which were involved in the creation of said material. And, one of those whom I had worked with was one of the most knowledgeable individuals on the subject of the New Testament and its authors, Abelard Reuchlin. As a result, I have many notes, some of which were the early opinions or conclusions of Abelard Reuchlin, along with my own notes with opinions and preliminary conclusions. Working together, Reuchlin and I were able to make more, and better determinations. There are various reasons for the conclusions that Reuchlin and I had reached regarding this material, not the least of which is that we knew just who was doing the writing of the canon NT texts and who those individuals were, as well as who they were writing as (i.e., their aliases and pen names).

In logion 36 of the Gospel of Thomas Jesus says, "Do not worry from dawn to dusk, or from dusk to dawn, about what you shall wear" (cf. Matthew 6:25-30). In the following logion the disciples ask Jesus, "When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?", and he replies, "When you can take off your clothes without feeling ashamed, and you take your clothes and throw them beneath your feet like little children and trample them; then you will see the Son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid." The (Greek) Gospel of the Egyptians has Jesus reply similarly, but adds a further thought: "When you have trampled on the garment of shame, and when the two become one, and the male with the female is neither male nor female." This is an eschatology in which the two genders become one, in which they become again the image and likeness of their Creator, Elohim, in which male and female are one.

In the final saying of the Gospel of Thomas (logion 114), Jesus speaks of needing to make Mary male so that she can enter the kingdom. Similarly, the male/female dyad is interpreted spiritually as a positive/negative opposition by many of today’s traditional societies. This paper explores maleness with respect to Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary from literary, symbolic and scientific perspectives, and considers recent medical rationalizations of Jesus’s miraculous conception. Unexpected Gnostic and Christian parallels are found in the mythic/ritual structure of the Gimi people of Papua New Guinea, which encompasses the necessity of uniting sexual opposites in male form, as well as virgin birth. We also identify gender concepts relevant to the Coptic Gnostic writings in ancient Egyptian religion. The medieval feminization of Jesus – mainly achieved by interpreting the wound in his side as a vagina or breast – provides a later counterweight to the Gnostic masculinizing of Mary. Ultimately, it seems preferable to interpret the side-wound as a surgical incision through which the rib/Eve can be reinserted back into Adam, a transformation to a “dual-gender male” that restores the primal unity. For women, this unity is probably more constructively imaged as a female with a male core, a “phallic female” form of Eve; the template for this dates back at least to Neolithic times. Refractory paradoxes like these warn that gender-based analogies of spirit are inherently limited and must be transcended.

Mark did not create Christianity but wrote a compelling account about a faith that he already knew. Some modern scholars recognise that in so writing, the author we now know as Mark developed the story’s characters in order to focus on Jesus himself. At least some of these characters were probably created by Mark, who seems to have assigned them names that helped develop hidden insights.

The Greek noun μοναχός (“monk/single one”) is not attested before 4th century CE. Yet it emerges in the Gospel of Thomas, usually dated to 1st or 2nd century. Building on the so-called Monastic Thesis, monks read and copied Thomas from 4th century onwards, and based on its attestation of ⲙⲟⲛⲁⲭⲟⲥ and ⲟⲩⲁ ⲟⲩⲱⲧ they seemingly changed its text too.

Acknowledging the explanation of the parable of the Weeds (Tares, Darnel) as secondary, this article attempts
to show that the parable itself could very well be original, though heavily retouched by the author of the First Gospel.
After a comparison with the version offered by the Gospel of Thomas (G.Th. 57) and an analysis of the elements
added by Matthew and/or tradition, I attempt to reconstruct the original version of the parable and see how
it fits into the framework of the historical Jesus’ understanding and proclamation of the Kingdom.

This most detailed analysis of the so-called gospel of Thomas evaluates and weighs every single Coptic word.
The "Jesus" (I[h]S) that they reveal is radically different and polemic: Thomas reveals that we are split, separated, dualised; we are the Ego and the Self, and we created those two ourselves.
Thomas points the way to salvation in the sense of liberation from both the Ego and the Self, slaveowner and slave: we are neither, those merely are the children of the living father - and we are the latter.
The suckling infants in Thomas are still pristine, and stand in the Beginning - but then we bring about the end by "eating what is dead" and become dead ourselves.
The cause for that is our upbringing, being patched with old patches: our new wineskins get filled with old wine.

Thomas precedes modern psychoanalysis by one and a half millennium, and continuously points to the inside for finding answers: that is where the kingdom is.
Thomas has nothing to do with Christianity at all, nor any Jesus that we know: Thomas precedes all that too

This paper proposes that there was an evident reason for the emergence of Christianity, and one that has its basis in society at large, crossing the boundaries of space and time.
Under the circumstances presented it was nigh inevitable that Christianity came into being, and Mark and Paul will demonstrate the alignment in identical goals accomplished via similar methods, unified under one and the same overarching plan

Judaism plays a more than pivotal role in Christian origins, and the two share a common history that goes back many decades, perhaps even centuries

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Incorporated the original Addendum into the paper; it contains a very detailed comparison between Mark's end and that of Luke (and Matthew), and reveals Mark's incredible emphasis on the death of Jesus

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One of the Dialogue of the Saviour's most prominent features is the female character Mary who participates with other disciples in a discussion with Jesus. Most texts in the Nag Hammadi codices including the Dialogue of the Saviour have been traditionally labeled as Gnostic. This study demonstrates the problems with the term, its influence on scholarship specifically on the so-called Gnostic Mary, and the ways in which it inevitably fails as a useful descriptive category, especially with respect to creating an artificial uniform character as the Gnostic Mary. This work then proceeds to consider a number of frequently overlooked issues including the unspecified identity of Mary in the Dialogue of the Saviour and the gender construction in the socio-historical context of the Dialogue of the Saviour.