Beyond Belief: the Secret Gospel of Thomas Free

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Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas how to enable JavaScript on your browser. NOOK Book. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey. Since I had not been in church for a long time, I was startled by my response to the worship in progress——the soaring harmonies of the choir singing with the congregation; and the priest, a woman in bright gold and white vestments, proclaiming the prayers in a clear, resonant voice. As I stood watching, a thought came to me: Here is a family that knows how to face death. That morning I had gone for an early morning run while my husband and two-and-a-half-year-old son were still sleeping. The previous night I had been sleepless with fear and worry. Two Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas before, a team of doctors at Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, had performed a routine checkup on our son, Mark, a year and six months after his successful open-heart surgery. The physicians were shocked to find evidence of a rare lung disease. Disbelieving the results, they tested further for six hours before they finally called us in to say that Mark had pulmonary hypertension, an invariably fatal disease, they told us. How much time? I asked. How could this help? Holding him, I felt that if more masked strangers poked needles into him in Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas operating room, he might lose heart——literally——and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Standing in the back of that church, I recognized, uncomfortably, that I needed to be there. Here was a place to weep without imposing tears upon a child; and here was a heterogeneous community that had gathered to sing, to celebrate, to acknowledge common needs, and to deal with what we cannot control or imagine. Yet the celebration in progress spoke of hope; perhaps that is what made the presence of death bearable. Before that time, I could only ward off what I had heard and felt the day before. I returned often to that church, not looking for faith but because, in the presence of that worship and the people gathered there——and in a smaller group that met on weekdays in the church basement for mutual encouragement——my defenses fell away, exposing storms of grief and hope. In that church I gathered new energy, and resolved, over and over, to face whatever awaited us as constructively as possible for Mark, and for the rest of us. What is faith? Such statements seemed to me then to have little to do with whatever transactions we were making with one another, with ourselves, and——so it was said——with invisible beings. I was acutely aware that we met there driven by need and desire; yet sometimes I dared hope that such communion has the potential to transform us. I am a historian of religion, and so, as I visited that church, I wondered when and how being a Christian became virtually synonymous with accepting a certain set of beliefs. From historical reading, I knew that Christianity had survived brutal persecution and flourished for generations ——even centuries—— before Christians formulated what they believed into creeds. The origins of this transition from scattered groups to a unified community have left few traces. What is Christianity, and what is religion, I wondered, and why do so many of us still find it compelling, whether or not we belong to a church, and despite difficulties we may have with particular beliefs or practices? What is it about Christian tradition that we love——and what is it that we cannot love? From the beginning, what attracted outsiders who walked into a gathering of Christians, as I did on that February morning, was the presence of a group joined by spiritual power into an extended family. Many must have come as I had, in distress; and some came without money. In Rome, the sick who frequented the temples of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, expected to pay when they consulted his priests about herbs, exercise, baths, and medicine. These priests also arranged for visitors to spend nights sleeping in the temple precincts, where the god was said to visit his suppliants in dreams. Similarly, those who sought to enter into the mysteries of the Egyptian goddess Isis, seeking her protection and blessings in this life, and eternal life beyond the grave, were charged considerable initiation fees and spent more to buy the ritual clothing, offerings, and equipment. Inhabitants of the vast shantytowns that surrounded these cities often tried to survive by begging, prostitution, and stealing. Christian groups also brought food, medicines, and companionship to prisoners forced to work in mines, banished to prison islands, or held Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas jail. Some Christians even bought coffins and dug graves to bury the poor and criminals, whose corpses otherwise would lie unburied beyond the city walls. Like Irenaeus, the African convert Tertullian emphasizes that among Christians there is no buying and selling of any kind in what belongs to God. On a certain day, each one, if he likes, puts in a small gift, but only if he wants to do so, and only if he be able, for there Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas no compulsion; everything is voluntary. The sociologist Rodney Stark notes that, shortly before Irenaeus wrote, a plague had ravaged cities and towns throughout the Roman Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, from Asia Minor though Italy and Gaul. The usual response to someone suffering from inflamed skin and pustules, whether a family member or not, was to run, since nearly everyone infected died in agony. Some epidemiologists estimate that the plague killed a third to a half of the imperial population. Doctors could not, of course, treat the disease, and they too fled the deadly virus. They shocked their pagan neighbors by staying to care for the sick and dying, believing that, if they themselves should die, they had the power to overcome death. Even Galen was impressed: [For] the people called Christians. They also include people who, in self-discipline. Why has Elaine Pagels chosen Beyond Belief as her title? How can the title be interpreted? Pagels begins each chapter with a personal reflection. What do these passages add to the book? For what is she searching, as both a scholar and a Christian? In what ways has the triumph of John over Thomas shaped and limited Western Christianity? How might Christianity be different today if Thomas had been included in the New Testament? Why is this distinction so important? Why did Irenaeus and other early Christian theologians feel it was essential to unify Christian beliefs into a canon of orthodox teachings that all Christians must accept? What political pressures influenced their decisions? What are the dangers of spiritual intuitions, visions, divine revelations, and other intensely subjective religious experiences? What are some of their destructive consequences? What positive value is there in such experiences? Should the Church encourage or discourage Christians from seeking or relying on these methods of access to a direct knowledge of God? How do the Nag Hammadi texts alter our view of early Christianity? Do they, as Pagels suggests, offer a more open, diverse, and less doctrinal version of Christianity? Can they coexist with canonical texts? Should they be embraced by Christians? Why were they suppressed? What are the implications of these statements? How do they differ from more traditional ideas of the resurrection and the kingdom of God? How convincing is this reading? What does it offer that more conventional readings do not? Why did Irenaeus want to prohibit such interpretations? What is it about Christianity that she still finds compelling? Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas her situation seem representative of the ambivalence that many Christians feel today? Based on your reading of Beyond Beliefhow should religious tradition and innovation be balanced? How can the Church maintain its traditions without suppressing the imaginative involvement of creative individuals? Why does she end her book in this way? What aspect of Christianity is she underscoring? Home 1 Books 2. Read an excerpt of this book! Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Members save with free Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas everyday! See details. Overview In Beyond Beliefrenowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy. About the Author. Show More. Related Searches. View Product. Crow Fair. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the. He relates well to animals but The Fortress of Solitude. From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Motherless Brooklyn, comes the vividly told story of Dylan Ebdus growing up white and motherless in downtown Brooklyn in the s. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas a neighborhood Robert Hughes, who has stunned us with comprehensive works on subjects as sweeping and complex Robert Hughes, who has stunned us with comprehensive works on subjects as sweeping and complex as the history of Australia The Fatal Shorethe modern art movement The Shock of the Newthe nature of American art American Visionsand In Black and White vividly recounts this untold story, drawing on painstaking Book Review: Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Beyond Belief by Elaine Pagels. Pagels, a writer and thinker on religion and history, winner of the National Book Award for The Gnostic Gospelsreflects on what matters most about spiritual and religious exploration in the 21st century. This book explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in When her infant son was diagnosed Pagels, a writer and thinker on religion and history, winner of the National Book Award for The Gnostic Gospelsreflects on what matters most about spiritual and religious exploration in the 21st century. When her infant son was diagnosed with fatal pulmonary hypertension, Pagels' spiritual and intellectual quest took on a new urgency, leading Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas to explore historical and archaeological sources and to investigate what Jesus and his teachings meant to his followers before the invention of Christianity. The discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, along with more than 50 other early Christian texts, some unknown since antiquity, offers clues. She compares such sources as Thomas' gospel which claims to give Jesus' secret teaching and finds its closest affinities with kabbalah with the canon to show how Christian leaders chose to include some gospels and exclude others from the collection many call the New Testament. To stabilize the emerging church in times of persecution, church fathers constructed the canon, creed and hierarchy - and, in the process, suppressed many of its spiritual resources. Drawing on new scholarship - her own and that of an international group of scholars - that has come to light since the publication of The Gnostic Gospels, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas shows that what matters about Christianity involves much more than any one set of beliefs. Traditions embodied in Judaism and Christianity can powerfully affect us in heart, mind and spirit, inspire visions of a new society based on practising justice and love, even heal and transform us. Provocative and moving, Beyond Beliefthe most personal of her books to date, shows how the impulse to seek god overflows the narrow banks of a single tradition. She writes, "What I have come to love in the wealth and diversity of our religious traditions - and the communities that sustain them - is that they offer the testimony of innumerable people to spiritual discovery, encouraging us, in Jesus' words, to 'seek, and you shall find. Get A Copy. Hardcover1stpages. More Details Original Title. Thomas DidymusJesusIrenaeus. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Beyond Beliefplease sign up. Has anyone read this book? How did you like it? David Merrill I'm almost done with it. This is my third Pagels book. I come from a background of not growing up with religion, though I was introduced to 12 step su …more I'm almost done with it. I come from a background of not growing up with religion, though I was introduced to 12 step support groups at a young age. That was my spiritual base. I came to the Methodist Church in my mid 30's did a lot of Disciple Bible study while I was there for 10 years. Now I'm a Unitarian Universalist. This book was right up my alley and addressed all my misgivings with orthodox Christianity. I think I'm pretty much a Thomas guy. So, I very much enjoyed it and related to it. Pagels is an excellent writer and, though some of this can be pretty dry, her writing flows well and pulls you along. See 2 questions about Beyond Belief…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Long ago but not so far way I bought this book for my father, who was interested in reading the Gospel of Thomas. I had read an apocryphal Gospel one day while a student, happily nosing around in the reference section - it related how once when Jesus was a boy he was out playing Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas the street when some bigger boys came along, stamped on his mud pie and laughed at him. Jesus' eyes at this flashed with anger and those bully boys fell dead. Later their parents went round to Joseph and Mary and comp Long ago but not so far way I bought this book for my father, who was interested in reading the Gospel of Thomas. Later their parents went round to Joseph and Mary and complained bitterly about Jesus' behaviour. Joseph and Mary gave Jesus a good talking to, after which he raised the boys from the dead and restored them to life. For various reasons I'm a cautious and wary person, and so was unkeen, unfamiliar as I was with the Gospel of Thomas, to present my father with this kind of material without some kind of explanatory framework no doubt fearing some outbreak of gnosticism in middle England view spoiler [ not that this could make it any worst hide spoiler ]and so it came to pass after some poking and prodding, that I came across Pagels' book, thought it looked the part, and gave it to the old man. I'm still not sure if he ever read it. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas plainly was his loss if he didn't because it is a great introduction to the spiritual world of the early church, the one problem with which is that I'm not sure that the Gospel of Thomas as it is presented here on it's own has the weight to sustain her argument. Pagels frames the story of the quashing of spiritual interpretations of the meaning of the ministry of Jesus view spoiler [I am picking my words with as much care as I can after a mere couple of glasses of an indifferent white wine, I know what Rabelais would advise me to do in this case hide spoiler ] in favour of an Orthodox and Catholic church by the time of Constantine with her experience as a mother living through the death of a son, attending church first in crisis, later with her daughter for a Christmas service. I felt this placed a discussion of religious matters in its Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas context: the experience of life, rawness and loss, the openness to community, a sense of loss and a sense of the need for metaphysical meaning. But then again I dreamt last night that I was employed by the British Government to buy and sell warships to African heads of state, so your opinion may well be different view spoiler [ unless you were having the same dream, which would explain why I wasn't able to sell any, not even Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas the one with really bad eyesight view spoiler [me and my dream are presuming that you've heard of how the UK government some years back managed to sell leaky submarines to the Canadians view spoiler [and to think a good chunk of the UK population believe that the country will thrive in a free trade environment hide spoiler ] hide spoiler ] hide spoiler ]. To do this Pagels assumes that the Gospel of John was written in response to the Gospel of Thomas, my concern here was that she advances no discussion of the possible date of composition for either, but at a pinch, reading, one can assume that the first was written, if not Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas response to the Gospel we can read at the end of this book ,then in general terms to beliefs that the author of John did not approve of view spoiler [ all of the Gospels are pseudonymous, nobody knows who actually wrote them. It is equally plain that there was a lot to be gained in believing that each was written Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas somebody who was personally acquainted with Jesus and that this is in fact fairly unlikely hide spoiler ] as evidenced by John's presentation Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas "doubting" Thomas. Pagels' basic conception is of a dynamic, human, environment, and the various oddities of the Gospel attributed to John lend themselves to supporting that view - in other words John's Gospel is really not much like the three synoptic Gospels which together with John form part of the orthodox canon of the New Testament view spoiler [ although Pagels also points out that the way we read the Gospel of John is enshrined in translation practice and even in contemporary Greek editions - eg the capitalisation of logos which would not have been originally present hide spoiler ]. Pagels puts forward to the reader that there were two types of believers in the early church, a distinction that reminded me of Karen Armstrong's A History of God. On the one hand there were those who accepted what they were taught, on the other those who took this as a starting point to seek for themselves after truth. Or perhaps those who believed that at most only Jesus had at least some element of divinity in his nature view spoiler [and quite how much and in what way, were themselves to become hugely controversial issues hide spoiler ] and those who felt that everyone has sparks of the divine in them - this later was to become an important element in Jewish mystical tradition view spoiler [at times I wonder if the Early Christian church might be most interesting for Jews curious about the archaeology of some of their traditions since there seems to be a fair bit that isn't attested in writing until centuries later in Jewish writings yet Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas was already current in the diversity of Christian belief in the first couple of centuries AD hide spoiler ]. Or again that there are two types of conversion experience Pagel cites Heracleon who describes the first group as perceiving God as a strict, limited, but well-meaning master and father, who has decreed the death penalty for every one of his children who sins and yet loves them and grieves when they perish. But they also believe that, apart from Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, God does not forgive his children; he actually only Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas those who 'believe' p The alternative, for Heracleon, and I suspect for Pagels and for that matter Karen Armstrong is a conception of God as spiritual nourishment pp The story she tells in her book is that the first won out over the second. The hows and the whys are tempting to speculate about, but we don't even know much about the winning side, and what we know about the loosing side almost entirely comes from what the winners choose to say about them. Luckily for us in the s, an Egyptian uncovered a stash of writings deemed heretical by Athanasius - repeatedly bishop of Alexandria view spoiler [ apparently he was a controversial figure even in his own lifetime and was deposed and reinstated as Bishop as other people pack away and bring out their Christmas decorations hide spoiler ] in the late fourth century and buried for safe keeping by Nag Hammadi. One of those texts was the Gospel of Thomas. This reads as a Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas down version of the Gospel of Mark. It has no stories, only sayings attributed to Jesus, most of which seem in comparison to the conventional Gospels very familiar. Some are not familiar but similar. A few are a little bit different. Not, I felt, different enough to sustain Pagels' argument, but then I am not a second or third century Bishop striving for order and to contain debate. With each subsequent book I read on faith, on the early Church, I imagine that I am a little like an exploratory spacecraft sent into orbit around a planet to build up velocity so I can fling myself sling-shot style further out in search of understanding. In orbit one rotates round and round the same material, but sees it from a new angle with each approach. Slowly I learn the oddness of what had been taught to me in school as plain and uncontroversial. View all 20 comments. Sep 24, Lee Harmon rated it it was amazing. Pagels is a recognized scholar of religion, and the author of The Gnostic Gospels, among others. This book might be her best. Don't buy this expecting a dull, scholarly exposition on the Gospel of Thomas. It's hardly that. It's sort of an unobtrusive evangelism for unorthodox Christianity, a plea for the kind of "religious truth" that can never hide behind a stale set of doctrine. Pagels bares her soul in this book, and her passion for spirituality, religion and Christianity shines. The result is Pagels is a recognized scholar of religion, and the author of The Gnostic Gospels, among others. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas result is inspirational. This is the book that turned me on to Pagels' scholarship, and I've felt a distant kinship ever since. It's really less about the Gospel of Thomas and more about diversity and meaning within the early Christian movement. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas | Christian Research Institute

Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas 20, This review first appeared in the Christian Research Journalvolume 26, number 3 This is unfortunate because otherwise there are many things to admire about the book, including the scholarship it represents and the questions it raises. One reason for this caution is that a clear goal of the book is to challenge traditional Christian views that doctrinally limit the avenues available to those seeking God. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. These biases and personal preferences are reflected in her analysis of sources in Beyond Belief. Both books Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas prompted by an important discovery of Coptic Gnostic manuscripts in near Nag Hammadi in Egypt. These texts were first translated into English in and later revised by a team of scholars that included Pagels. They provide an independent witness for many Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas beliefs previously known only from the refutations of Gnostic teachers and groups made by such church fathers as Justin d. The Nag Hammadi texts have practically nothing to say about any individual teachers or actual groups that may have used them. They instead contain cosmological and anthropological myths, wisdom sayings, and other material that often reveal a dualistic, polytheistic worldview similar to that ascribed to known Gnostics by the church fathers. Determining which groups used which Nag Hammadi texts, and when, can be difficult or impossible. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas who might expect a full translation or exposition of the gospel of Thomas based on the Beyond Belief subtitle will likely be disappointed. This universalistic message actually contrasts somewhat with Gnostic teachings as critiqued by the church fathers where the secret, higher knowledge gnosis necessary for salvation was reserved for an elite, spiritually enlightened group. What Is Orthodox? There were compact statements of key, essential Christian beliefs that were widely accepted and used in the first century e. Pagels actually cites passages in Paul, John, Ignatius d. These different interpretations, however, are precisely the issue. The constant comparison in the book between ideas in the Nag Hammadi texts, the practices of historic Christian mystics, and ideas present in other non-Christian religions seem designed to make the Gnostic idea of seeking an inner light or epinoia benign and appealing. But the Gnostic texts elsewhere deny either the humanity or the deity of Christ and other central Christian teachings that do go back to Paul as well as to other New Testament writers and early church fathers. It is misleading, therefore, to present these Gnostic views as if they were as equally ancient, valid, authoritative, or widespread as the views presented by Paul, John, and others. Her real concern is how the in her opinion unfortunate creedal orthodoxy developed and gained ascendancy in the fourth century. Her proposed answer stresses sociological power struggles among the various heterodox i. John and Irenaeus Are the Culprits. Pagels argues that the most important early step in the development of exclusive belief systems in Christianity was the production of the gospel of John. In the most unique part of her book, she attempts to prove the following account of events. In the course of this struggle, Irenaeus helped to add John to the canon of Scripture and promoted a Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas literal interpretation of the book to refute various Gnostic symbolic or spiritual interpretations of it. Finally, Pagels finds that the work of Irenaeus bore fruit in the fourth century with the formulation and enforcement of the Nicene Creed on an otherwise doctrinally diverse Christian scene. In a procedure unfortunately common throughout the Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, she then assumes that this possibility is an established fact and builds more theories on it. Pagels weaves multiple higher-critical theories regarding the origin and accuracy of the New Testament texts with her own unique ideas in an attempt to support these contentions. Wrong Time, Wrong Place. The gospel of Thomas is sometimes dated to the first century as Pagels supposes; however, there is actually an amazing diversity of theories about its date, accuracy, and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. It has been dated, for example, to the early, mid, or even late second century by scholars who are not evangelical Christians. The Nag Hammadi manuscripts of Thomas copieshowever, date far later, to ca. Papyrus fragments of John found in Egypt date to about a. The best guess for Thomas points to eastern Syria, perhaps at Edessa, east of the Euphrates in northern Mesopotamia. A fairly reliable tradition places John and the writing of his gospel at Ephesus in western Turkey, many hundreds of miles away. Gnostic teachers and works indeed react against the teachings in the gospel of John in the later part of the second century; moreover, striking redefinitions of scriptural figures were frequently made by Gnostics. The serpent in Eden, for example, is transformed into a positive character — the one who brings gnosis — in several Gnostic works. A similar amazing transformation is implied by a gospel of Judas known to Irenaeus. Wrong Heretics. Indeed, if any specific heretical teaching can be inferred to be targeted by the teachings in the gospel of John, it is Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas likely to be from Cerinthus than from the gospel of Thomas, since Cerinthus is known to have taught in western Turkey at the same time John lived in the area. It is surprising that Pagels does not explore this possibility in more detail, but perhaps it is because Cerinthus can not be linked very clearly to Gnostic texts that, for example, urge readers to seek an inner light. It should be noted that Pagels proposes that only certain selectedkey teachings in Thomas were refuted by John Other contradictory or obscure sayings also exist within Thomas, and Pagels makes little or no attempt to argue that John knew or reacted against them specifically or comprehensively. Irenaeus and the Establishment of Orthodoxy. No one argues that Irenaeus attempted anything less than a thorough refutation of heresy. Christian writers and works that accepted John as canonical as early as or earlier than Irenaeus are either hardly mentioned or are dismissed in footnotes e. Her comments, as opposed to what Irenaeus claimed, seem to be based on the theory that the existence of Gnostics such as the ones Irenaeus knew in Gaul prove that there was no real doctrinal unity in the churches. This seems a bit like saying that the existence of Mormons proves that there is no Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas unity about the deity of Christ among evangelical Christians today! As cited in Edwin M. Yamauchi, Pre-Christian Gnosticism2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker,— James M. Robinson, gen. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,— Thank you for your help. Robinson, Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1. Like what you're reading? Tip us for the article. Recent Christian Articles.