Coptic Literature - Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Judas, Coptic Versions of the Bible, Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Truth (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 29. Chapters: Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Judas, Coptic versions of the Bible, Gospel of Mary, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Truth, Apocryphon of John, Apocryphon of James, The Thunder, Perfect Mind, Codex Tchacos, Berlin Codex, Trimorphic Protennoia, Sentences of Sextus, Dialogue of the Saviour, Thought of Norea, Apocalypse of Adam, Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Samuel of Kalamoun, Prayer of the Apostle Paul, Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, Letter of Peter to Philip, Allogenes. Excerpt: The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. The Gospel of Thomas was found among a collection of fifty-two writings that included, in addition to an excerpt from Plato's Republic, gospels claiming to have been written by Jesus' disciple Philip. Scholars have speculated that the works were buried in response to a letter from the bishop Athanasius who for the first time declared a strict canon of Christian scripture. The Coptic language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Almost half of these sayings resemble those found in the Canonical Gospels, while the other sayings were previously unknown. Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong. The introduction states: These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down. Didymus (Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both mean "twin." Some critical scholars suspect that this reference to the Apostle Thomas is false, and that therefore the true author is unknown. It is possible ...