things for lesson 10: other non canonical gospels

Question 1

the types of gospels

Answer 1

narrative Gospels

sayings Gospels

infancy Gospels

Question 2

narrative Gospels

Answer 2

are written accounts of Jesus’ sayings, deeds, and experiences

Question 3

sayings Gospels

Answer 3

comprised almost exclusively of Jesus’ words to his disciples, whether during his ministry or after his resurrection

Question 4

infancy Gospels

Answer 4

which are narratives of Jesus’ birth and youth

Question 5

which gospels that we have already seen are narrative gospels

Answer 5

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

the signs source of the Fourth Gospel, and possibly the special sources for Matthew and Luke, called M and L

Question 6

three Jewish-Christian Gospels from the writings of church fathers

Answer 6

the gospel of Nazareans

The Gospel of the Ebionites

The Gospel of the Hebrews

Question 7

the gospel of Nazareans

Answer 7

written in Aramaic

similar to Matthew, but differed in some accounts

Question 8

differences between Matthew and Nazareans

Answer 8

a) NAzareans lacked a birth narrative
b) it also modified the Matthew that we know, for example by deleting the opening chapters
c) it did not actually use a version of the Gospel of Matthew at all

Question 9

The Gospel of the Ebionites

Answer 9

appears to have been a combination of the Synoptic Gospels

evidently written in Greek

encouraged jewish followers to abolish animal sacrifice and be vegan

was a gospel harmony

Question 10

One of the ways later Christian authors were able to deal with the apparent inconsistencies in early gospels

Answer 10

Gospel harmonies

Question 11

Gospel harmonies

Answer 11

versions that incorporated elements of each of the available Gospels so as to give a fuller and more harmonious accounts of what Jesus said, did, and experienced

Question 12

The Gospel of the Hebrews

Answer 12

This Gospel was also written in Greek

narrated important events in the life of Jesus, including his baptism, temptation, and resurrection

–> It appears that the author collected stories, possibly from the oral tradition, and compiled a narrative of his own much as Mark and John had done

Question 13

Marcion’s Gospel

Answer 13

Marcion decided to correct the work of the already existing scribes, and so produced a revised version of the Gospel

–> Evidently, he used the Gospel of Luke as his starting point

Question 14

The Gospel of Peter

Answer 14

allegedly written by Jesus’ close disciple, Peter

claims hero ordered Jesus’ death

claims Jesus was silent as he felt no pain in his crucifixion

talks about a way more speciaculor resurrection

Question 15

According to the author of our book, when was the Gospel of Peter written

Answer 15

after the canonical Gospels

Question 16

According to the author of our book, was the Gospel of Peter written in reliance of the canonical gospels already existing?

how can we know this for sure?

Answer 16

no

There are no full sentences that the Gospel of Peter shares word for word with the other Gospels; indeed, there are virtually no verbatim agreements of any kind that extend for more than two or three words

Question 17

According to the author of our book, what was the Gospel of Peter based on?

Answer 17

based on popular stories about Jesus’ Passion, which were in circulation in a number of Christian circles

Question 18

how does the gospel of Peter depict jews?

Answer 18

they are made even more culpable for Jesus’ death than in the canonical Gospels

Question 19

The best know gospel as a sayings gospel?

Answer 19

The Gospel of Thomas

Question 20

The Gospel of Thomas

Answer 20

the most significant book discovered in the Nag Hammadi library

this book is completely preserved

a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus

Question 21

The Sayings of The Gospel of Thomas

Answer 21

a collection of sayings that are meant to bring wisdom to the one who can understand

The Jesus of this Gospel is not the Jewish messiah that we have seen in other Gospels, not the miracle-working son of God, not the crucified and resurrected Lord, and not the Son of Man who will return on the clouds of heaven

–> He is the eternal Jesus, whose words bring salvation

Question 22

The Author of The Gospel of Thomas

Answer 22

Didymus Judas Thomas

According to the Acts of Thomas, he was a blood relation of Jesus, the same one mentioned in the New Testament

–> was Jesus’ twin brother

Question 23

The Character of the Sayings in The Gospel of Thomas

Answer 23

sometimes well known

sometimes vaguely familiar

sometimes straight up quite odd

Question 24

The meanings of the sayings in the gospel of Thomas

Answer 24

Many of the most puzzling sayings in this collection appear to reflect the notion that within the hearer is a spark of the divine that had a heavenly origin

–> This spark has tragically fallen into the material world, where it has become entrapped in a body

–> It needs to be reawakened by learning the truth about this material world and the impoverished material body that it inhabits

–> Jesus is the one who conveys this truth; once the spirit learns the meaning of his words, it will be able to strip off this body of death, symbolized sometimes as garments of clothing, and escape this material world. It will then have salva- tion, life eternal; it will rejoin the divine realm and rule over all

Question 25

true or false

There is not a word in the Gospel of Thomas about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection

Answer 25

true

for this author none of Jesus’ earthly activities appears to matter; there is no word here of his miracles or encounters or experiences

What matters are Jesus’ secret teachings

Question 26

Thomas and the Synoptics

Answer 26

some of the sayings in Thomas are like those found in the Synoptics, with slight differences

Other sayings cannot be found in the Synoptics

It does not appear that the Gospel of Thomas actually used the Synoptic Gospels to formulate its own sayings of Jesus

Question 27

does it appear that the Gospel of Thomas used the Synoptic Gospels to formulate its own sayings of Jesus?

how do we know

Answer 27

nah

if Thomas did use the Synoptics, it would be especially hard to explain why he left out of his account most of their sayings of Jesus, many of them relevant to his agenda

we do not find proof in the words of Thomas that he copied another written source

There are not verbal similarities between the Gospel of Thomas and the synoptics

Question 28

Thomas and the Q Source

Answer 28

The final product reminds many scholars of the Q source

There is at least one stark difference between Q and Thomas, which relates directly to the beliefs of the communities that preserved them

–> Thomas denies the future coming of the Son of Man in judgment upon the earth

–> Q says the son of man will arrive

Question 29

what is a way historians use to find which came first between synoptics and Thomas

Answer 29

they see which saying was less complex and straight to the point

–> whichever was like this was most likely an earlier version

Question 30

Conclusion: The Date of Thomas and Its Traditions

how can we know when it was written or not?

Answer 30

Although we cannot know whether a source like Thomas existed during the first century, there are good reasons for thinking that Thomas itself did not

The most obvious is that the full-blown Christian-gnostic myth that many of Thomas’s sayings presuppose cannot be documented as existing prior to the second century

This is not to deny, however, that individual sayings found in Thomas may go back to Jesus himself

Question 31

Revelation Discourses

Answer 31

the other kind of sayings Gospel in which Jesus appears to one or more of his disciples after his resurrection and conveys the secret revelation that is necessary for their salvation

Often these secret revelations have to do with the mysteries of how the universe came into existence, how souls came to be present here, and how they can escape

the vast majority of these Gospels are Gnostic in their orientation

Question 32

One other period about which the earliest traditions were largely silent

Answer 32

Jesus’ infancy and youth

Question 33

the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

Answer 33

a fascinating account of Jesus’ youth beginning at the tender age of five

if Jesus was a miracle working Son of God as an adult, what was he like as a kid?

he was more than a little mischievous

–> story with the sparrows

had a temper and is not to be crossed

–> When a child accidentally runs into him on the street, Jesus turns in anger and declares, “You’ll go no further on your way.” The child falls down dead

–> killed teacher

Question 34

can we say the synoptics and Matthew are for certain the earliest written accounts in Christianity?

Answer 34

nah bruv