Gospel of Thomas (as another sayings collection)

E263236

The Gospel of Thomas is an early Christian, non-canonical collection of Jesus’ sayings, often used in scholarly comparisons with hypothetical sources like Q to study the development of gospel traditions.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Gospel of Thomas (as another sayings collection) canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf apocryphal gospel
early Christian text
non-canonical gospel
sayings gospel
attributedTo Didymus Judas Thomas
Apostle Thomas
surface form: Thomas the Apostle
canonicalStatus non-canonical
canonicalStatusInEasternOrthodoxChurch non-canonical
canonicalStatusInProtestantChurches non-canonical
canonicalStatusInRomanCatholicChurch non-canonical
contains sayings of Jesus
containsParallelsTo Q source (hypothetical)
double tradition material in Matthew and Luke
dateOfComposition 1st–2nd century
discoveredIn 1945
earliestPossibleDate mid-1st century
foundIn Nag Hammadi
surface form: Nag Hammadi library
genre sayings collection
includesGenreElement dialogue sayings
standalone aphorisms
keyTheme interpretation of Jesus’ sayings
kingdom of God within
self-knowledge
language Coptic
latestCommonScholarlyDate early 2nd century
manuscriptTradition Coptic text in Codex II of Nag Hammadi library
narrativeContent minimal narrative
numberOfSayings 114
openingWords These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down
originalLanguage Greek
placeOfDiscovery Egypt
Nag Hammadi
relatedTo Synoptic Gospels
religiousTradition Christianity
scholarlyDebate date of composition
degree of Gnostic influence
independence from canonical gospels
relationship to Synoptic tradition
scripturalStatus apocryphal
sharesMaterialWith Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Matthew
structure unordered sayings sequence
textualForm collection of logia
theologicalOrientation emphasis on secret knowledge
often described as having Gnostic elements
usedInScholarshipFor comparison with Q source
study of early Christian diversity
study of historical Jesus
study of sayings traditions

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Q source (hypothetical) relatedWork Gospel of Thomas (as another sayings collection)