Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

by Elaine Pagels

Book Overview

In Beyond Belief , renowned 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. Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group of researchers, Pagels returns to her investigation of the "secret" Gospel of Thomas, and breathes new life into writings once thought heretical. As she arrives...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375703160
• ISBN13: 9780375703164
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Whose Beliefs?

When asked what book provided you with the basis of your faith and beliefs, I imagine many people would say it's the Bible. When asked how the Bible you are reading came to be, I'd imagine that most people wouldn't have the faintest idea, but merely launch into a talk about "faith". Pagels attempts to trace the history of the formation of the Bible in her well researched and meticulously notated book "Beyond Beliefs", and does a fantastic job.Author of the book "Gnostic Gospels", Pagels revists the Secret Gospel of Thomas as a method to describe the historical background into the formation of the Bible as we see today. She starts her tome with a largely personal story about her ailing son and how church called her to help her through this crisis time. She launches into an intriguing comparison of the Gospels of John and Thomas, and how the four gospels came to be "the chosen ones", all because of a Lyons bishop named Irenaeus.The main character of her story is this Irenaeus, who comes across as well intentioned, if not tolerant, of other gosepls floating around during the fourth century. Due to splintering all over of "Christians" based on their own personal beliefs and interpretations of Jesus' life, Irenaus sets out to streamline the Christian faith and have a general set upon bundle of agreements to work from. This job is none-to-easy as different sects have different thoughts. At first, Irenaeus could be the type of historical figure somewhat villified by denouncing other gospels as heretical and removing them from public consideration. However, Pagels strives to show us all sides of the bishop, and emphasizes that despite his preference towards Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he was sympathic and tolerant of a variety of religious expressions. He just felt it important to have a basis from which all Christian thought arises, thus leading to the Nicene Creed, among others.Pagels work is engrossing and mesmerizing. Anyone with a taste for history and religion will eat up this book for breakfast. Her writing is thorough and understandable. Sometimes, professors, as they write from their ivory towers, forget their audiences, Pagels strives for understandability and clarity. She is approachable and engrossing in her writing.I fear some people, whose faith is rigid and based not on questioning it, will find this book unbelievable. They might think how dare anyone question the early Christian church and the eventual work known as the Bible. However, this book only adds to the deeper dimensions of our faith. By learning more about where the Bible as we know it comes from, we gain an appreication for the work as a sense of what it is; a purposefully planned document designed to shape faith. The fact that there are other gospels out there, whether or not they are true. is not a threat to my beliefs, but only adds and enhances what I believe. Let me be the judge, after reading them, what I believe. Pagels suggests that people for themselves are empowere

Fascinating look at the early Christian writings and history

Elaine Pagels is an exceptionally engaging writer with a talent for locating and explaining hidden wisdom. She wrote an earlier book, "The Gnostic Gospels: A New Account of the Origins of Christianity," that brilliantly summarized the ancient and rambling Nag Hammadi texts, which describe the teachings of Jesus as captured by early Christian writers. In "Beyond Belief," a title that addresses the audience she wishes to reach, Pagels examines more closely these ancient texts and how they compare to the four gospels. She focus on the "Gospel of Thomas" (90 ce) comparing it to the Gospel of John (100 ce) and current christian beliefs about the teachings of Jesus. "Beyond Belief" is intensely interesting to the right audience. It is part gospel analysis, which she translates from ancient Greek, part early Christian history and part personal story meant to provide context in understanding the beauty of modern Christianity. One audience for this book is those seeking to understand factually what Jesus taught and what happened to Christianity in the early centuries following his death (30 ce) and how the Gospel of Thomas can shed light on that understanding. But another audience, the one for whom this book will resonate most deeply, are readers with an intuitive grasp of "transcendence" and the teachings of Jesus that verify the union that can be experienced between God and man. This is what Saint John of the Cross referred to when he wrote "All and Nothing." ("Here I stand alone transcending all knowledge"). Pagels points out that this experience is taught by Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas and expressed in the Vedic literature of India. ("I am That"). It is found in the writings from many religious traditions. One Catholic University scholar has compared the description of the higher states of consciousness from the Upanishads to the rooms described by Saint Theresa of Avila in her "Interior Castle"(Seven states of consciousness; seven rooms in the castle). There is no doubt that saints the world over have written of union with God. The Christian tradition is no exception (read Alan Watts, "The Supreme Identity."): "It seemed to me, as if [my soul] was wholly and altogether passed into its God, to make but one and the same thing with Him; even as a little drop of water, cast into the sea, receives the qualities of the sea. Oh, union of unity, demanded of God by Jesus Christ for men and merited by him!" -Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon. Or "Blessedness consists primarily in the fact that the soul sees God in herself. Only in God's knowledge does she become wholly still. Therefore it is in Oneness that God is found and they who would find God must themselves become One." And the famous "My eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." -Meister Eckhart.I wonder sometimes how we got from these sublime expressions to the crap that is dispensed by our Churches. Nobody explains this better than Pagels. She attempts to explain why, i

John and Thomas

Elaine Pagels has written another provocative and interesting book with this book, her latest of four I have read. It's about the well known gospel of John vs the little known gospel of Thomas. Thomas' gospel speaks to a form of belief that is much more personal than the traditional New Testament that is mainly based on the gospel of John. The book also refers back to the author's prior book on Gnosticism. Gnosticism gave a higher place in theology to knowledge, and held that it should at least share the same pew with belief. I not only recommend "Beyond Belief", I recommend all of Elaine Pagels' books. And, if you are interested in the unending contest between knowledge and belief --- reason vs revelation --- that has been going on almost forever, I also recommend the easy-to-understand book by Remick called "West Point: Character Leadership Education...Thomas Jefferson" which deals with that subject for the purpose of understanding America in an outside world that has really little understanding of America other than what they see from TV, movies, and multi-national corporations.