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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003) is a book by Elaine H. Pagels.

Abstract

"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 at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the “rogue” voices of Christianity encourage and sustain “the recognition of the light within us all.”--Publisher description.

In Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003) Pagels compares the Gospel of Thomas to the Gospel of John, arguing that John was written as a response to Thomas. Whereas Thomas taught that the divine light is within the individual, John taught that Jesus is the light of the world. In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus was not a god but a teacher who helped his followers discover the divine light within. Pagels is particularly interested in the political aspect of early Christianity – why some books were accepted as canonical and others like Thomas were excluded. She argues that the four canonical gospels were accepted because they supported the claims to authority of “orthodox” leaders such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Justin Martyr, based as they were upon eyewitness testimony that helped establish a line of apostolic succession. Of course, this raises the possibility that the canonical gospel authors invented the eyewitness testimony for their own ecclesiastical convenience. In any event, the canonical gospels became the cornerstone of the apostolic tradition and Thomas and the other secret writings were suppressed, excluded, and virtually forgotten until their rediscovery at Nag Hammadi in 1945, the victims of a political power play that has had dramatic repercussions for Christianity to the present time. - Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan

Editions

Published in New York, NY: Random House, 2003.

Translations

• Il Vangelo segreto di Tommaso = Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2005 Pagels / Lazzeri), book (Italian ed.)

• 믿음을 넘어서 : 도마의 비밀 복음서 = Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2006 Pagels / Kwŏn), book (Korean ed.)

Contents

• 1. From the Feast of Agape to the Nicene Creed

• 2. Gospels in Conflict: John and Thomas

• 3. God's Word or Human Words?

• 4. The Canon of Truth and the Triumph of John

• 5. Constantine and the Catholic Church

External links

• Google Books