Book Reviews for Gospel of Thomas Students

Note to Readers: I obtain many of the scholarly texts which I review via “Link +,” an interlibrary loan program. This free service is provided by the San Francisco Public Library.

1. Studies in the Gospel of Thomas by R. McL. Wilson (London, A.R. Mowbray, 1960). See: Studies in the Gospel of Thomas (9780317615432): R. Wilson. This is an historical text as it is one of the first to carefully examine Thomas. It was written by a New Testament scholar nearly 57 years ago. The central question when Thomas was discovered in 1945 as part of what became the Nag Hammadi Library: Is this an authentic saying book of Jesus which is independent of the Gospels written by the Roman Catholics? Note that the Roman Catholics destroyed all original saying books and constructed their own Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; these are all completely fraudulent texts as far as the narratives are concerned while using many of the actual sayings of Jesus (many of the passages are obvious forgeries such as Mark 16:9-20 and John 7: 53-8:11).

The short answer to the question of scholars in 1960: Yes. The Gospel of Thomas has at least 50 sayings which can reasonably be traced back to Jesus. The argument comes from the showing that another saying book, Q, must have existed and was used by Matthew and Luke to compose their Gospels. We know this because nearly 100 passages (such as parables, narratives, and aphorisms) are nearly identical in both Luke and Matthew as well as being sequenced in the same order. The only logical explanation to these observations is Luke and Matthew must have had a common source of sayings—the saying book, Q. Please see the next book review for additional information.  

2. Q, the Earliest Gospel by John S. Klopperborg (Westminster, John Knox Press, 2008) is a slim paper book volume of 170 pages in which the author lays out the case for why the Gospels Luke and Matthew must have shared a common source. Students are encourage to study chapter 1, “What is Q” with its detailed diagrams in order to understand the above argument. Please see: Q, the Earliest Gospel‎.

What is fascinating about the above line of reasoning is the fact that it is fairly airtight: If it is argued that Q did not exist, then how does one explain that Luke and Matthew share about 100 passages which are nearly identical and in the same sequence? Thus, assuming a naturalistic explanation, the hypothetical Gospel Q must have existed.

For Thomas students, Q is the key to proving that the Gospel of Thomas is independent of the Roman Catholic texts: Thomas contains over 50 sayings which correlate to Q. Since Q was the source book used by Luke and Matthew, and Q and Thomas are independent, it follows that Luke and Matthew are independent of Thomas.

Conclusion: Based upon a careful analysis of the Roman Catholic texts, Matthew and Luke, scholars have shown that these authors used a common source, Q. Because Q and the Gospel of Thomas are correlated to each other as well as being independent of each other, it follows Thomas is an original sayings book. 

3. Cannabis Revolution: What You Need To Know by Stephen Holt (iuniverse, 2016) is a large reference volume of 577 pages (see: The Cannabis Revolution(c): What You Need to Know: Dsc Stephen ). Overall, there is a balanced discussion of the pros and cons of using marijuana. If the reader is a physician or a therapist, then chapter 12, “Neurological Disorders” is insightful as Holt shows the mechanism by which various receptors in the brain are activated in order to facilitate healing. Also, Holt gives specific dosages for using either THC or CBD (psychoactive substances in cannabis) in order to achieve optimal outcomes. Excellent discussions of various clinical trials related to medical conditions such as Epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease, Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), and spinal cord injury are also given.

My problem with this text: As is common with those who are educated in an academic sense and who are “authority” figures (he has a medical degree as well as a doctorate in the science), he does not understanding that all social problems are the direct result of a capitalist system which exploits human beings and is destroying this planet. So Holt warns parents again and again how to detect if their teenager is using marijuana (one of the telltale signs: look at the tips of the fingers and see if they have burns on them). This is nonsense! Instead of living naturally—in tribes and small communities—we have depersonalized ourselves, turning ourselves into puppets for those who wish to make profits for themselves. When 13-year old young men start killing tigers, building houses, and learning how to be honorable and 13-year old young women start becoming mothers and women, then we will have an Immortal structure. Of course, in developing brains marijuana can be dangerous; but this argument misses the point: Until humans beings return to their roots, living in small communities, there will be endless disruptions which will likely be further disrupted by a nuclear war.