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The Gospel According to Thomas, (or the Gospel of Thomas), is an early Christian non-canonical sayings-gospel that many scholars believe provides insight into the oral gospel traditions. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. The library consists of fifty-two writings that include an excerpt from Plato's ''Republic'' and gospels which state that they were written by Jesus' disciple Philip. Scholars speculate that the works were buried in response to a letter from Bishop Athanasius declaring a strict canon of Christian scripture.〔The books, technically called codices had been bound by a method now called Coptic binding and placed in an earthenware jar. They were damaged by their discovers, a group of peasants who broke the jar open and manhandled its contents.〕 The Coptic-language text, the second of seven contained in what modern-day scholars have designated as Codex II, is composed of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus.〔Modern-day scholars have numbered the sayings and even parts of the sayings, but the text contains no numbering.〕 Almost half of these sayings resemble those found in the Canonical Gospels, while it is speculated that the other sayings were added from Gnostic tradition.〔''Lost Scriptures: Books that did not make it into the New Testament '' by Bart Ehrman, pp. 19-20〕 Its place of origin may have been Syria, where Thomasine traditions were strong.〔''Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible'' by James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson, 2003, ISBN 0-8028-3711-5 page 1574〕 The introduction states: "These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down."〔''The Fifth Gospel'', Patterson, Robinson, Bethge, 1998〕 Didymus (Greek) and Thomas (Aramaic) both mean "twin". Some critical scholars suspect that this reference to the Apostle Thomas is false, and that therefore the true author is unknown.〔April D. DeConick 2006 ''The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation'' ISBN 0-567-04382-7 page 2〕 It is possible that the document originated within a school of early Christians, possibly proto-Gnostics.〔Layton, Bentley, ''The Gnostic Scriptures'', 1987, p.361.〕 Some critics further state that even the description of Thomas as a "gnostic" gospel is based upon little other than the fact that it was found along with gnostic texts at Nag Hammadi.〔Davies, Stevan L., ''The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom'', 1983, pp. 23–24.〕 The name of Thomas was also attached to the Book of Thomas the Contender, which was also in Nag Hammadi Codex II, and the Acts of Thomas. While the Gospel of Thomas does not directly point to Jesus' divinity, it also does not directly contradict it, and therefore neither supports nor contradicts gnostic beliefs. When asked his identity in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus usually deflects, ambiguously asking the disciples why they do not see what is right in front of them, similar to some passages in the canonical gospels like John 12:16 and Luke 18:34. ''The Gospel of Thomas'' is very different in tone and structure from other New Testament apocrypha and the four Canonical Gospels. Unlike the canonical Gospels, it is not a narrative account of the life of Jesus; instead, it consists of ''logia'' (sayings) attributed to Jesus, sometimes stand-alone, sometimes embedded in short dialogues or parables. The text contains a possible allusion to the death of Jesus in logion 65〔DeConick, April D., ''The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation'', 2006, p.214〕 (Parable of the Wicked Tenants, paralleled in the Synoptic Gospels), but doesn't mention his crucifixion, his resurrection, or the final judgment; nor does it mention a messianic understanding of Jesus.〔Alister E. McGrath, 2006 ''Christian Theology'' ISBN 1-4051-5360-1 page 12〕〔James Dunn, John Rogerson 2003 ''Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible'' ISBN 0-8028-3711-5 page 1573〕 Since its discovery, many scholars have seen it as evidence in support of the existence of the so-called Q source, which might have been very similar in its form as a collection of sayings of Jesus without any accounts of his deeds or his life and death, a so-called "sayings gospel".〔Udo Schnelle, 2007 ''Einleitung in das Neue Testament'' ISBN 978-3-8252-1830-0 page 230〕 Bishop Eusebius (AD 260/265 – 339/340) included it among a group of books that he believed to be not only spurious, but "the fictions of heretics". However, it is not clear whether he was referring to this Gospel of Thomas or one of the other texts attributed to Thomas.〔(Church History (Book III), Chapter 25:7 ) and (Eusebius )〕 ==Finds and publication== The manuscript of the Coptic text (CG II), found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, is dated at around 340 AD. It was first published in a photographic edition in 1956.〔For photocopies of the manuscript see: http://www.gospels.net/thomas/〕 This was followed three years later (1959) by the first English-language translation, with Coptic transcription.〔A. Guillaumont, Henri-Charles Puech, Gilles Quispel, Walter Till and Yassah `Abd Al Masih, ''The Gospel According to Thomas'' (E. J. Brill and Harper & Brothers, 1959).〕 In 1977, James M. Robinson edited the first complete collection of English translations of the Nag Hammadi texts.〔Robinson, James M., General Editor, ''The Nag Hammadi Library in English'', Revised Edition 1988, E.J. Brill, Leiden, and Harper and Row, San Francisco, ISBN 90-04-08856-3.〕 The Gospel of Thomas has been translated and annotated worldwide in many languages. The original Coptic manuscript is now the property of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Department of Manuscripts.〔''Coptic Gnostic Papyri in the Coptic Museum at Old Cairo'', vol. I (Cairo, 1956) plates 80, line 10 – 99, line 28.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gospel of Thomas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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