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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, by Elaine Pagels
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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.”
- Sales Rank: #49211 in Books
- Brand: Pagels, Elaine H.
- Published on: 2004-05-04
- Released on: 2004-05-04
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.00" h x .60" w x 5.20" l, .45 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 272 pages
Amazon.com Review
Shortly after Elaine Pagels’ two-and-half-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare lung disease, the religion professor found herself drawn to a Christian church again for the first time in many years. In Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas Pagels, best know for her National Book Award-winning The Gnostic Gospels, wrestles with her own faith as she struggles to understand when--and why--Christianity became associated almost exclusively with the ideas codified in the fourth-century Nicene Creed and in the canonical texts of the New Testament. In her exploration, she uncovers the richness and diversity of Christian philosophy that has only become available since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts.
At the center of Beyond Belief is what Pagels identifies as a textual battle between The Gospel of Thomas (rediscovered in Egypt in 1945) and The Gospel of John. While these gospels have many superficial similarities, Pagels demonstrates that John, unlike Thomas, declares that Jesus is equivalent to "God the Father" as identified in the Old Testament. Thomas, in contrast, shares with other supposed secret teachings a belief that Jesus is not God but, rather, is a teacher who seeks to uncover the divine light in all human beings. Pagels then shows how the Gospel of John was used by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon and others to define orthodoxy during the second and third centuries. The secret teachings were literally driven underground, disappearing until the Twentieth Century. As Pagels argues this process "not only impoverished the churches that remained but also impoverished those [Irenaeus] expelled."
Beyond Belief offers a profound framework with which to examine Christian history and contemporary Christian faith, and Pagels renders her scholarship in a highly readable narrative. The one deficiency in Pagels’ examination of Thomas, if there is one, is that she never fully returns in the end to her own struggles with religion that so poignantly open the book. How has the mysticism of the Gnostic Gospels affected her? While she hints that she and others have found new pathways to faith through Thomas, the impact of Pagels’ work on contemporary Christianity may not be understood for years to come. --Patrick O’Kelley
From Publishers Weekly
In this majestic new book, Pagels (The Gnostic Gospels) ranges panoramically over the history of early Christianity, demonstrating the religion's initial tremendous diversity and its narrowing to include only certain texts supporting certain beliefs. At the center of her book is the conflict between the gospels of John and Thomas. Reading these gospels closely, she shows that Thomas offered readers a message of spiritual enlightenment. Rather than promoting Jesus as the only light of the world, Thomas taught individuals that "there is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness." As she eloquently and provocatively argues, the author of John wrote his gospel as a refutation of Thomas, portraying the disciple Thomas as a fool when he doubts Jesus, and Jesus as the only true light of the world. Pagels goes on to demonstrate that the early Christian writer Irenaeus promoted John as the true gospel while he excluded Thomas, and a host of other early gospels, from the list of those texts that he considered authoritative. His list became the basis for the New Testament canon when it was fixed in 357. Pagels suggests that we recover Thomas as a way of embracing the glorious diversity of religious tradition. As she elegantly contends, religion is not merely an assent to a set of beliefs, but a rich, multifaceted fabric of teachings and experiences that connect us with the divine. Exhilarating reading, Pagels's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a good mystery writer.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In 1979, Pagels explored the Nag Hammadi scrolls in The Gnostic Gospels, a book she calls a "rough, charcoal sketch of the history of Christianity." The scrolls reveal a startling diversity in early Christian thought, and more than 20 years after her earlier book, Pagels remains captivated by them. This time, though, they have prompted her most personal book. She begins with the news that her son has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. She links this shocking revelation to a reexamination of the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, which she contrasts with the gospel of John. Both gospels center their themes on a higher knowledge available in Jesus' words and message, but John wants readers to understand that the light of God is in Jesus alone. Thomas is equally insistent the light is in everyone. Pagels also focuses on how some Christian leaders, especially Irenaeus, despising the esoteric gospels, made sure that the New Testament canon was limited to the four gospels and other approved writings. Pagels' writing, spare, elegant and provocative, leads readers step-by-step down a spiritual path to one's inner self. Even those who possess only a nodding acquaintance with Gnostic writings will find themselves stimulated by her arguments and perhaps transformed by her conclusions. A fresh and exciting work of theology and spirituality. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Most helpful customer reviews
144 of 155 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating look at the early Christian writings and history
By Kindle Customer
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, if the experience of union with God is universal, it is not prominently recognized in the four gospels and most Christian teaching.
The problem, Pagels explains as she accounts for the development of early church othodoxy, is that the apostles and the early Christian writers built Church teaching upon revelation and visions. "Without visions and revelations, the Christian movement would not have begun. But who can tell the holy spirit when to stop?..."And when so many people--some of them rivals and even antagonists--all claim to to be divinely inspired, who knows who has the spirit and who does not? She claims that Irenaeus, the promoter of the four gospels, and only those four, was confronted not by "a lack of spiritual revelation but an overwhelming surplus. 'How' he asked 'can we tell the difference between the word of God and mere human words?'" It is in this climate the first attempt to unify Christian believers began.
Hericlitus, the great Greek philosopher, said "All is One." If you recognize the wisdom of this ancient expression and you understand that, consciousness, the source of thought, is divine and that the inner experience of Jesus is available to all, you will enjoy this book. Jesus says in Thomas "I am all: From me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.". Or in the words of the Vedas "I am That, Thou art That, All this is That."
Understanding the Transcendent may be the key to appreciating this book. I had been practicing meditation for only about seven years when I discovered Pagels' first book over twenty years ago. The Gospel of Thomas and these gnostic writings from the earliest christians resonated immediately for I could validate it by my experience. Pagels quotes the gospel of Mary Magdalene, "The Son of Man is within you."
In the end, the orthodox view, the Church view, prevailed and the Gnostic writings were suppressed. Perhaps for this reason Hericlitus had another saying for which he was known: "People who follow religions are like cattle."
46 of 50 people found the following review helpful.
Having actually READ the book...
By T. Pilcher
As a Christian, I found this book very challenging - it was one of those books where you read a few pages, then have to put it down and think for a while about what you have just read. After finishing, I was interested in what others thought about it, so came to Amazon as I often do to check the reader reviews. I quickly noticed two things:
- Many of these reviews are the longest and most in-depth I've ever read - demonstrating the passions this book brings out in people.
- Some of the reviews are obviously from people who did not actually read "Beyond Belief", or who only skimmed it.
Agree or disagree with Ms. Pagels' analysis of the gnostic gospels, and how they potentially impact modern Christianity, "Beyond Belief" is very well researched, foot-noted profusely and cross-references several other works. Any claims about 'poor research' and 'assumptions' made by Ms. Pagels are easily blown away by anyone who actually reads the book. Is she right about her assertions - who am I to say? But she certainly has done her homework, and it is unfair to characterize the book as shoddy or haphazard.
As has been mentioned by other reviewers, one of the core arguments in this book is about the canonical Gospel of John vs the gnostic Gospel of Thomas. Pagels presents her view on this debate. What I found interesting was her presentation of the two gospels - they are very much ALIKE in many, many ways. In fact, John is much more akin to Thomas than to the other three gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. So WHY was John included as the fourth 'pillar' of the NT gospels, and Thomas was ignored, repressed and even deemed heresy? Pagels' presentation of this key decision by early Christians is fascinating and thought-provoking.
But this book is not so much about the gnostic "Gospel of Thomas" as it is about the struggle of early Christianity, and the process that lead to the decisions that shape Christian faith to this day. Pagel's review of the history of the early Church and the development of what we today call the "New Testament" is in-and-of-itself worthwhile. Given the current climate where 'religious folks' are too often almost totally uninformed about the history of Christianity, and where a minimal "Sunday School" familiarity with the Bible has replaced real, serious study, it is an amazing testament to the strength of Christ's message that this book is so popular, even with the controversy it generates.
For Christians of all 'ecumenical stripes' - I say this is a must-read. The early Christians REALLY had to struggle to ensure the survival of their faith, and while many of us are familiar with the struggle against Nero's Rome and other forces that tried to destroy Christianity from the outside, too few of us are familiar with the internal struggle that Pagels presents here. The gnostic 'gospels' - like that of Thomas - were a casualty of that internal struggle. Pagels feels this was highly unfortunate, claiming there is a lot to be learned about Jesus from gnostic writings. Others feel the exclusion of the gnostic writings was a good move by the early church, or perhaps even 'an act of God' [thought this presents the interesting question of God's role in the 'miraculous' survival of these writings in a jar of clay in the desert - to be discovered almost 2000 years later!!]
Regardless of your personal view, after reading this book you will undoubtedly know more about the history of Christianity, the multiple ways in which early Christians viewed Christ, and how we got to be where we are today [whether by the hand of God or man.] As a Christian, I felt this made "Beyond Belief" worthy of praise, and well worth the read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Sort of about the Gospel of Thomas
By Christopher Nelson
A pretty good, but light and unfocused introduction to the Gospel of Thomas (which hardly achieves the right to the book's subtitle). Pagels never seems to commit to her declared topic, and comes off "too unbiased" in my opinion. Her research contributes to gnostic studies in almost revolutionary ways, but she never seems to realize the magnitude of her subject matter, and takes an irritatingly bland middle-ground throughout. Is she a modern gnostic or not?
I liked Pagel's earlier book on "The Gnostic Gospels" better, and was expecting a more detailed, in-depth discussion of the Thomas gospel in this brief tome. For the lay-reader and simply curious, this is a decent starting point. If you're looking for more details about gnosticism, she has contemporary recommendations of more recent publications in her bibliography. Personally, I'd highly recommend the following: "Gnosis", by Kurt Rudolph; "The Gnostic Religion," by Hans Jonas, & the older, more obscure "Fragments of a Faith Forgotten," by GRS Mead. And, of course, the actual Nag Hammadi Library printed & edited by James Robinson is "the source" (along with the syntopic Bible).
As for "Beyond Belief", I have to agree with the reviewer responding to "Peculiar Reviewers" in that there are a handful of seemingly offended people out there who just don't get it when it comes to what gnosticism represents. It's very much alive and growing world-wide, and many would argue that it's never really disappeared, only taken on new forms. Pagels illustrates more specifically where and how Catholicism as we know it today came to be, and on what foundations (by ignoring discrepencies between many so-called "gnostic" texts in favor of the gospel of John, Matthew, Mark and Luke). She focuses more on John and its similarities and differences with the discarded Thomas gospel, which didn't jibe with the political direction the early church fathers such as Irenaeus were pushing so hard for.
"Beyond Belief" seems to really be a blend of biblical history, and Pagel's personal philosophy of "practicing" faith instead of simply "believing"; or reading about it. Jesus would be proud.
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