Why is the Gospel of Thomas considered heretical by Nicene Christians?
18
votes
1
answer
4325
views
I've seen in a few places the Gospel of Thomas described as Gnostic and thus heretical. I've seen people dismiss it as heretical but never going into the details of why that is the case. Why is the gospel of Thomas considered heretical?
I have read the text, it seemed quite interesting to me, shares much of the material from other gospel texts and as the form is a sayings gospel leaves much to interpretation; I don't think it would be difficult for even pretty stringently orthodox people to interpret it to their satisfaction. Although you could construe it in a number of ways, you could say that for lots of works that are considered canonical. It certainly doesn't seem any more different from the synoptic gospels than is the Gospel of John. The dating might be questionable but that doesn't make it doctrinally unsound surely otherwise Ephesians could not be canonical. The only saying that even seems to hint at gnosticism to me is 114 and that is known to be a later addition to the text.
To be clear I'm referring to the sayings gospel not the infancy gospel.
Asked by Reluctant_Linux_User
(2703 rep)
Oct 9, 2014, 04:25 PM
Last activity: Apr 20, 2018, 07:37 AM
Last activity: Apr 20, 2018, 07:37 AM