The Gospel of St. Thomas

QUESTION: Who wrote the gospel of St. Thomas?

ANSWER:

The quick answer to the question is the author of the gospel of St. Thomas is unknown. There are several theories however. The first and perhaps most reasonable assumption is that it was written by the disciple Thomas. The first line of the text refers to "didymos Judas Thomas" as author. Didymos is a Greek word for twin and is an appellation used by Thomas. However, he is never referred to by the name of Judas.

The problem with this assumption is that the gospel is Gnostic, heretic, mystical, and inauthentic in comparison to the canonized Gospels.

The Jesus of the gospel of Thomas doesn't have traditional Jewish characteristics or culture, rejects the physical world, women and believes Yahweh of the Old Testament to be evil. Cyril of Jerusalem, in the 4th century, was quoted as saying, "Let none read the gospel according to Thomas, for it is the work not of one of the Twelve apostles, but of one of Mani's three wicked disciples."

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of sayings with no narrative attached. Another theory is that it was a collection of oral teachings originally. The text that has been found in written form is suspected to be unlike the original text. Perhaps the gospel was a fluid, ever changing document that is much modified from its original form.

There are other apocryphal books written by unknown authors who deliberately determine to expound ideas contrary to the teachings of the Bible. They claim the name of a known disciple like Thomas to give credence to their assertions. In light of the Gnostic nature of the sayings in this gospel, this is likely what happened to create this document.