Dr. Michael Peppard

more like closely around the time of christ and what would indicate that it is older so so what i'm arguing though is not that the written form of god not that the written form of the gospel of thomas as it was discovered in nakamari i'm not saying that that is older i'm saying that it might preserve oral traditions and how can we indicate that is that based off of the syntax of the sentences like the actual words that are used

more like closely around the time of christ and what would indicate that it is older so so what i'm arguing though is not that the written form of god not that the written form of the gospel of thomas as it was discovered in nakamari i'm not saying that that is older i'm saying that it might preserve oral traditions and how can we indicate that is that based off of the syntax of the sentences like the actual words that are used

So there are actually – well, it's difficult, and you might imagine not everyone agrees in scholarship about this. There are some basic principle ideas. Some people have an intuition that shorter stories are older, and then they get embellished over time. There are some people who have an instinct that – Um, more specific stories are older and then they get universalized over time.

So there are actually – well, it's difficult, and you might imagine not everyone agrees in scholarship about this. There are some basic principle ideas. Some people have an intuition that shorter stories are older, and then they get embellished over time. There are some people who have an instinct that – Um, more specific stories are older and then they get universalized over time.

There are some people have an instinct that Jesus didn't tell allegories and that Jesus told parables, uh, that were more, uh, curt, quick to the point and that, and that were not allegorized into a whole world of doctrine. And so maybe the parables that look like shorter, snappier, have more of an air of like authenticity of what a wandering itinerant, uh, wisdom teacher might've talked like.

There are some people have an instinct that Jesus didn't tell allegories and that Jesus told parables, uh, that were more, uh, curt, quick to the point and that, and that were not allegorized into a whole world of doctrine. And so maybe the parables that look like shorter, snappier, have more of an air of like authenticity of what a wandering itinerant, uh, wisdom teacher might've talked like.

And the gospel of Thomas is very short and snappy. It doesn't allegorize. Yeah, exactly. It says a lot. It has a lot of phrases that, that, um, we, we truly don't know for sure what they mean, honestly.

And the gospel of Thomas is very short and snappy. It doesn't allegorize. Yeah, exactly. It says a lot. It has a lot of phrases that, that, um, we, we truly don't know for sure what they mean, honestly.

And so if you, if you have a category or a, if you have a framing in your mind of like, that's the kind of person I imagine Jesus to be, that he's telling, uh, riddles, telling almost like Zen koan type, uh, And he's leaving it up to let the one who has ears to hear hear, right? If you have ears to hear my message and you'll understand it, I'm not going to explain it all to you.

And so if you, if you have a category or a, if you have a framing in your mind of like, that's the kind of person I imagine Jesus to be, that he's telling, uh, riddles, telling almost like Zen koan type, uh, And he's leaving it up to let the one who has ears to hear hear, right? If you have ears to hear my message and you'll understand it, I'm not going to explain it all to you.

If you have that image of Jesus in your mind, then some of these Thomas versions might look more authentic to you.

If you have that image of Jesus in your mind, then some of these Thomas versions might look more authentic to you.

Right, right, right. So it sounds wild, right?

Right, right, right. So it sounds wild, right?

This isn't... Yeah, so I... We can get into this a little bit. So one of the ideas here that help maybe helps understand what's going on. This is a tough one though. Let me just say, I don't, I don't come in here with like definitive interpretations of all, of all, you know, a hundred and 140 of these sayings, but.

This isn't... Yeah, so I... We can get into this a little bit. So one of the ideas here that help maybe helps understand what's going on. This is a tough one though. Let me just say, I don't, I don't come in here with like definitive interpretations of all, of all, you know, a hundred and 140 of these sayings, but.

Um, there is a sense in Greco Roman, Greco Roman understanding of gender, let's say that the proper, the full form of a human person is a male form. So that's obviously misogynistic. Um, but that is a, uh, idea that's, that's going around in the air. You can, you can read it. It has to do with, it has to do with, you can read it in, um, Greek and Roman medical treatises and things like this.

Um, there is a sense in Greco Roman, Greco Roman understanding of gender, let's say that the proper, the full form of a human person is a male form. So that's obviously misogynistic. Um, but that is a, uh, idea that's, that's going around in the air. You can, you can read it. It has to do with, it has to do with, you can read it in, um, Greek and Roman medical treatises and things like this.

Yes, and it's not quite fully developed, even biologically, not quite fully developed. So there is a way to interpret this that's saying Jesus' female disciples, they are going to become fully developed. They're going to become fully, to be fully his disciple, they need to act, more or less act like male disciples. We also see this later.

Yes, and it's not quite fully developed, even biologically, not quite fully developed. So there is a way to interpret this that's saying Jesus' female disciples, they are going to become fully developed. They're going to become fully, to be fully his disciple, they need to act, more or less act like male disciples. We also see this later.