25. The Book of Thomas
f I 1
I he Book of Thomas is a text that claims to have been written
I in conjunction with Judas Thomas, the twin brother of Jesus
JL. and the apostolic hero of Syrian Christians. Like the Gospel of
Thomas, the Book of Thomas is identified at the opening of the document
as a sayings collection: "The hidden sayings that the savior spoke to Judas
Thomas." The editor of the collection is identified as a certain Mathaias,
whose name is similar to that of the messenger (or apostle) and gospel-writer
Matthew (Matthaios) and the replacement apostle Matthias (Acts 1:26), but
whose precise identity remains uncertain.
Appended at the end of the document are the words "the Book of
Thomas the Contender Writing to the Perfect." Traditionally this inscription
has been taken at face value, but some scholars have suggested that it may be
read as two titles of the text, "The Book of Thomas," and "The Contender
Writing to the Perfect," and that these two titles may reflect the composite na-
ture of the text. After all, the text contains sayings of Jesus and a dialogue be-
tween Jesus and Thomas, along with a sermon by Jesus on sinners who face
judgment. Hans-Martin Schenke argues that the contender designated in the
second title is none other than the patriarch Jacob, the most famous con-
tender in the Jewish tradition. Hence, Schenke maintains, behind the present
Book of Thomas may be a Jewish source in the form of a letter said to be au-
thored by Jacob the contender.
Within the Book of Thomas the utterances of Jesus sometimes recall say-
ings and themes in the Gospel of Thomas. Here Jesus comments on Judas
the twin, on knowledge of self, on what is hidden and what is visible, on the