# Will the real Gospel of Thomas please stand up? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 6, 2003, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907 "2003-01-06T08:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/1 "2003-01-06T08:54:01Z")
Whilst engaged in a conversation in a religion-themed chat room earlier tonight, I came across a person claiming that the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas described events occuring in Jesus’ childhood that were omitted from the bible. I challenged him on this claim, pointing out that the Gospel of Thomas contains no narrative structure and is merely a collection of Jesus’ sayings, and to support my statement provided a link to an online copy of said Gospel. Much to my chagrin, he then began quoting a completely different text, pasting verses into the chat which were completely different than anything in my source, and upon looking them up, I was shocked to find a completely different book also called the Gospel of Thomas, which did have a narrative structure and began by describing events that allegedly occured when Jesus was five. As of this point, I was thoroughly confused, and finding no explanation on the web, I turn to this board - what’s the deal with there being two works of the same name? What are the origins of these two pieces, and how did they happen to acquire identical names? For reference, online copies of both gospels can be found here: [The Gospel of Thomas (My version)](http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html) [The Gospel of Thomas (His Version)](http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/religion/InfancyT.htm) (PS: First OP! Woohoo!) ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/2 "2003-01-06T10:50:49Z")
Well, I’m no expert, but there are indeed two apocryphal gospels traditionally ascribed to Thomas. The one your friend knew about is sometimes called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas to distinguish it from the one you knew about. There are several people who have more than one book of canonically-accepted scripture ascribed to them, so why should it be surprising to find two apocryphal books ascribed to the same person? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/3 "2003-01-06T11:37:42Z")
Is this really a debate? There are two versions of [Thomas,](http://www.murple.net/thomas/thomas_comment.html) but they’re both what you refer to as “My version”. What you refer to as “His version” is called the “Infancy Gospel of Thomas”, which is an [entirely different document.](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/4 "2003-01-06T11:39:42Z")
[Correct link to Infancy Gospel.](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancythomas.html) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/5 "2003-01-06T11:46:20Z")
Yeah, this just a General Questions thread really, unless you want to do something like debate whether the Gospel of Thomas should have been canonized by the Nicene politicians. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/6 "2003-01-06T12:14:54Z")
That’s not something _I_ want to debate, **Lib** , especially not the Infancy Gospel. Can’t answer for the OP, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/7 "2003-01-06T17:00:58Z")
Aw, c’mon, Desmo! The Infancy Gospel of Thomas would’ve been **perfect** for the Nicene politicians to canonize! Can’t you just imagine how different the modern Pat-Robertson-like Fundamentalist Christians would be, if the Infancy Gospel **had** been included in the New Testament? “Making fun of your peers in elementary school is a sin! Our lord will strike you dead if you do it.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/8 "2003-01-06T17:15:40Z")
[What’s up with the “lost books of the Bible”?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_141.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/9 "2003-01-06T19:13:57Z")
There are rumors of a third. Fragments from mummies in Roman-era Egypt contain scraps of this Gospel. It is unlikely they will ever be restored. PS–Roman-era Egyptian mummies were wrapped in something like paper mache’, not cloth. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/10 "2003-01-07T01:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _Tracer_ > Making fun of your peers in elementary school is a sin! Our lord will strike you dead if you do it." Infancy Thomas Jesus is like Damien. Everybody’s terrified of him. He’s a demonic little murderer. I have no idea what the author was trying to accomplish, but I don’t see how it would attract anybody _to_ Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-real-gospel-of-thomas-please-stand-up/146907/11 "2003-01-07T01:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*Aw, c’mon, Desmo! The Infancy Gospel of Thomas would’ve been **perfect** for the Nicene politicians to canonize! Can’t you just imagine how different the modern Pat-Robertson-like Fundamentalist Christians would be, if the Infancy Gospel **had** been included in the New Testament? > > “Making fun of your peers in elementary school is a sin! Our lord will strike you dead if you do it.” > > 😉 \*\* Oooooooooh! And the horror movies they could make! The axe wielding murderer killing all the young, sexy starlets is really Jesus! There’s a plot twist for ya, baby! (It would also help with the whole coming back from the dead thing for the sequels!)