This is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. It addresses a fundamental question now facing humanity: will we continue to delude ourselves that we are lords of the universe, that the Earth is ours to do with as we please, or will we come to understand and acknowledge our kinship with nature and the Earth, and our utter dependence upon them for our survival? There is a great spiritual division in our society today. One man or woman walks through a redwood forest, and sees the hand of God at work; another walks through the same forest and sees only board-feet. Which viewpoint ultimately wins over the hearts, minds, and allegiance of our species will determine whether or not we survive. Hayden realizes that if we come to understand the "immanence of the divine" in all creation, we can shape the future of politics to protect it. This is very heartening; "Lost Gospel" is not another hand-wringing book which offers us no guidance. By the way, the first reader review is a classic illustration of this chasm between viewpoints. How anyone at all familiar with the environmental record of the former Soviet bloc could confuse todays Greens with yesterday's Reds has me scratching both my green cover and my red, curly head! There is no need to look for an ulterior motive or hidden agenda to explain environmentalist passions. The goal is to save the Earth. Environmentalism is not a means to any other end, be it restriction of private property rights or anything else.

There has been a backlash against the environmental movement initiated by corporations that do not want to be regulated. By an immense stroke of luck, they have found allies in the Christian Right. Let's face it. The environmentalists are losing. Wilderness is on the verge of becoming a theme park. Because of pollution, the rates of various types of cancer are rising. Too many good people are silent, and those who are speaking out appeal almost exclusively to utilitarian and scientific reasoning. Unfortunately, this does not affect people at their deep emotional core--as religion can do. Hayden argues persuasively for the greening of Christianity, Buddhism and other religions. He cites St. Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, and the vow of the Bodhisattvas to protect all beings. He calls for a new Martin Luther to "nail a Green Spiritual Manifesto on the vaulted doors of the powerful." He says we should appeal to spirituality, because people ARE spiritual beings.

...Well, I read this book and found it very rich ( although not exhaustive ) in its attempt to search out the religious/spiritual sources of our alienation from the earth. Hayden is looking in the right places here; the environmental problem is wholly a spiritual/moral issue. How can we honor the Creator whilst heaping contempt upon Creation? So clear to me; so impossible for others...to see. A great book, Tom!

I have not finished to read this book but so far I love it. The best part is the chapter with the recorded word of Jesus, which I find enlightning. It also makes me sad to realize that humankind has not evolved since then.

One last thing, if you are a religious ( ) (I believe 1000% in the bible...) do not buy with this book, you wiil not understand it.

". It contains a very complete story of the finding of GThomas and follows the ms to initial publication. There are photographs and a couple of maps in this first section. The text is done very much in the same style as Borgs recent "The Lost Gospel Q" and it features a few notes by J. D. Crossan. Also by Crossan, a five page commentary at the end called "Paradise Regained", where his emphasis is on the protology of and asceticism in GThomas. This is packaged for the general public but is worth the price for the 8 photographs, 2 small maps, and the complete "unearthing" story.

this was truely a great book and i enjoyed reading it, however i desired more interpretation on "the secret sayings of the living Jesus." i thought the authors would elaborate in depth the sayings they've discovered, but rather they were just presented. I'd recommend buying the book, that is for sure, but you should research the gospel of Thomas deeply before you undertake the reading.

Perrin makes a powerful case that the Gospel of Thomas was originally written in an eastern Aramaic dialect, and, somewhat less persuasively, that it is dependent on a gospel harmony written in 173 A.D. Both conclusions challenge the premises of the Jesus Seminar and other recent scholars that Thomas was originally written in Greek and predates the canonical Gospels. Although intended for academic audiences, Perrin's book is surprisingly accessible to non-specialists and well-educated laymen.

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus contained in a 4th century Coptic manuscript that came to light in 1948. In addition, Thomas is attested in three Greek fragments that were discovered in 1898 and dated to the 2nd century. About half of its sayings parallel those in the New Testament, but others are quite different. Although scholars initially assigned the original composition of Thomas to the early-to-mid 2nd century, a recent trend in certain scholarly circles is to situate Thomas as early as 50 A.D., making it one of the earliest sources for early Christianity and the historical Jesus. As a result, Thomas has become very important in recent times.

Perrin approaches Thomas from a different angle, by concentrating on its original language of composition and using that to assess Thomas's origin. He makes a powerful case that Thomas was originally written in Syriac, an eastern dialect of Aramaic (Jesus spoke a western dialect). Perrin begins by surveying scholarship on Thomas's language of composition and notes several places where certain oddities in Thomas can be readily explained by an Aramaic or Syriac intermediary. Building on the observation that Thomas appears to be organized by catchwords (similarly sounding words that link one saying to the next), Perrin next investigates whether each saying can be connected by Syriac catchwords. He finds that Thomas has 502 potential catchwords in Syriac, but only 263 in Greek and 269 in Coptic. In addition, all but three of the sayings can be linked by a Syriac catchword to its neighboring sayings, and some of the repeated catchwords are based on puns that only work in Syriac. Perrin's case is compelling and fits very neatly with other scholars' findings that Thomas reflects an eastern Syrian provenance.

Perrin's second point, that Thomas is dependent on Tatian's Diatessaron, is less thoroughly established. Unfortunately, Perrin did not do a detailed comparison of each saying in Thomas with corresponding passages in the Diatessaron. Rather, Perrin argued that Thomas must have had written sources and the Diatessaron, as the first known source of Gospel tradition in Syriac, is the best candidate to be one of those sources. Although this argument is very suggestive and Perrin did point out a few contacts in Thomas with the Diatessaron in his initial survey, a full judgment on this issue must be withheld until the detailed comparison is made.

Those seriously interested in the Gospel of Thomas will find Perrin's book intriguing and thought-provoking. Knowledge of Syriac is not necessary to follow his arguments.

This book has a foreword by a William Murchison that refutes almost 100% of the message of the book. He claims this book is a support for a return to religious values (his) and it even has an endorsement by Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition. What hypocrisy. Buried deep in the book you will read that Jefferson did not believe in the superstitions of the bible and he did not believe Jesus was divine. He rather felt that this was made up by the Christian Heirarchy principally at Nicea. The writer of the foreword ignores everything that Thomas Jefferson has written and says that Jefferson never meant for there to be seperation of church and state in the literal sense. He writes that some religious beliefs are more valid than others and sarcastically comments (a quote!) "No responsible democratic government could give preference to one opinion over another could it?" He then attacks the educational system saying that the religous material he approves of should be taught in schools. I am INCREDULOUS! An endorsement by the Christian Coalition only says that no only are these people intolerant, THey JUST WILL NOT LOOK AT FACTS. Reason, Common Sense. A wonderful book the parts by Jefferson, but again SKIP this irritating addition and buy the one by Forrest Church. I just returned this edition and am having them send the HISTORICALLY CORRECT one. I guess the Christian Coalition will try to create "support" when they can't earn it. What's next? will the Christian Coalition (in reality a corporate funded fascist front) endorse Darwin's "Origin of Species" and claim that Darwin agreed with them about the biblical talking snake theory and that this is what should be in schools? Go figure.

I thought this book was real neat. Imagine, Thomas Jefferson being so interested in religion that he spent all this time to "talk" about the Bible. How many critics of him have ever read the Bible? Like the authors of "AMERICAN SPHINX" and "UNDERSTANDING JEFFERSON" use their proficient writing ability to mask their dirtbag opinions and, unfortunately, are able to sell them as fact. There is just too much dishonesty in historical authorship these days. Maybe it's just me, but one of the few books on Jefferson that I have found to be intellectually honest is a "sleeper" I just happened upon called "WEST POINT", by Norman Thomas Remick. It's the best keep secret. Why? I don't know. I recommend that everyone should read it. It is absolutely complimentary to "JEFFERSON"S BIBLE". As it objectively lays out Jefferson's secular philosophy, he ceases to be an "American Sphinx", and you can better "understand" why he would interpret the Bible the way he did in "JEFFERSON'S BIBLE". Mr. Patton did an excellent job on this book.

Don't allow the endorsements of conservatives like Ralph Reed discourage the compassionate, liberal Christian from reading this brilliant work. Jefferon's love for the teachings of Jesus resulted in this creative example of how inspirational the "word of God" is and how it may serve as a guide to life.

In this book, Elaine Pagels once again attempts to debunk traditional Christianity by selectively using Gnostic texts - in this case the Gospel of Thomas (hereafter, "GThom")- as her ammunition. Rather than presenting a new, scholarly engagement of the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Thomas, Pagels scatters heavy doses of her own personal beliefs between her rehashing of previously developed theses. Simply put, she has nothing new to say on a scholarly level, but plenty to say autobiographically.

Dr. Pagels seems to be someone who is thoroughly disenchanted with Christianity, particularly of the evangelical persuasion. In this book proposes that if GThom had been included in the canon of the New Testament, then Christianity would have been "nicer": it would have allowed for more individuality, promoted women more, and been less "oppressive". Such an argument reads like an exercise in creative writing; it is, indeed, imaginative. However, such an argument is nothing more than speculation - how could such an argument be proven? It can't be. But, this semi-scholarly work by Pagels doesn't rely on the concreteness of its thought or the use of its sources.

In fact, it is downright bizarre that GThom and Gnosticism are used as sources for her own personal vendetta against Christianity when GThom says that women cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven unless they make themselves male. Having heard her speak on this particular saying several months ago at the University of Florida, it is clear to me that her selective use of Gnostic texts to support a de-centered, feminist Christianity cannot really stand on its own when left to face its Gnostic sources.

If you are interested in learning about Dr. Pagels' personal life, personal gripes, tragedies, and spiritual path, this is a great book to start out with. However, if you are looking to really learn about the Gospel of Thomas, look elsewhere. Reading Richard Valantasis' translation of the Gospel of Thomas would be a good place to start.

First, a disclaimer: Elaine Pagels ranks very close to the top of my list of favorite authors. I have always found her work enlightening, interesting, well-researched, and readable.

Now, the squawk: The title of "Beyond Belief" leads the reader to expect an exegesis of the Gospel of Thomas. Although the Gospel of Thomas is mentioned from time to time, this book is about something else entirely. To the extent that it interprets any Gospel at all, the book interprets the Gospeal of John. The thrust of the book, particularly in its second half, concerns the ascendancy of the Gospel of John, as supported by church fathers such as Iraneaus and Athanasius. At the same time, it talks about the suppression of alternative or non-canonical writings, including but hardly limited to the Gospel of Thomas. Moreover, Dr. Pagels discusses at some length, the doctrinal squabbles between the orthodox movement chracterized by Iraneaus and the more liberal gnostic movement, characterized by Valentinus.

The book is interesting and provides a sketchy introduction to the panoply of gospels extant in the early church. It is well worth reading. Like any quality scholarly work, it invites the reader to further research. With voluminous footnotes and a seemingly comprehensive bibliography it points the reader to library shelves and, most likely, to interlibrary loans for further essential reading.

The book, however, talks a whole lot less about the Gospel of Thomas than the title would have us believe. I advise the reader first to read the Gospel of Thomas itself. Then read the Gospel of John. Then, and only then, read this book to find out about the Ascendancy of John, and look elsewhere for a full interpretation of Thomas.

This is an amazing book. I never knew who wrote the gospels or that there were more than the four in the new testament. Elaine Pagels explains so much about how Christianity became a system of beliefs. The book has exciting characters and is very readable. I like the way Professor Pagels uses her own experiences to tie in the themes of the book.

This is volume 1 of a 3 volume set, covering Matthew, Mark, Luke, and apparently also James and Jude. It appears that amazon.com doesn't have the other two volumes, so unless you are interested only in the first part of the Gospels, you may find this volume a problem. Fortunately, amazon.co.uk carries all three volumes. Look for author first word = Calvin, title word = Harmony It won't be immediately obvious that the first volume is the same as this book, because the set is jointly published by Eerdmans and Paternoster. This is volume 1 from Eerdmans; amazon UK has all three volumes from Paternoster.

The strongest point of Brodie's commentary is his literary approach which has greatly helped him to organize his work. However, after admitting in his introduction that the theological method of study tended to lend itself to the use of arbitrary symbolism, Mr. Brodie does not seem to make any attempt to curb his use of symbolism as he treats the text of the Gospel of John. This results in his reading into the text elements which are not present instead of trying to dig into the real meaning of the text.