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1 The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas This book addresses two central questions in current research on the Gospel of Thomas: what was its original language, and which early Christian works influenced it? At present, theories of Thomas as a Semitic work abound. dismantles these approaches, arguing instead that Thomas is Greek literature, and that the matter of Thomas s original language is connected with an even more controversial question: that of the relationship between Thomas and the canonical New Testament. Rather than arguing that Thomas is independent of Matthew, Mark and Luke (as in most Western Aramaic theories of Thomas) or thoroughly dependent on the four Gospels (as in most Syriac approaches), Gathercole develops a newly refined approach to how Thomas is influenced by the Synoptic Gospels. Thomas can be seen to refer to Matthew as a Gospel writer, and evidence is discussed showing that Thomas incorporates phraseology distinctive to Luke, while also extending that special Lukan language. simon gathercole is Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Theology at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He is the author of Where is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul s Response in Romans 1 5 (2002), The Pre-existent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark and Luke (2006), and The Gospel of Judas: Rewriting Early Christianity (2007). He is co-editor (with L.T. Stuckenbruck and S.D.E. Weeks) of The Book of Tobit (2004) and (with J.M.G. Barclay) Divine and Human Agency in Paul and his Cultural Environment (2006).

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3 SOCIETY FOR NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES MONOGRAPH SERIES General Editor: John Court 151 The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas Original Language

4 SOCIETY FOR NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES MONOGRAPH SERIES Recent titles in the series 127. Matthew s Trilogy of Parables wesley g. olmstead 128. The People of God in the Apocalypse stephen pattemore 129. The Exorcism Stories in Luke-Acts todd klutz 130. Jews, Gentiles and Ethnic Reconciliation tet-lim n. yee 131. Ancient Rhetoric and Paul s Apology frederick j. long 132. Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi joseph h. helleman 133. Theological Hermeneutics and 1 Thessalonians angus paddison 134. Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus mark a. chancey 135. Christology and Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark suzanne watts henderson 136. The Judaean Poor and the Fourth Gospel timothy j.m. ling 137. Paul, the Stoics and the Body of Christ michelle lee 138. The Bridegroom Messiah and the People of God jocelyn mcwhirter 139. The Torn Veil daniel m. gurtner 140. Discerning the Spirits andré munzinger 141. The Sheep of the Fold edward w. klink iii 142. The Psalms of Lament in Mark s Passion stephen p. aherne-kroll 143. Cosmology and Eschatology in Hebrews kenneth l. schenck 144. The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts osvaldo padilla 145. The Assumed Authorial Unity of Luke and Acts patricia walters 146. Geography and the Ascension Narrative in Acts matthew sleeman 147. The Ituraeans and the Roman Near East e.a. myers 148. The Politics of Inheritance in Romans mark forman 149. The Doctrine of Salvation in the First Letter of Peter martin williams 150. Jesus and the Forgiveness of Sins tobias hägerland

5 The Composition of the Gospel of Thomas Original Language simon gathercole

6 cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Gathercole, Simon J. The composition of the Gospel of Thomas : original language and influences /. p. cm. (Society for New Testament Studies monograph series ; 151) Includes bibliographical references (p. 271) and index. ISBN (hardback) 1. Gospel of Thomas (Coptic Gospel) Language, style. 2. Gospel of Thomas (Coptic Gospel) Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BS2860.T52.G dc ISBN Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

7 Contents Acknowledgements List of abbreviations page ix xi Introduction 1 Part I: The original language of Thomas 17 1 The problem of the original language of Thomas 19 2 Methodological problems with Semitic theories 24 3 Proposed Semitisms in Thomas: a critical analysis 43 4 Positive evidence for a Greek-language origin 105 Part II: The Synoptic Gospels and Thomas Responses to arguments for independence Thomas and the Synoptics: a method for assessing influence Matthew in the Gospel of Thomas Luke and the Gospel of Thomas The Synoptics and Thomas: summary and evaluation 209 Part III: Thomas and other early Christian literature Paul and the Gospel of Thomas The Epistle to the Hebrews and GTh 56; 80; A note on the Two Ways tradition and GTh vii

8 viii Contents Conclusion 267 Bibliography 271 Index Locorum 303 Subject Index 313 Author Index 318

9 Acknowledgements This book has been quite slow in its gestation, though I would probably have written a much inferior book much more quickly without the help of a number of others. First, I thank my esteemed former teacher, now great friend and colleague, Dr James Carleton Paget, who has been unfortunate enough to read every chapter in this book. I am also grateful to Drs Christian Askeland, Sian Thomas, Peter Williams and Stephan Witetschek for reading what is now Part I below. Conversations with Prof. Graham Davies and Dr J.F. Coakley were very helpful on some of the more convoluted Semitica in this part. Dr Paul Foster generously read the Matthew chapter, and I would like to thank the seminars in Aberdeen, Cambridge and Duke Universities, who have given me valuable feedback on sections of the book. I have been blessed with great colleagues first in Aberdeen (especially Francis Watson, Andrew Clarke, Pete Williams and Howard Marshall) and now in Cambridge, in particular, the Neutestamentler/- innen Morna Hooker, William Horbury, Judy Lieu, Andrew Chester, James Carleton Paget, Justin Meggitt, Peter Head, Peter Williams, Dirk Jongkind and not least the late Prof. Graham Stanton, who have often challenged me to think more deeply about a number of elements discussed here. Any remaining shallowness is my own fault. I am very grateful too to my Old Testament colleague, Dr James Aitken, for initiating me into the dark arts of unicode fonts. I would like to offer my gratitude to Laura Morris and Anna Lowe of Cambridge University Press, and John Court, the series editor, for accepting the volume for publication. As ever, my greatest debt is to my family, including my parents and especially my wife Rosie. Martha has provided a good deal of fun along the way, as has Freddie, who perhaps occasionally thought I was writing a book about Thomas the Tank Engine. ix

10 x Acknowledgements Finally, I would like to thank Jimmy Dunn Doktorvater extraordinaire. It has been one of the great joys of my academic career to get to know him. We have often sparred something we both enjoy! but it is finally a pleasure to be able to write a book with which he may, at least in part, agree. It is to him that this volume is dedicated. Soli deo gloria.

11 Abbreviations AB Anchor Bible AH Against Heresies/Adversus Haereses (of Irenaeus) ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ARC ARC, The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies (McGill University) Asc. Isa. Ascension of Isaiah As. Mos. Assumption of Moses ATANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments BCNH Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum theologicarum Lovaniensium BHT Beiträge zur historischen Theologie BIFAO Bulletin de l Institut Français d Archéologie Orientale BThZ Berliner Theologische Zeitschrift BZ Biblische Zeitschrift BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly c. Cels. Contra Celsum CCSA Corpus Christianorum. Series Apocryphorum CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum CJT Canadian Journal of Theology CRINT Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum Dem. Demonstrations (of Aphrahat) DSS Dead Sea Scrolls EH Ecclesiastical History (of Eusebius) ETL Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses ETR Études théologiques et religieuses EvTh Evangelische Theologie ExpT Expository Times GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller xi

12 xii List of abbreviations GTh HE HO HTR HTS ICC Int JAAR JAC JBL JETS JSNT JSNTSS JSOT JSOT JSP JSPSS JTS LAB LNTS LSJ LTK LXX Neot NHD NHMS NHS NIGTC NovT NovTSuppS NTA NTD NTS NTT NTTS OECGT OrChr OS Gospel of Thomas Historia Ecclesiastica Handbuch der Orientalistik Harvard Theological Review Harvard Theological Studies International Critical Commentary Interpretation Journal of the American Academy of Religion Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Press Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series Journal of Theological Studies Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (Biblical Antiquities of Ps.-Philo) Library of New Testament Studies Liddell-Scott-Jones, Greek-English Lexicon Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche Septuagint Neotestamentica Nag Hammadi Deutsch Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Nag Hammadi Studies New International Greek Text Commentary Novum Testamentum Novum Testamentum Supplement Series Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen Das Neue Testament Deutsch New Testament Studies Nederlands theologisch tijdschrift New Testament Tools and Studies Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts Oriens Christianus Old Syriac

13 List of abbreviations xiii PG Patrologia Graeca (ed. Migne) PGL Lampe, Patristic Greek Lexicon PL Patrologia Latina (ed. Migne) Plant. De Plantatione (of Philo) RBL Review of Biblical Literature REJ Revue des études juives RevB Revue biblique SBL Society of Biblical Literature SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers SC Sources Chrétiennes SCM Student Christian Movement SecCent The Second Century: A Journal of Early Christian Studies SJC Sophia of Jesus Christ SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Soph. Sophist (of Plato) Strom. Stromateis (of Clement of Alexandria) TC TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism ThR Theologische Rundschau TLG Thesaurus Linguae Graecae TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung TS Theological Studies TU Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur TynB Tyndale Bulletin TZ Theologische Zeitschrift VigChr Vigiliae Christianae VigChrSupps Vigiliae Christianae Supplements Vir. Ill. De viris illustribus (Jerome) WBC Word Biblical Commentary WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament ZAC Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum/ Journal of Ancient Christianity ZNW Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

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