Book of Thomas

Liber Thomas Athletae

Standard abbreviation: Bk. Thom.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 615; CANT 24

VIAF: 184769909; 696145857121222922676

Category: Revelatory Dialogues

Related literature: Gospel of Thomas

Status: in progress by Hugo Lundhaug.

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style):

1. SUMMARY

Named historical figures and characters: Jesus Christ, Matthias (apostle), Tartarouchos, Thomas (apostle).

Geographical locations: Hades, Tartaros.

2. RESOURCES

“Le livre de Thomas (NH II, 7).” Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Administrator: Eric Crégheur (features a French translation by Raymond Kuntzman).

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic (PAThs entry)

Cairo, Coptic Museum, Inv. 10544 (Nag Hammadi Codex II), pp. 138–145 (4th cent.)

Krause, Martin, and Pahor Labib. Gnostische und hermetische Schriften aus Codex II und Codex VI. Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo, Kosptische Reihe 2. Glückstadt: Augustin, 1971 (Coptic edition with facing German translation, pp. 88–106).

Kuntzmann, Raymond. Le Livre de Thomas (NH II,7): Texte établi et présenté. Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 16. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1986.

Layton, Bentley, ed., and John D. Turner, trans. “The Book of Thomas the Contender.” Pages 2:180–205 in Nag Hammadi Codex II,2–7 Together with XIII,2*, Brit. Lib. Or. 4926(1), and P. Oxy. 1, 654, 655. Edited by Bentley Layton. 2 Vols. Nag Hammadi Studies 20– 21. Leiden: Brill, 1989.

Turner, John D. The Book of Thomas the Contender from Codex II of the Cairo Gnostic Library from Nag Hammadi (CG II,7): The Coptic Text with Translation, Introduction and Commentary. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 23. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975 (text and translation, pp. 8–37).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Layton, Bentley, with David Brakke. The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations. 2d ed. New York: Doubleday, 2021 (pp. 589–600).

Sell, Jesse. “The Book of Thomas the Contender (II,7): Introduction and Translation.” Pages 199–207 in The Nag Hammadi Library in English. 3rd revised ed. Edited by James M. Robinson. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990.

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “The Book of Thomas.” Pages 232–47 in New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, Gospels and Related Writings. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by Robert McLachlan Wilson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2005.

Turner, John D. (introduction), and Marvin Meyer, trans. “The Book of Thomas.” Pages 235–45 in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures. Edited by Marvin W. Meyer. New York: HarperOne, 2007.

3.2.2 French

Kuntzmann, Raymond. “Livre de Thomas.” Pages 489–508 in Écrits gnostiques: La Bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi. Edited by Jean-Pierre Mahé and Paul-Hubert Poirier. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 538. Paris: Gallimard, 2007.

3.2.3 German

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das Buch des Thomas.” Pages 279–91 in Nag Hammadi Deutsch, vol. 3. Edited by Ursula Ulrike Kaiser and Hans-Gebhard Bethge. New York: de Gruyter, 2001.

———. “Das Buch des Thomas.” Pages 1107–21 in vol. 1 of Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. 2 vols. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.

3.3.4 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 1.1, pp. 284–88).

3.3.5 Spanish

Piñero, Antonio. “Libro de Tomás, el Atleta (NHC II 7).” Pages 267–88 in vol. 2 of Textos gnósticos, biblioteca de Nag Hammadi. Edited by Antonio Piñero. 3 vols. Colección Paradigmas. Madrid: Trotta, 1997–2000.

3.3 General Works

Fowler, Kimberley A. “From the Apocryphon of John to Thomas the Contender: Nag Hammadi Codex II in its Fourth-Century Context.” PhD diss. University of Manchester, 2013.

Gilhus, Ingvild Sælid. “Historiography as Anti-History: Reading Nag Hammadi Codex II.” Archiv für Religionsgeschichte 20 (2018): 77–90.

Jenott, Lance. “Recovering Adam’s Lost Glory: Nag Hammadi Codex II in its Egyptian Monastic Environment.” Pages 222–43 in Jewish and Christian Cosmogony in Late Antiquity. Edited by Lance Jenott and Sarit Kattan Gribetz. Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum 155. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.

Kuntzmann, Raymond. “Citations et paraphrases dans le Livre de Thomas l’Athlète.” Pages 107–16 in Écritures et traditions dans la littérature copte. Journée d’études coptes Strasbourg 28 mai 1982. Edited by J.-É. Ménard. CBCo 1. Leuven: Peeters, 1983.

———. “L’identification dans le Livre de Thomas l’Athlète.” Pages 279–87 in Colloque international sur les textes de Nag Hammadi, Québec, 22–25 août 1978. Edited by B. Barc. BCNH.É 1. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1981.

———. “Pessimisme et paraphrase dans le Livre de Thomas.” Histoire et Archéologie 70 (1983): 60–67.

Lundhaug, Hugo. “‘This is the Teaching of the Perfect Ones’: The Book of Thomas and Early Egyptian Monasticism.” Pages 135–55 in The Nag Hammadi Codices as Monastic Books. Edited by Hugo Lundhaug and Christian Bull. STAC 134. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

Nagel, Peter. “Thomas der Mitstreiter (zu NHC II,7: p. 138,8).” Mélanges offerts à M. W. Vycichl. Société d’Égyptologie Genève, Bulletin 4 (1980): 65–71.

Poirier, Paul-Hubert. “The Writings Ascribed to Thomas and the Thomas Tradition.” Pages 295–307 in The Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. Edited by John D. Turner and Anne McGuire. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 44. Leiden: Brill, 1997.

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “The Book of Thomas (NHC II,7): A Revision of a Pseudepigraphical Epistle of Jacob the Contender.” Pages 213–28 in The New Testament and Gnosis: Essays in Honour of Robert McL. Wilson. Edited by Alastair H. B. Logan and Alexander J. M. Wedderburn. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1983.

———. “Radikale sexuelle Enthaltsamkeit als hellenistisch-jüdisches Vollkommenheitsideal im Thomas-Buch (NHC II,7).” Pages 263–91 in La Tradizione dell’Enkrateia. Motivazioni ontologiche e protologiche, Atti del Colloque Internazionale Milano, 20–23 apr. 1982. Edited by Ugo Bianchi. Rome: Ed. dell’Ateneo, 1985.

———. “Sprachliche und exegetische Probleme in den beiden letzten Schriften des Codex II von Nag Hammadi.” Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 70 (1975): 5–13.

———. Das Thomas-Buch (Nag-Hammadi-Codex II,7): Neu herausgegeben, übersetzt und erklärt. Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 138. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1989.

Schoenborn, U. “Vom Weinstock. Die Gleichnisrede in LibThom (NHC II,7) 144,19–36.” Pages 267–85 in Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift für Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Geburtstag. Edited by Holger Preissler/ and Hubert Seiwert. Marburg: Diagonal, 1994.

Sell, Jesse. The Knowledge of the Truth – Two Doctrines: The Book of Thomas the Contender (CG II,7) and the False Teachers in the Pastoral Epistles. European University Studies, Series 23, Theology 194. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1982.

Turner, John D. “A New Link in the Syrian Judas Thomas Tradition.” Pages 109–19 in Essays on the Nag Hammadi Texts in Honour of Alexander Böhlig. Edited by Martin Krause. NHS 3. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1972.

———. “The Book of Thomas and the Platonic Jesus.” Pages 599–634 in Colloque International: “L’Évangile selon Thomas et les texts de Nag Hammadi,” Québec, 29–31 mai 2003. Edited by Louis Painchaud and Paul–Hubert Poirier. BCNH Études 7. Quebec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval; Paris: Éditions Peeters, 2006.