Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas

Spurred by personal tragedy, Elaine Pagels turns to a consideration of the Gnostic Gospels - in particular, the Gospel of Thomas. As opposed to the Gospel of John, which asserted that Jesus was an eternally existing aspect of God who came to earth to save humankind, the secret Gospel of Thomas agrees that Jesus was in some sense divine, but says that a streak of divinity can be found in all of us. The Church Fathers did not like Thomas's ideas, and attempted to suppress his Gospel as heretica…