The Gospel of Thomas (Shambhala Library) [Hardcover]

Stevan Davies (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Shambhala Library | Publication Date: December 28, 2004

In 1945, a Coptic document containing sayings attributed to Jesus was discovered deep within an ancient Egyptian cave. This "lost gospel," the Gospel of Thomas, was written at the same time as the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and is now considered one of the greatest religious discoveries of the twentieth century. It contains 150 sayings, approximately half of which are found in the New Testament—the other half of which are found only here. These new sayings offer an original perspective on Jesus' message. Most notably, they emphasize that the Kingdom of Heaven exists right before us in this present moment, and all that we have to do is recognize it. This edition includes an extensive foreword by Andrew Harvey, as well as commentary that explains biblical terms, philosophical concepts, and historic contexts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1ST edition (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301862
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301869
• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 0.7 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,864 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very different take on Jesus and the parables, July 27, 2007

By 

blowfly13 (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gospel of Thomas (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

This book makes the point that you are supposed to figure out the meaning of the Gnostic gospels (with which this gospel is loosely groupd) by yourself, so the author feels he can't do more than sort of point you in the right direction. Which he does in a fascinating way. This is a take on Jesus that is radically different than that of the Bible. For one thing, the Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is consistently spirited and even sometimes humorous, as opposed to the sometimes spirited, sometimes mild-mannered split personality in the Bible (for which there are, of course, theories). For another, the author's interpretation of stories found in similar form in the bible is pretty much opposite that found in teh Bible. His interpretation of the prodigal son was startling. For those of us who are very familiar with Biblical interpretations, this book is fascinating because it stands those interpretations on their heads. It left me wanting more, so even though I'm supposed to figure it all out for myself, I'm gonna cheat get a book with more in depth interpretations. Well worth reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book !, May 20, 2007

By 

J. Macek - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gospel of Thomas (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

This is the best book out for "Thomas Christians" like myself. The deep insights and explanations of the sayings of the author are nothing less than incredible! I have become a better Christian after indulging in the numerous insights of the author. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. I liked the book so much I bought two of them!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important to note, January 3, 2008

By 

C. Bhairo - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gospel of Thomas (Shambhala Library) (Hardcover)

This book is the same thing as The Gospel of Thomas: Annotated & Explained (Published by Skylight Illuminations). It has the same text, except this book has a hard cover, and the annotation format is slightly different.

I bought the paperback version of this book, and it is already falling apart. If I knew this book existed, I would have bought this hardcover version instead. There is almost no difference in price.

One caveat though: As I mentioned, the annotation format for this book is different. Stephan Davies comments are written along with each verse of the Gospel of Thomas. In the paperback book, his comments are written on the left side of each page, separate from the Thomas' verses. It's important to note this because there is another comment below this one, where the guy seems pissed off that the Gospel of Thomas isn't written by itself, but it is combined with the author's commentary. If you don't understand what I mean about the book format differences, just use Amazon's feature to read sample book pages and see for yourself