A Comparison of the Parables of The Gospel According to Thomas and of the Synoptinc Gospels

Abstract

However interesting ‘The Gospel According to Thomas’ 1 may be to students of the primitive Church, it seems at first sight highly improbable that this strange farrago of sayings will make any contribution to our knowledge of Jesus' teaching. And yet to the New Testament scholar the Gospel according to Thomas is perhaps the most interesting of all the manuscripts found near Nag Hammadi in 1945, inasmuch as some of its contents have affinities with the sayings and parables of Jesus which are found in the canonical gospels. A comparison of the parables and similitudes found in Thomas with parallel material in the synoptic gospels 2 raises fascinating and fundamental problems of higher criticism.