
The Gospel of Thomas and The Acts of Thomas are two classic Christian texts. First discovered in Egypt in 1945, The Gospel of Thomas is a record of Jesus' original words, according to his disciple Thomas. Their various translations are now complied and presented in Chinese for the first time. A series of comments are also supplied to help readers better understand the similarities between Jesus' teachings and various Oriental and Western philosophies. The apocryphal book, The Acts of Thomas, closely connected to The Gospel of Thomas, was used by the Christians at the beginning of the 3rd century. The first mentioned document revealed the missionary work of the apostle at Edessa, where the earthly remains of Thomas were brought from Madras in 163. The apocrypha wrote about Jesus' life after leaving Palestine. The Acts of Thomas (Acta Thomae) was written in the beginning of the second century by Leucius who was also the author of other apocryphal Acts. This work was based on the letters from Thomas himself and was on the information received from an embassy from South India that reached Rome after passing through Edessa and Jerusalem. The whole text was collected in 368 by Epiphanius, the Bishop of Salamina, though it was referred to and quoted much earlier. The Acts of Thomas was accepted and read together with The Gospel of Thomas in all churches utill the decree of Pope Gelasius (495) when it was declared as herectical, the real cause being the fact that it establishes the presence of Jesus long after His resurrection. Nevertheless, it is read and accepted even today by the Assyrian Church. Most recently it was published in 1823 by Thilla, and in 1851 by Tischendorf. The English translation from Syriac was translated by Dr. W. Wright in 1871. Like John, Thomas was a favourite disciple of the Saviour. His full name was Didymos Judas Thomas, which means Judas the Twin (John 20:24). Didymos is the Greek equivalent of the Aramaic Thomas. In the Arabic literature he is
Page Count:
144
Publication Date:
2016-02-08
ISBN-10:
1523827483
ISBN-13:
9781523827480
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