Rating: 
Summary: Gets you thinking!
Review: In the early days of the Christian Church there was a small flock of believers who really engaged in their religion. They thought it through and argued over the nature of divinity and what it meant to be a Christian.As one would expect, with such ardent argument going on, there were many diverse views of what belief should be. The Gospel of Thomas is only one of these beliefs. Gnostic Christianity is another. To compound the matter the Christian church was ruled by five prelates, each seeing himself as equal to the other four. Rome, Byzantium, Antioch, Jereusalem and Alexandria each felt entitled to promote their own ideas. Over time, as the church grew larger and larger, there was an increased need for simplification. Argument confused new converts. The church decided to sell one single message. And the Gospel of St John emerged as the winner over the Gospel of St Thomas. There were undoubtedly many other texts discarded along the way to arrive at the Catholic Dogma. Once the Dogma was agreed, all other beliefs and arguments became heresy, and they were rooted out and culled by a church that went from strength to strength. The wisdom of the approach adopted by the Christian church was attested to by it's subsequent success. But in the last century, with increasing educational levels, the faithful are asking hard questions again in a way they have not done since the days of the early Christian church. And the major churches have singularly failed to answer these questions. This has caused a fall off in church attendance, a drift into eastern beliefs and a revival of gnosticism. Elaine Pagels raises many questions in her book, and points to the personal circumstances that led her to ask the hard questions of her church and her belief. She had revived her own faith by revisiting the thinking of the early church. And she hopes that others can do the same. For a Vatican that is horrified by the revival of the "Eastern Heresy" this is bad news, and they do not like it. But then the Vatican has been out of step with society for the last 40 years. It is locked in a medieval timewarp that is a product of feudalism and the "divine right to rule". They seem to have missed events such as the English Civil War, the French Revolution and the arrival of democracy. The idea that wisdom could flow upwards from the "flock" is foreign to the organised church, who are too used to dictating from the top.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting and Inspiring
Review: In BEYOND BELIEF Elaine Pagels describes the remarkable generosity and charity which characterized early Christian communities in crowded cities such as Rome, Antioch and Carthage. These groups are shown to be extremely diverse with a variety of ways open to prospective members wishing to be included. This is in sharp contrast to the requirements of Christian churches in the fourth century after the time of Constantine when Christians are required to profess strict creeds formulated by church leaders. The Gospel of Thomas and more than fifty other ancient Christian texts were discovered at Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt in 1945. As scholars examined these unique writings a new appreciation of the varied nature of early Christianity began to emerge. The Gospel of Thomas encourages us to find out what is concealed within us instead of telling us exactly what to believe. The Jesus of the Gospel of John claims that He is the light. The Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas directs us to search inside ourselves for the light. Ireneus, a church leader in Lyons in the late second century, was the champion of the theology expressed in the Gospel of John. It was Ireneus who wielded more influence than any other Christian of his time over the formation of the canon which was finally accepted in the fourth century as representative of the othodox view. Elaine Pagels writes with an optimistic tone similar to that found in many works by Marcus Borg. Pagels weaves her own personal testimony throughout the text of BEYOND BELIEF. Anyone who is on a journey of spiritual discovery will find much encouragement and inspiration from this book. Still others may find it to be the most interesting publication they have encountered in a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: As a Christian who has trouble obediently mouthing the words of the Nicene Creed each week without wondering what they meant to the people who wrote them, not to mention what they can mean to us today, I found Ms Pagels' recent book to be very enlightening. For the people who believe that the New Testament canon fell out of heaven, or that Christianity is defined by and limited to orthodoxy, it will be troubling and, dare I say it, heretical. Too bad. If you are struggling to develop a meaningful and non-exclusivist faith, read this book. It will be very helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: personal, not systematic exegesis
Review: Pagels' book is an almost-too-good representation of syncretist gnostic thought. The fact is, though, to understand the Idea or Essence in any system of thought, we must go to the doctors or epitomes of that creed. The proper study of this dualism, and its relation (anti-relation) to Christianity is to be found in, e.g., Manichaeism, Buddhism, Catharism. Dried-up popular and superficial creeds don't have the life in them that these more excellent (and demanding faiths) do. The proof is plain; each of these aforementioned movements has its Saints. Where, I might (unfairly) ask, are the martyrs, the living perfections of the New Age movement? One actually has to stifle his laughter; it (Gnosticism) will fade again, and return again; no matter. Pagels is no saint.
Rating:
Summary: Religion of the heart; Religion of the head
Review: Elaine Pagels' book is a touching look at how a relgious scholar through personal tragedy came to get in touch with the experience of faith. It seems to me that she started with a religion of the head (understanding through intellect, history, language and cultural background) and then came to experience something outside and greater than herself. This book is less a work of scholarship and more a personal revelation. Along with other books about the early church, there seems to be a developing school of thought that the early church was more diverse and less well defined than reading the gospels might imply. I found her description of how the gospels became THE GOSPELS to be informative without being unnesccesarily critical of those involved. This is not the most research-based and empirical book available on the topic; it an interesting personal statement with an introduction to contmeporary religious scholarship and well worth reading on its own merits.
Rating:
Summary: A unique exploration of a lost gospel
Review: This is the most compelling and unique of all of Elaine Pagel's books. This work is unique and compelling in the sense that the author offers us a very rare glimpse inside her personal and religious life. Her experience with religion as a child and later as a mother coping with the death of a child does much to put this Gospel of St. Thomas into context. You can appreciate her insights into to this long lost gospel and the journey that got her to these insights that much more as a result. We hear so much about the lost gospels and the secret teachings that are tucked away in these documents. If you are interested in learning more about what is in those secret teachings and why those teachings never became part of the orthodoxy. Whether this orthodoxy is the New Testament or the teachings of Catholicism, her deft handling and explanation of the historical account of the establishment of what teachings were catholic and acceptable and what teachings were heresies and unacceptable is enlightening. I strongly recommend this book, especially if you are they type who likes to ask why.
Rating: 
Summary: "If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain."
Review: A bit over twenty years ago, I had the chance to talk with Elaine Pagels' late husband, Heinz Pagels (he died several years later in a tragic accident). We were both physicists and happened to be discussing the Big Bang. I casually used the phrase "the moment of creation" as verbal shorthand for "the moment at which the Big Bang occurred." Heinz Pagels reacted badly to my choice of words. What I had intended as an informal manner of speech, he took to be a religious reference and he made clear that he had very negative feelings towards talk that smacked of religion. It was only later that I found out that he was married to an internationally-renowned scholar of early Christianity, Elaine Pagels. Reading Elaine Pagels' "Beyond Belief" gives some insight into why her late husband acquired a severe allergy to talk about religion. Pagels divides early Christianity into three separate strands. One strand, represented by the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, sees Jesus as a human being chosen by God and given special powers and responsibilities far beyond those of normal mortal men. The second strand, represented by the Gospel according to John, sees Jesus as an eternally existing aspect of God who came to earth to save humankind. Traditional orthodox Christianity is an attempt to meld these strands together into one. The third strand, represented by the gnostic Gospel of Thomas, agrees with John that there is a streak of divinity in Jesus but claims that such a streak is also present, if only we can uncover it, in every human being -- we are, each of us, Sons of God (or Daughters, as the case may be). Pagels thinks it a shame that established Christianity rejected this third strand in favor of the dogmatic "Jesus is uniquely God" doctrine which came to constitute Christian orthodoxy. Like most modern scholars of Christianity and of the New Testament, Pagels simply cannot believe that the carpenter from Nazareth was really God Incarnate, that he was born of a virgin, that he physically rose from the dead, etc.: she states explicitly that "most New Testament scholars" -- herself clearly included -- regard these stories as a "mixture of legend and midrash, that is, storytelling..." Yet, as she describes in eloquent detail, she has found personal comfort, solace, and charm in many aspects of the Christian story and the cultural accouterments that have been created around Christianity. In short, Pagels wants to keep the good stuff but throw out the embarrassing theology that strikes her and her colleagues as obvious nonsense. Her way of doing this is to create an alternate Christianity based on ancient gnosticism, as represented by the Gospel of Thomas. I sympathize. I too am charmed by the story of the Nativity, moved by the (mutually contradictory) descriptions of the Crucifixion, and enchanted by Christmas carols, Handel's Messiah, etc. But, sociologically and psychologically, it will not work. Pagels tries to blame the "wrong turn" on a few early bad fellows, notably the early Bishop, Irenaeus. However as the history of American religion in the last fifty years shows, the mass of believers want the straightforward, reassuring "old-time religion" embodied in orthodoxy: it is the evangelical churches, teaching unvarnished orthodoxy, which have swelled in membership. Those churches which have tried to accommodate the doubts and uncertainties of modernity have steadily declined. And, as Philip Jenkins argues in "The Next Christendom," the new wave of Christianity in the Third World, which will eventually supplant Euro-American Christianity, is depressingly orthodox. Pagels herself concedes that non-gnostic orthodoxy (personified by the author of the Gospel of John) "promises great reward: forgiveness of sins, solidarity with God's people, and the power to overcome death. In place of Thomas's cryptic sayings John offers a simple formula, revealed through the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection: 'God loves you; believe, and be saved.'" Exactly. But there is an even more basic flaw in Pagels' position. It suffers from a certain "logocentrism," a belief that by twisting and turning and manipulating words, we can protect ourselves from unforgiving external reality. This was the chronic illness of the twentieth century. For decades, the Societ commissars produced one fantastic "Five-Year Plan" after another, convinced that if only the people would truly believe in the words of the Plan, this Plan would somehow work. It never did. The liberal welfare state here in the U.S. and, currently, the neoconservative warfare state have exhibited the same fixation on verbal promises over actual reality. Pagels offers the same sort of verbal manipulation in the realm of religion: no matter what the reality is, if we can use pretty words to console ourselves, all is well. Pagels actually quotes Irenaeus denouncing the gnostics' verbal manipulations: Irenaeus declared that while gnostics "say the same things [as orthodox Christians], they mean something different by them." Pagels replies, "[W]hat is _wrong_ with that?" Pagels is an engaging, passionate, and informative writer. However, if one concludes, as Pagels apparently has concluded, that Jesus of Nazareth really did not physically rise from the dead, really was not born of a virgin, etc., the honest tack would be to admit that Jesus was simply an ordinary Joe, no more worthy of worship or adoration than anyone else. In short, all those, such as Professor Pagels, who wish to move "beyond belief" must, if they are truly honest, move beyond Christianity. Gnostics, both ancient and modern, want all of the comforts and benefits of true religion, without any of the true commitment or costs. That is simply dishonest. And, I suspect, that may explain why Professor Pagels' late husband, twenty years ago, exhibited to me such a profound antagonism towards talk that casually alluded to religion.
Rating:
Summary: You can't always get what you want but if you try sometime..
Review: Like many progressive Christians, Pagels appears to seek to reconcile her skepticism of orthodox Christianity and her desire to stay within the realm of Christianity. Pagels makes a strong argument that the Gospel of John is qualitatively different from the other three Gospels. Pagels is not the first to make the distinction, John is not one of the synoptic Gospels and was written at least 60 years after Jesus' crucifiction. Using the Secret Gospel of Thomas which was apparently written at approximately the same time as the Gospel of John, Pagels is able to use historical anaylsis and human psychology to explain why John was so important to the early Christian Church and why Thomas was so threatening. For those who believe that the gospels are the "word" this book will be merely another example of a disenchanted Christian trying to bend religion for their own purposes, for those who believe that religious institutions are human made, Pagels presents a strong review of early church history and provides some, though limited alternatives.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: Overall a good book though as one other person said it does contain a little to much of Pagels personal beliefs. Another commenter stated "First, Pagel's assertion that both gospels may have been written around the same time is a tenuous assumption at best" In response i would say that they didn't have to be written at the same time for Pagels assertion to be true***. The Thomas doctrine most likely existed before it was officially written as a gospel. I've also noticed many people quoting the GThom's statement (that a women must become male before they can attain heaven) as an example of the supposed anti woman stance of the Gnostics. I think Its kind of silly that people are taking this Gnostic doctrine in a LITERAL sense as if the Gnostics thought women needed to grow a @#$%$ before they can go to heaven. ***If i remember correctly she says the same thing in the book
Rating:
Summary: Pagels Shines Again
Review: This is theological writing at its best: laying out complex ideas in a way that makes them understandable and easy to grasp. Pagels obviously brings formidable gifts of scholarship and academic analysis to bear, without being overbearing. If the reader wants to follow the research further, s/he can use the wealth of endnotes to guide that pursuit. I also like the way in which Pagels, in this work, weaves in just enough of her own story and background to let you know the particular ground on which she stands - and rich ground it is! If you have ever found yourself questioning how specific theological points of view came to be "canonized" over others, then this book is for you.
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