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Summary: Don't buy Pop Religion
Review: Its quite simple really. If you compare John and Thomas, you get differences. John is the "Philosopher's Gospel", Thomas, the magicians. Before you start accepting this, read about the Gnostics, Manicheans and Marcions in a historical light, see all the things they didn't understand about Christianity, then read this and realize where it all went wrong. You might as well read the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Peter while you're at it, they're sorta similar... the part where Peter starts flying is great.
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Summary: Give me that Ol' Time Herecy
Review: It is a shame that people have to try to re-animate old, long discarded heresy. Seems to happen every few generations or so. Just as the old Arian Heresy (originally from around 100 CE) has been most recently 'resurrected' by the Jehovah's Witnesses, so the so-called 'Gospel' or Thomas, a document that was not even written contemporarily to Christ, is once again being brought forward as something new, secret and somehow worthy of our attention. Any 1st year Bible College student, or most members of the better Adult Sunday Schools, could easily rebut most or Ms. Pagel's points. The problem is that most of her readers will be extremely ignorant of actual scriptral studies, much less ever even read the Bible all the way through. The 'Gospel' or Thomas was an attempt to co-opt the respectability of Jesus in order to forward the Gnostic Heresy. Gnosticism is especially attractive today because it allows it's adherants to a) Reject some of the long established truths of Christianity, which happen to be so inconvenient today (obedience to G-d's Law and Commands, objective truth and morality, non-relative ethics). One has only to read the Cannonical (widely accepted by the people of the Body, not imposed by some Star Chamber of Bishops) Gospels, the Pauline letters and the Old Testament to see the totall difference between them and the heretical work. There appears to be 'one born every minute', al least since about 300 CE.
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Summary: Are you kidding?
Review: To the reviewer who was surprised that there are more than four gospels in the new testament, there aren't. There are more than four texts going by the name "the gospel of" but only Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are canonical. With that said, how does anyone manage to take Elaine Pagels seriously??
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Summary: another gem
Review: Intelligent, wisely researched and highly illuminating journey through the history of beliefs. Pagels consistently satisfies with fresh insights and a probing, but readable, analysis of the seminal issues. I recommend reading all of her books. This one goes well with "The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You To Read," edited by Tim Leedom. If you're into Billy Graham and Benny Hinn, then run very quickly into the other direction! You must protect your preconceptions at all costs!
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Summary: Not enough information about Thomas
Review: Disappointing....
The book is only 1/5th about the Gospel of Thomas, 3/5ths about the history of the early church; and, 1/5 was about the life events which led her to look at Church history differently.
If you want a short introduction of the history of the early church and its evolution then this may be a book for that.
The cover was beautiful, the book was not.
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Summary: A wonderful history of the early Christian Church
Review: While one might argue that the title of this book, "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas" is a bit misleading, the historical story told about the early church is fascinating. How did orthodoxy come to be? Why are we just finding out about the lost gospels discovered at Nag Hammadi? What is in these lost texts that makes us ponder current Christian dogma? Pagels answers these questions with a wonderful mixture of her own spiritual journey mixed with copious and scholarly historical facts. If these questions are interest to you, buy this book! If, however, you expect to read a scholar's point-by-point explanation of the puzzling manuscript, The Gospel of Thomas, look elsewhere. She makes her point clearly that Thomas' text lies in sharp contrast to the Gospel of John canonized into the New Testament, but she does not deal with the cynic-like character and terse sayings of Thomas that puzzle the lay reader. For me, this was OK. The gestalt treatment of Thomas was more than sufficient to give me an understanding of its huge implications for current orthodoxy. I loved this book. If you want to understand the early Christian movement (50-350 CE), you must have this book. If you are interested in a scholarly and focused treatment of the Thomas text, look elsewhere.
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Summary: Not a lot about Thomas
Review: After reading Ms. Pagels' earlier work "Gnostic Gospels", I was interested in reading this new one, hoping for more information about these manuscripts. The author did not disappoint in that respect, although there was not as much information about the Thomas gospel as I had expected. Instead the reader is given a history of how the New Testament we use today came into being, and I was grateful for that, because it filled in a lot of gaps about my knowledge of this particular aspect of church history. The book is well-written and quite informative on many levels, even if the reader does not always agree with the author's conclusions, particularly about the motivation of the church leaders of the time. Ms. Pagels is an excellent writer, and has gotten me quite interested in this subject, and that is always paramount.
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Summary: Wasn't what I expected
Review: I was all kinda excited because the title beyond belief wmeans well it is beyond belief right ? So I bought it. But it was really her beliefs her being the writer. And to be honest, don't you want buy a book like this because it is EXCITING? Well, this one ain't. She's like blah bah blah about I hink this and I think that bla blah.
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Summary: Beyond Dogma: The Creation of Christ, Inc.
Review: Probably no one has been the cause of more bloodshed than Christ--not Christ the rabbi and, for some, the savior, but Christ the Idea. From the Crusades through the enslavement of the Jews, the proselytization of Hindus, Muslims, etc. the Christians have thrust their understanding of their cult down the world's collective throat. And it stands to reason. As the Bible explains, Esau would create a nation that would be the eternal enemy of the Jews. The nation was Rome, and the method of bequeathing the anti-semitism to future generations long after the fall of the Empire was Catholicism as distorted by the Vatican. This form of Christianity was and is an effort by the descendants of Esau to reclaim the birthright he sold to his brother. Pagels excavates Christianity from political and economic agendas. She strips away the dogma intended to divide and conquer and shows that the message of Christ is enduring, true, and inspiring, irrespective of one's religion. This is an important book. While no one will ever adduce conclusive and irrefutable proof of Christ's life and teachings, Pagels gets darn close with arguments and supporting documentation that are durable, persuasive, and sound. A mind opener.
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Summary: Not a lot about Thomas
Review: Let me begin by saying that I enjoyed reading this book, and I learned a lot from it about the Gnostic Gospels. That being said, however, I must confess that, the subtitle of this book notwithstanding, there is not a lot in it about the Secret Gospel of Thomas. The wide-ranging discussions in the book do make up for that, because the author covers in some detail the Gnostic Gospels found near Nag Hammadi, and that, I think, is the real point of the book. I think the subtitle should be removed, and that might end some of the controversy about this work. I alweays read non-fiction works to learn something new, and this work, to some extent, expands Ms. Pagels earlier work on the Gnostic Gospels, which I finished a week or so ago. That book gave me an interest in this subject, and I was curious to see how she explained the codification of the New Testament. I feel that was done very well, without leaning in any particular direction in her conclusions. There are other works about this turbulent period of Church history, and I intend to seek them out. That is a tribute to Ms. Pagels and her ability to stimulate intellectual interest in her readers.
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