I have already taxed your patience with this superficial account of some of our experience on the shared journey through the Thomas Gospel. It may have served to put the Gospel and its unique indeed revolutionary character more clearly on the map for you, and to position it broadly in relation first to the later consolidated doctrines of the worldwide catholic Christian Church, and second to the Indian advaita tradition.

Despite the profundity and spiritual power of these teachings, it seems clear that they are in essence of a mystic and esoteric nature which could arguably never have served as a platform for a truly ‘catholic’ church – in the sense of a church open to all. Moreover, we must try to envisage the extremely complex political and spiritual currents and eddies which were sweeping the whole Mediterranean and middle East from before the birth of Jesus up to four centuries thereafter: a veritable hotch-potch of languages, principalities, cultures and political movements blended with religions and beliefs of every shape and hue — from the powerful Hebrew tradition of the Old Testament, through Zorastrianism, Gnosticism and many others, to the Indian Vedanta. Had not a powerful consensus and truly millennial strategies for growth been hammered out, with much bloodshed, on the streets of Alexandria and many other cities as well as behind closed episcopal doors, it is doubtful that any part of the teaching of Jesus would have acquired the global influence it achieved at the zenith of the Church’s power.

On an esoteric and personal level however the Thomas Gospel is a rich and vital accretion to those who wish to embark on journeys of a spiritual kind, and unquestionably offers new signposts in searching for the soul.

Find out more about the 'Jesus Untouched' book used by Andrew Redpath and The Thomas Circle:

Visit also www.gospelofthomas-met.info

Visit also www.gospelofthomas .info