Beyond Belief

The Secret Gospel of Thomas

By: Elaine Pagels

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Spurred by personal tragedy, Elaine Pagels turns to a consideration of the Gnostic Gospels, in particular, the Gospel of Thomas. As opposed to the Gospel of John, which asserted that Jesus was an eternally existing aspect of God who came to earth to save humankind, the "secret" Gospel of Thomas agrees that Jesus was in some sense divine, but says that a streak of divinity can be found in all of us. The Church Fathers did not like Thomas' ideas, and attempted to suppress his Gospel as heretical. Pagels believes that Thomas' words lead to a more open, welcoming, and equitable kind of Christianity. If Beyond Belief is at odds with conservative theological certainties, it nonetheless speaks to Jesus' humanity, and to our own.

©2003 Elaine Pagels (P)2004 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Exhilarating reading, Pagels's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the lively and exciting prose of a good mystery writer." (Publishers Weekly)
"A fresh and exciting work of theology and spirituality." (Booklist)
"With the winning combination of sound scholarship, deep insight and crystal-clear prose style that distinguishes all her work, Pagels portrays the great variety of beliefs, teachings and practices that were found among the earliest Christians." (Los Angeles Times)

Interesting

If you could sum up Beyond Belief in three words, what would they be?

Different approaches to Christianity

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Needed to stop and think about material before continuing on to new material

revelation

rewrote my learned history. Nuns taught a rewriting of historical facts. A lesson for today that facts can be manipulated to reinforce one 's needed belief.

There's not much about . . .

the gospel of Thomas in this book, but I guess that's caveat emptor. Other than that, a very interesting history about why we have the gospels we have, why we don't have others, and, as a result, what religion we have today. I was unaware of nearly all of this, and this book is a good starting point to decide which of the various strains of thought an interested person might follow.

Excellent book

Pagels is a breath of fresh air. She’s a brilliant writer and educator. So grateful for her work. I highly recommend this book

Compelling

I am a Christian and found this work to be fascinating. Christians whose faith is threatened by works such as this apparently have very little faith to begin with. It is serves all of us to know of the varieties of Christianity in the early years of its existence, and it should also be reassuring to the faithful that what we believe is what won out. Listen to this work carefully: distinguish between the evidence she provides and the conclusions she makes based on such evidence. The former is important, and we need to know about it. As for the latter, make your own conclusions.

Elaine Pagel + ( see her other titles )

The one star reviews are accurate if not overly critical.

The Gospel of Thomas is readdressed 2 years after this title.

Excellent.

Excellent summary of historical and religious perspectives. Also, very well presented in such limited time.

Accurate Title?

I am a novice on theology and want to learn more from an academic standpoint. Elaine Pagels is no doubt a scholar and well versed.
However, this book tried to cover four subjects under one title that included her personal history, how the gnostic gospels came to be hidden, some of the politics behind today's religious belief, and a very small amount of what Thomas' gospel said. It was too choppy and not clear on what she wanted me to learn. An in depth study of each subject would be more interesting. I look forward to listening to another book by her and hope the meaning is more clear.

Questions, Dogma, no hypothesis

I was very disappointed in the content. The author ask questions and then moves on to another subject and asks some more questions. It seems like her own Dogma blocks her ability to suggest reasonable, thoughtful answers to her own questions. Personally, I wouldn't waste your time. If you are a seeker this will not make you any kind of finder. I loved the reader's voice though.

False teachings

This author used to be my "favorite Biblical scholar" -- before I read the actual Bible and got obsessed with Christian apologetics.
She makes a case for the idea that Jesus' disciple Thomas was at theological odds with the disciple John, and compares the two "gospels," making John out to be close minded and Thomas to be the one carrying the "true" mystical teachings of Jesus.

It is very easy for non-Christian Biblical scholars to make compelling cases for why we should not believe the eye witness authorship of the canonical gospels-- until you actually listen to the Christian apologetics side of the story, which shows very strong evidence for Jesus' disciple John having written the Gospel According to John. However, Pagels admits in this book that the Gospel of Thomas was not written by Jesus' disciple Thomas, rather by a member of a Gnostic sect. When one researches historical Gnosticism, one finds its core doctrines and beliefs shockingly at odds with the most basic teachings of the Bible and of Christ. Indeed, Gnostic theology as it existed in the 1st and 2nd centuries when this book of Thomas was written and circulating, considered Yahweh (the God of the Bible) to be an oppressive demon inferior to man who was the serpent responsible for the fall of man. Gnosticism was also known for being fiercely misogynist: here's a quote from the Gospel of Thomas: "women are not worthy of life." (Saying 114).
These are dangerous waters, my friends, and this book and others like it is in direct opposition to Biblical teaching and the red letters of Christ. It will lead people directly away from the cross of Christ, the source of truth and salvation.... and down the rabbit hole of ever popular new age, be-your-own-savior, live-your-truth nonsense.