The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

312 THE DIFFERING APPROACH TO A THEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
Against this background it is also understandable why the Gospel of
Thomas hardly contains any passages resembling the Qumran texts in
either language or content. A religious historical comparison thus can
only show how far the Gospel of Thomas has distanced itself from these
early Jewish traditions. All the more notable, precisely the motifs of the
Gospel of Thomas without parallel in early Judaism or the New Testament
are above all parallel in content to further writings from Nag Hammadi.
I briefly explain this fact by using one striking example: In Gos. Thom.
83–84 the reader is abruptly faced with statements about the image-like
and paradigm-like quality of human existence. According to Gos. Thom.
83a, human beings can recognize “images” but not the light contained in
them. This is “hidden in the image of the light of the Father.” Even if the
Father reveals himself, his image is hidden by his light (83b–c). The following
saying (84) explains these statements in greater detail. Saying 83
was shaped as an impersonal, general statement; now in 84, Jesus
addresses the disciples directly. He promises his disciples that they will be
joyous when they “see the images that correspond to them.” The consolation
ends with an unanswered question: “But when you will see the
images which have come into being before you—neither do they die nor
do they appear—how much will you tolerate”? This question presupposes
the idea of an immortal, preexistent, and hidden core of being in the
human soul. 72
Sayings 83 and 84 thus offer partial aspects of a “theology of iconographic
representation.” 73 At the same time there is nowhere in the Gospel
of Thomas an appropriate discussion of the contents of these motifs.
Hence, the central question concerns which religious historical premises
are at the root of these statements. There are a number of different comparisons
to be made in the history of philosophy and of religion, such as
the Platonic or Neoplatonic tradition or Syriac ideas of guardian angels. 74
Yet it is rather obvious that Old Testament and early Jewish concepts
72. Correctly stated in Richard Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas (New Testament
Readings; London: Routledge, 1997), 164. The motifs of the luminous being of God
and the preexistence of the disciples are central aspects of the light metaphors in the
Gospel of Thomas. Cf. Popkes, “‘Ich bin das Licht,’” 641–74, esp. 656–63. Particularly
on the relationship between Gos. Thom. 83–84 and 50, see also De Conick, Voices of the
Mystics, 92; Davies, “Christology and Protology of the Gospel of Thomas,” 663–82,
esp. 668–69.
73. Valantasis, The Gospel of Thomas, 162.
74. Cf. e.g., Richard Valantasis, Spiritual Guides of the Third Century (HDR 27;
Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 35–61; Johannes Leipoldt, Das Evangelium nach Thomas:
Koptisch und deutsch (TU 101; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1967), 71; Gilles Quispel,
Makarius, das Thomasevangelium und das Lied von der Perle (Leiden: Brill, 1967), 49.