The Gospel of Thomas and Paul: Status Quaestionis, Historical Trajectories, Methodological Notes

Since the discovery of the complete Gospel of Thomas at Nag Hammadi, scholars have examined the possible relationship of this gospel with other texts and traditions, trying to identify its sources and its parallels. The canonical gospels have attracted considerable interest, but also other potential sources have been investigated. Conversely, far less space has been dedicated to the Pauline (and deutero-Pauline) epistles. In the last ten years, however, several studies specifically dealing with the relationship between Thomas and Paul have appeared: unlike previous pieces of work, they do not concern simply some conceptual similarities, but investigate the possibility that some Pauline passages could represent the source of some Thomasine logia. This article aims at summarizing and discussing these new researches, as well as some of the earlier studies. The final part of this essay proposes some considerations on the pertaining historical context, the circulation of the Pauline epistles, and the composition of Thomas.