In Review: Beyond Belief, by Elaine Pagels

Though the book was worth the read for me, I thought the title was deceiving. Pagels spends more than half of the book discussing the Gospel of John, which she sets up as being in opposition of Thomas. Where the synoptic gospels portray Jesus as a man, both John and Thomas portray Jesus as a god. The difference between the two is the breach that was closed by the Council of Nicea - was Jesus actually one with God, i.e. God himself and something totally unlike ourselves, so that we could never hope to be truly like Jesus - or was he as a God, an ascended man who marked his footsteps so we could follow along his path. Do we approach the Father through faith in this God-Christ, or through knowledge unlocked by the Man-Christ. Trust me that Pagels discussess this with more clarity and intelligence than I am able to muster this early in the morning.

I'm not sure what Pagels' credentials are, entirely, but she has written a number of books on this and similar topics, and seems to be very well regarded in the field. She writes intelligently and with a good deal of support and references (she uses end-notes instead of foot-notes, a good choice for this type of book), and I think she approaches the subject both as an academic and as an interested human.

The book also contains a full translation of the existing portions of the Gospel of Thomas at the end, translated by Pagels and her professor-mentor.