Infancy Gospel of Thomas

Last updated
Young Jesus brings clay birds to life (14th-century illustration from Austria) Sbs-0008 028r Jesus macht die Tonvogelchen lebendig.TIF
Young Jesus brings clay birds to life (14th-century illustration from Austria)

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Infancy of Jesus or Childhood of Jesus, the Paidika tou Iesou or just Paidika (Greek), and abbreviated as Inf. Gos. Thom. or IGT) is an apocryphal gospel about the childhood of Jesus. Together with the Gospel of James, it was one of the earliest and most influential sources detailing the activities and life of the young Jesus, although neither are included in the New Testament canon. Its creation is generally dated to the second century. The oldest extant fragmentary manuscript dates to the fourth or fifth century, and the earliest complete manuscript containing the work is the Codex Sabaiticus from the 11th century. Variants flourished that expanded the work by combining it with other stories; the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew is one example that proved popular in the medieval Latin-speaking Western Church.

Contents

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas depicts a young Jesus in full possession of divine power who is already dispensing wisdom with authority, even at an early age. This power is used in stories that can read rather shockingly to a modern reader, such as where young Jesus curses and kills those who cross him. The Jesus depicted in this gospel still performs miracles and healing as well, though.

The author of the work is not known. Some versions include a pseudepigraphal attribution to "Thomas the Israelite", which might be a reference to Thomas the Apostle, but this attribution appears to date to the late medieval period and is only in some manuscripts. The work varies greatly in style from the canonical gospels. It was possibly distributed as an addition to the Gospel of Luke or as a stand-alone work that has a dependent association to the canonical Gospel texts. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas ends with the story of Jesus in the temple at age 12 and quotes parts of the gospel of Luke. [note 1]

Date of creation

The earliest known surviving fragment of the work, Koine Greek written on a papyrus from Roman Egypt, created around the 4th or 5th century Papyrus hamburg graeca 1011.jpg
The earliest known surviving fragment of the work, Koine Greek written on a papyrus from Roman Egypt, created around the 4th or 5th century

Scholars widely agree the Infancy Gospel of Thomas dates to the mid-to-late second century AD. The work and the stories within it appear to have been popular, with a wide geographical spread and many translations to new languages. [2] At least some period of oral transmission of the source material is generally believed to have occurred, either wholly or as several different stories. [3] At some point it was transcribed, and then over time redacted and adapted. The earliest evidence of the text comes from the late second century. Two 2nd-century documents, the Epistle of the Apostles (by an unknown author) and Against Heresies (by Irenaeus), refer to a story of Jesus's tutor telling him, "Say alpha," and Jesus replying, "First tell me what is beta, and I can tell you what alpha is." [4] Irenaeus's work is dated to around 180 CE. Irenaeus did not give a name to the book he quoted from, but he condemned it as spurious and heretical. [5] An early form of the gospel, or the stories within it, circulating would make sense for the era. [4] There are further references that seem to indicate the spread of the stories; the third-century Acts of Thomas contains a possible mention. In the fourth century, Epiphanius of Salamis's Panarion quotes Jesus's childhood miracles approvingly, while John Chrysostom condemns these stories of childhood miracles as false. [6]

The infancy gospel was written in the Koine Greek language, but was rapidly translated to Classical Latin and Syriac. [note 2] Translations into other languages soon followed, including Armenian and Georgian. [10] [8]

Authorship

The author of the gospel is unknown. The author was probably a gentile Christian, as the work displays no knowledge of Judaism. [11] The author was educated and knew some rare words in an era when literacy was uncommon, but wrote in a style that was overall simple and readable. The geographic origin of the author is unknown, leaving scholars with little more than guesses. Jan Bremmer weakly suggests Alexandria in Roman Egypt as plausible, but cautions that nothing can be said with certainty on the matter. [8] Tony Burke suggests it was a place where the Gospel of Luke was held in high regard: perhaps Asia Minor (modern Turkey) or Antioch in Roman Syria. [9] Others such as Sever J. Voicu have suggested Roman Palestine. [12] J.R.C. Cousland cautions that the safest, if least specific, suggestion is somewhere in the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire. [12]

In the earliest Syriac manuscripts, no author is indicated at all, indicating either a truncated introduction, an author who wished to remain anonymous, or a compilation of existing stories by an editor. [13] In later manuscripts dating from the Middle Ages, the Gospel opens with a prologue where "Thomas the Israelite" introduces himself as the author, but with no further explanation. It is possible that this was meant to hint that the author was Judas Thomas, better known as Thomas the Apostle, thought by some Christians to be a brother of Jesus and thus familiar with young Jesus's activities. [13] [14] The Latin version closes with an epilogue where the author claims to have been an eyewitness who witnessed these events personally, another claim that seems to have been added centuries after the original story's circulation. [14]

Reidar Aasgaard suggests that the compiler, the legends, or both may have credibly been from or circulated in a rural, non-elite milieu, and could have had children as an intended audience. [10] [15]

Kristi Upson-Saia argues that a lost original story might have been a Jewish anti-Christian work akin to the Toledot Yeshu , which portrayed Jesus as an intelligent yet disrespectful trickster and magician. In this view, this origin was lost and revised by later Christians, who kept the unusual depiction of Jesus but revised the tone more positively. [10] [16]

Title

The work was generally called just the "Gospel of Thomas" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. [17] This was largely due to the influence of Constantin von Tischendorf's influential collection of apocrypha first published in 1853; the versions Tischendorf published include an attribution to "Thomas the Israelite". This picture was complicated by later developments, however. The discovery of the Coptic Gnostic Gospel of Thomas created ambiguity, resulting in the addition of "Infancy Gospel" to the title to refer to this work specifically. More generally, later scholars sifting through older manuscripts found that the editions of the work were more diverse than believed before, and other earlier manuscripts include no such attribution to Thomas, rendering "of Thomas" something of a misnomer for them. Additionally, the stories do not cover just the "infancy" of Jesus, resulting in scholars suggesting other names for the group of recensions as a whole that descended from the lost original version. Names include: [10]

Manuscripts and pre-modern translations

The start of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas in the Codex Sabaiticus 259, 66r Codex Sabaiticus 259 66r Infancy Gospel of Thomas.jpg
The start of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas in the Codex Sabaiticus 259, 66r

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was probably originally written in Koine Greek. [18] [19] It proved a popular work, with a wide geographical reach. Translations spread from the Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire far and wide: to the Latin-speaking Western half of the Empire; to the Caucuses and Georgia in the east; to Ireland in the north; to Ethiopia to the south. [8] Classical- and medieval-era copies exist in thirteen different languages, an astonishing spread for a non-canonical work. [19]

Many manuscripts, translations, shortened versions, alternates, and parallels have differences, making an exact reconstruction of the original text ( ausgangstext ) difficult. [20] [21]

Manuscript text types

Of the many different versions and alternate forms (e.g. Greek, Syriac, Latin, Slavonic, etc.), the three principal forms are commonly referred to as given by Constantin von Tischendorf. Two of those are Greek texts which are called Greek Text A (Greek A); Greek Text B (Greek B); and the third is Latin. [17] The first known publication of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was by J Fabricius and has come to be known as Greek A. [22] The Greek A is the most well-known form often used and in its full form is the longer of the two Greeks, based on at least 2 manuscripts. It consists of nineteen chapters with several alternate other manuscripts with abbreviated forms. [23] The Greek B was found by Tischendorf on a trip to Mount Sinai in 1844, which is not only shorter (11 chapters), but is a different version of the well-known A text. It has some chapters abbreviated, other entire chapters left out completely, and few new lines. [24] The Latin translations has two distinct form of versions from the Old Latin with the Late Latin. The Latin was notable as it was the first discovered with an Egyptian prologue. [25]

A Greek version of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas was found in Codex Sabaiticus, a manuscript created in 1089 or 1090. The scholarship of Tony Burke and Reidar Aasgaard in 2001–2010 identified this as more likely to be closer to the original form than the Greek A and Greek B manuscripts of Tischendorf, a stance that has been corroborated by other scholars of the text. [26]

Parts of the Latin version were translated into Old Irish poetry, probably around 700 AD according to James Carney, making this translation one of the earliest of this gospel. [27]

Earliest manuscripts

Up until 2024, the oldest manuscripts were a sixth century Syriac recension and a Latin palimpsest from the fifth or sixth century now housed in Vienna. [17] In 2024, a Greek manuscript from the fourth or fifth century was discovered, making this the new oldest manuscript of the Infancy Gospel. [28] [29] The fragment largely matches the 11th century Codex Sabaiticus version, providing support for that manuscript being a good match for older versions. [1]

Content

Young Jesus and his father Joseph sowing seeds in a field. An illustration from a manuscript of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew held by the Biblioteca Ambrosiana; the story originates from the IGT. Jesus and Joseph sowing seeds Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew Biblioteca Ambrosiana L 58 sup.jpg
Young Jesus and his father Joseph sowing seeds in a field. An illustration from a manuscript of the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew held by the Biblioteca Ambrosiana; the story originates from the IGT.

The text describes the life of the child Jesus from the ages of five to twelve, with fanciful, and sometimes malevolent, supernatural events. He is presented as a precocious child who starts his education early. The stories cover how the young Incarnation of God matures and learns to use his powers for good and how those around him first respond in fear and later with admiration. [30] One of the episodes involves Jesus making clay birds, which he then proceeds to bring to life, an act also attributed to Jesus in the Quran 5:110 , [31] [32] and in a medieval Jewish work known as Toledot Yeshu, although Jesus's age at the time of the event is not specified in either account. In another episode, a child disperses water that Jesus has collected, and Jesus kills the child. Jesus, at age one curses a boy, which causes the child's body to wither into a corpse. Later, Jesus kills another child via a curse when the child either accidentally bumps, throws a stone, or punches him (depending on the translation).

When Joseph and Mary's neighbours complain, Jesus miraculously strikes them blind. Jesus starts receiving lessons, but instead he tries to teach the teacher, which upsets the teacher who suspects supernatural origins. Jesus is amused by this suspicion, which he confirms, and revokes all his earlier apparent cruelty. Subsequently, he resurrects a friend who is killed when he falls from a roof, and heals another who cuts his foot with an axe.

After various other demonstrations of supernatural ability, new teachers try to teach Jesus, but he proceeds to explain the law to them instead. Another set of miracles is mentioned, in which Jesus heals his brother, who is bitten by a snake, and two others, who have died from different causes. Finally, the text recounts the episode in Luke in which Jesus, aged 12, teaches in the temple.

Although the miracles seem quite randomly inserted into the text, three miracles are before and three are after each of the sets of lessons. The structure of the story is essentially:

A variety of "loose" stories appear in some manuscripts but not others that are not part of the core Greek / Syriac tradition most examined by scholars. A few examples include Jesus Riding the Sunbeam, Making Dead Fish Come Alive, and Jesus Playing with Lions. [33]

Early Christian groups and ideologies

The infancy gospel and Gnosticism

Gnosticism was a variety of Christianity that flourished in the 2nd century, but attracted fierce opposition from early Catholic theologians. Irenaeus condemned an unnamed work that included the story of the meanings of "Alpha" and "Beta", and thus potentially an early version of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He wrote that this work used by a Gnostic group called the Marcosians, but his condemnation was seemingly on grounds of it being used for numerology and mystical secrets by them which Ireaneus found intolerable. It is possible that the creator of the story had no such intentions when writing the story, though. [34] More generally, Gnostics cited material shared with proto-orthodox Christians in writings discovered at the Nag Hammadi library, so Gnostics using a particular work does not necessarily imply the work originated from Gnosticism. Additionally, it is possible that Irenaeus rejected any work he considered deviant by associating it with Gnosticism, rendering him a weak source on exactly how tied this story was with Gnosticism. [35]

Still, some scholars such as Oscar Cullman have speculated that aspects of the work still seem to potentially fit within a Gnostic milieu, such as Jesus being a font of mystic wisdom from an early age. He cites the Church Slavonic's extended version of the dialogue between Jesus and his first teacher Zacchaeus as potentially representing an older and more Gnostic form of the text. [11] Other scholars against a strong Gnostic connection have argued that stories of Jesus being superior and wise were common among all branches of early Christianity. [19] Early Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria condemns a gospel he calls "According to Thomas" in a homily on the Gospel of Luke, saying it is the work of heretics. Scholars in the 19th and early 20th centuries thought this might have referred to this work. [36] However, the quoted passages do not appear in the IGT, nor did the IGT of the second century probably include an attribution to Thomas. Some older scholarship hypothesized that lost original versions of the gospel might have been more explicitly Gnostic, but it was only orthodox revisions that survived to the medieval era. However, there is no evidence of that. [37] [38] It is thought by current scholars that Origen was probably referring to the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, not the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. [36]

Other possible connections

Andries van Aarde argued that the original version of the IGT may have come from authors who were Ebionites. [10] [39]

J.R.C. Cousland has argued that the author displays a high Christology that emphasizes Jesus's divine nature over his human one, and was consistent with stories current in Roman society that depicted gods as unpredictable and fickle, yet ultimately benevolent. [40] [10] Jesus being in full possession of divine power at a young age also places the work against adoptionist versions of early Christianity that held Jesus became the Son of God at his baptism, rather than his birth or the beginning of time. [14]

Relationship with other works

The work is unusual in genre as the only work preserved out of antiquity that deals exclusively with the childhood of an individual. (Other such works may have existed, but were not preserved if so.) [10]

Scholars disagree on the work's relationship with the Gospel of James. The two gospels were the most influential sources in early Christianity on the young Jesus, despite the Church councils not including them in the New Testament canon. Jan N. Bremmer argues the Infancy Gospel of Thomas seems to have come first (c. 150–175 CE), while the Gospel of James seems to date a little later (c. 175–185 CE). [8]

Analysis

The mischievous Jesus

Somewhat later he [Jesus] was going through the village, and a child ran up and banged into his shoulder. Jesus was aggravated and said to him, "You will go no further on your way". Right away the child fell down and died.

— Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Greek A) 4:1 [41]

One element of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas found striking both by modern audiences is its depiction of a rather petty young Jesus. Jesus curses and kills those who cross him repeatedly in the work; perhaps the most striking is the incident where a five-year old Jesus curses and kills a child for the banal reason of running into him in what was presumably an accident, a cruel overreaction. The dead child's parents beg Joseph afterward to teach his child "to bless and not to curse" since Jesus is killing their children. After Joseph scolds his son and asks him why he is making trouble for the family, Jesus responds by miraculously causing those who complained, the parents of the deceased, to be struck blind. Joseph scolds Jesus again, but seemingly ineffectually; the roles of parent and child are reversed. [37]

The pericope (story) does have variants across manuscripts, seemingly motivated by a desire to better justify Jesus in it, rather than linguistic or translation difficulties. These revisions generally keep Jesus's behavior, but make the other child less sympathetic. For example, a version of the story in the Latin Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew adds that the boy is a "henchman of injustice" and that he "threw himself on Jesus's shoulder, wanting to mock him or harm him if possible". [37] One way that medieval readers might have thought on the revised versions is that just as Jesus struggles against enemies of God as an adult in the canonical gospels, young Jesus is depicted as already contending with anti-divine forces via cursing them, even if they are also only children to match him. [37]

Oscar Cullman was unimpressed with this depiction; he writes that if the name "Jesus" had not been included, the reader would never have guessed that the capricious boy depicted in the gospel was the same as the Jesus of the canonical gospels. He writes that "the cruder and more startling the miracle, the greater the pleasure the compiler finds in it." [11]

Jesus's literacy

When Joseph observed the mind of the child and his age, and saw that he was starting to mature, he again resolved that he [Jesus] should not be unable to read, and so took him out and gave him over to another teacher.

— Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Greek A) 14:1 [42]

The story makes quite a strong emphasis on Jesus's education and his literacy, referring to it in three separate pericopes. This is distinctive in that 1st-century Christians do not seem to have emphasized a literate Jesus; there is only a single story in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus writes (Jesus and the woman taken in adultery), and none in the other three canonical gospels. It seems that the idea of a literate Jesus became more prominent in the 2nd century, when the work was likely composed. A literate Jesus might also have served as an apologetic defense against possible pagan or Jewish attacks on Christianity as a religion of the uncultured. The pagan philosopher Celsus disparagingly calls Jesus's early followers as "most uneducated" as an example of the rhetoric that some Christians might have sought to counter. [8]

While the story considers Jesus's education important, it also makes clear he doesn't actually need it, and in truth should already be the teacher himself even at a young age. [21] The unwise second teacher who strikes Jesus is fitting for the time period; in the classical era, a teacher striking his student would not have been uncommon. The indoors setting is somewhat unusual, though; school buildings were rare, and education often happened outside. [8] His first and third teacher are reduced to using "flattery" on young Jesus to get him to cooperate, which would be unusual and humiliating for a teacher to stoop to, but serves to emphasize how far superior Jesus is to Zacchaeus (the first teacher) and the third teacher. [21]

Genre

While the work is a gospel in the sense that it is about Jesus, it is of a different variety than the four gospels that are included in the canon of the New Testament. [43] It contains few allusions or quotes to them, barring the sequence of Jesus at the Temple. [44] It might have been intended to have been read as a companion with them, notably the Gospel of Luke and possibly the Gospel of John. [43] [45]

Ronald Hock has argued that the work is best classified as an "ancient biography". [46] [9] Works about the childhood of Jesus have generally been called infancy gospels or infancy narratives, even when they extend to Jesus's early childhood as well beyond his birth and infancy. [47]

One disputed matter is if the work was a compiler taking a variety of independent circulating stories and making a written collection of them, or if it was a unified narrative with a plot. In favor of the former, very similar stories are included, suggesting only the most token of editing. For example, Jesus disputes with three teachers in the gospel; this suggests the compiler possibly recording three different variants of the same story. Tobias Nicklas, conversely, argues that while the work is clearly episodic storytelling, it does have character development in showing Jesus gradually becoming the Savior depicted in the canonical gospels, as he seems to grow and use his powers more productively in the later stories. [43] [48] This differs by revision, however; Tony Burke cautions that the Syriac version omits the healing miracles in chapters 10, 17, and 18 of Greek A, which weakens the idea of an implicit narrative where Jesus firms his character with age. [9]

Depiction of Jesus's family

Joseph receives more attention in this work than many other Christian works, especially the preserved works of later eras. Mary has a comparatively minor role in the oldest versions of the text. The medieval manuscript tradition and its evolution is complex, but in general, later compilations including the IGT tended to pair the work with others that focused more on Mary and Mariology, in particular in the Latin-speaking Western Church. These compilations cover the Holy Family as a group, draw on the IGT for tales of Joseph, and also include stories of Jesus's grandparents Joachim and Anna, his aunt Mary Cleophas, and so on. The Latin Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew appears to have begun incorporating the Infancy Gospel of Thomas stories in manuscripts in the 13th century. In contrast, the medieval Greek-speaking Byzantine Church tended to keep separate texts, each focused on one particular saint. [49]

While Joseph's role is prominent, he is not portrayed particularly positively in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He is not depicted as understanding his own son's divine nature, and to the extent that the message of the book is that Jesus is Lord and acknowledging this promptly is a sign of wisdom, he does not live up to this. [21]

Art and culture

Episodes from Jesus's childhood as depicted in the Klosterneuburger Evangelienwerk, a 14th-century gospel translation:

The Carpenter's Son is a 2025 psychological horror and drama film covering Jesus's early life; according to directory Lotfy Nathan, it is inspired by the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. [50]

Contemporary translations

Selected modern translations of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas into English are listed below. Translations of the Greek and Latin variants include: [51]

Translations of other languages include: [51]

Notes

  1. ↑ Compare Inf. Gos. Thom 19:1–12 and Luke 2:41–52.
  2. ↑ Some earlier scholars such as Paul Peeters  [ fr ] suggested it might have been written originally in Syriac, but this theory has not gained scholarly acceptance. The late attribution of Thomas as author removes the argument that Thomas was revered more in Syriac Christianity than elsewhere as meaningful. The Greek text of the Codex Sabaiticus, considered a good guide to the early Greek form, does not show signs of being a translation from a Semitic language. Parallels in the IGT to the Gospel of Luke don't appear to match the Syriac Peshitta. This doesn't strictly rule out a non-Greek origin and an early translation into Greek, but does render the suggestion unlikely and without positive evidence in its favor. [7] [8] [9]

References

  1. 1 2 Berkes, Lajos; Nocchi Macedo, Gabriel (2025). "Language, Style, and Meaning in Recension Gs of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Textual Notes on Codex Sabaiticus 259". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 135–146. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  2. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 180–185.
  3. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 14, 23–34.
  4. 1 2 Cousland 2017 , pp. 7–12.
  5. ↑ Irenaeus (1992) [c. 180]. Against the Heresies . Ancient Christian Writers 55. Vol. 1. Translated by Unger, Dominic J.; Dillon, John J. Paulist Press. Book 1, Chapter 20. ISBN   0-8091-0454-7.
  6. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 176–178.
  7. ↑ Burke 2010, pp. 174–178, 182, 187–188
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bremmer, Jan N. (2025). "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Date, Provenance, Readership, Education, Literacy, and Sitz im Leben". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 27–52. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Burke, Tony (2016). "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Syriac): A new translation and introduction". In Burke, Tony; Landau, Brent (eds.). New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Vol. 1. Eerdmans. ISBN   9780802872890.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Aasgaard, Reidar (2025). "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Research". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  11. 1 2 3
    • Cullman, Oscar (1991). "The Infancy Story of Thomas". New Testament Apocrypha: Volume One: Gospels and Related Writings. Translated by Wilson, Robert McLachlan; Higgins, A. J. B. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 439–453. ISBN   0-664-22721-X.
    • See also the 1959 (German) / 1963 (English) edition of New Testament Apocrypha: Volume One for the original version of Cullman's article, albeit written before the Nag Hammadi library had been fully published.
  12. 1 2 Cousland 2017 , pp. 12–13
  13. 1 2 Gero 1971 , p. 59
  14. 1 2 3 Ehrman, Bart (2012). Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics. Oxford University Press. p. 273. ISBN   9780199928033.
  15. ↑ Aasgaard, Reidar (2009). "Uncovering Children's Culture in Late Antiquity: The Testimony of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas". In Phenix, Robert; Horn, Cornelia (eds.). Children in Late Ancient Christianity. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 58. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 1–27. ISBN   978-3-16-151357-2.
  16. ↑ Upson-Saia, Kristi (2013). "Holy Child or Holy Terror? Understanding Jesus' Anger in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas". Church History. 82 (1): 1–39. doi:10.1017/S0009640712002508.
  17. 1 2 3 James, Montague Rhodes (1924). "The Gospel of Thomas"  . The Apocryphal New Testament  . Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 49–65 – via Wikisource.
  18. ↑ Frilingos, Christopher (2018). "Infancy Gospel of Thomas". Bible Odyssey.
  19. 1 2 3 Ehrman, Bart; Pleše, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–8. ISBN   978-0-19-973210-4.
  20. ↑ Cousland 2017 , pp. 3–6
  21. 1 2 3 4 Cielontko, David (2025). "Flattery in Jesus's Education in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 75–95. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  22. ↑ van Aarde, A.G. (2005). "The infancy Gospel of Thomas: Allegory or myth - Gnostic or Ebionite?" (PDF). University of Pretoria. p. 3 (p. 828).
  23. ↑ Burke, Tony. "Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Greek A". TonyBurke.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  24. ↑ Burke, Tony. "Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Greek B". TonyBurke.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  25. ↑ Burke, Tony. "Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Late Latin". TonyBurke.ca. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  26. ↑ Vukovic 2022 , pp. 32, 56.
  27. ↑ "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Irish | Tony Burke".
  28. ↑ Georgiou, Aristos (June 7, 2024). "Experts decipher oldest manuscript of Jesus childhood gospel". Newsweek. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  29. ↑ KNA (June 5, 2024). "Oldest manuscript of the Gospel about the childhood of Jesus discovered". The Irish Catholic. Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  30. ↑ Davies 2009
  31. ↑ Zebiri, Kate (Spring 2000). "Contemporary Muslim Understanding of the Miracles of Jesus" (PDF). The Muslim World. 90. Hartford Seminary's Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations: 74. doi:10.1111/j.1478-1913.2000.tb03682.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2010-01-04. In the Qur'an, the miracles of Jesus are described in two passages: 3:49 and 5:110. Qur'an 3:49 attributes the following words to Jesus: 'I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I will make for you a bird from clay, breathe into it, and it will become a real bird—by Allah's Will. I will heal the blind and the leper and raise the dead to life—by Allah's Will.
  32. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 179–180.
  33. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 245–247.
  34. ↑ Ehrman, Bart (2003). Lost Scriptures: Books that did not make it into the New Testament. Oxford University Press. pp. 204–206. ISBN   0195141822.
  35. ↑ Aasgaard 2009 , pp. 174–176.
  36. 1 2 Carlson, Stephen C. (2014). "Origen's Use of the Gospel of Thomas". In Charlesworth, James H.; McDonald, Lee Martin (eds.). Sacra Scriptura: How "Non-Canonical" Text Functioned in Early Judaism and Early Christianity. Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies 20. T&T Clark.
  37. 1 2 3 4 Kaiser, Ursula Ulrike (2025). "How to Deal with the Cursing Jesus: Observations Regarding the Textual Transmission of IGT 4–5". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 97–114. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  38. ↑ Burke 2017 , pp. 3–4.
  39. ↑
  40. ↑ Cousland 2017 , pp. 102–103
  41. ↑ Ehrman & Pleše 2011, p. 13.
  42. ↑ Ehrman & Pleše 2011, p. 19.
  43. 1 2 3 Nicklas, Tobias (2025). "Elements of a Narratival Plot About the Child Jesus in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Codex Sabaiticus 259, folios 66r–77v (H))". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 53–73. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  44. ↑ Burke 2017, p. vii.
  45. ↑ Burke 2010 , pp. 127–128.
  46. ↑ Hock 1995 , pp. 95–95.
  47. ↑ Aasgaard, Reidar (2018). "Christ, Jesus, 02: Birth and Infancy Narratives". Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online. Brill. doi:10.1163/2589-7993_EECO_COM_036556.
  48. ↑ Davies 2009 , Folk Religion and Folk Literature
  49. ↑ Vukovic, Marijana (2025). "Mary, Child Jesus and the 'Holy Family': Narrative De-/Attachment in Byzantium and the Medieval Latin West". In Cielontko, David; Nicklas, Tobias; Bremmer, Jan N. (eds.). The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Early Christian Apocrypha 23. Peeters. pp. 115–134. ISBN   978-90-429-5402-1.
  50. ↑ Solís, Jose (November 29, 2025). "In 'The Carpenter's Son,' a teenage Jesus wrestles with power and compassion". National Catholic Register. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  51. 1 2 Burke, Tony (May 2023) [October 2015]. "Infancy Gospel of Thomas". e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. NASSCAL. Retrieved 21 January 2026.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.