Waubonsee Community College

The Gospel of Thomas, produced by Casablanca Films

dan

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

The Gospel of Thomas

electronic resource

747799352

produced by Casablanca Films

53

Religion, archaeology and understated drama intertwine in the story of the discovery of ancient papyrus manuscripts in a sealed jar in a cave in southern Egypt in 1945. Written in Coptic, an old Egyptian language, one of them turned out to be a lost gospel containing the words of Jesus, the so-called Gospel of Thomas. A young Dane, Soren Giverson, was the first scholar to examine them in 1957. He dedicated his life to their study. The opening words of the manuscript, which dates from 340-343, reads "These are the hidden sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Judas Thomas the Twin recorded." The twenty-two pages contain one hundred fourteen parables ascribed to Jesus and differs from the four other Gospels in that it is directed to his intimate disciples and not to a larger audience. Filmed against the stark desert landscape, the documentary brings out the simplicity and mystery of the parables, as well as the zeal that went into tracing their origins

general