in English
The relationship between Thomas
13 and Mark 8:27-33 raises many intriguing questions. It might
be argued that both stories are are of principal importance in
their respective gospels; Thomas 13 validates the primacy of
Thomas' author and may be considered a charter for those who
follow Thomas, Mark 8:27-33 initiates Mark's central section
and so is the crucial turning point in his gospel's structure. |
1)Gesù chiede di se stesso ai suoi discepoli.
2)Sono fornite inizialmente risposte errate.
3)Viene data una risposta che sembra appropriata.
4)Viene introdotto un motivo di riserbo.
5)Gesù offre il Vero Insegnamento.
6)Uno o più discepoli sono rimproverati.
in English
It seems impossible that
these two could be coincidentally so similar. Either one of them
is a revision of the other, or both are revisions of some third
unknown version. Could the Thomas version be a revision of the story we find in Mark? I see no reason to think so. Matthew and Luke show how Mark's story could be revised in order to praise a disciple rather than to condemn one; Thomas does not revise in this manner at all. Further, there is no sign that Thomas has revised any other saying in Mark. Mark 8:27-33 contains a textbook set of specific Markan redactional themes. Having surveyed discussions on the issue, Brown et al. (1973:64-69) conclude that only 8:29 and 8:33, Peter's confession and Jesus' rebuke "get behind me Satan" might not be Markan redaction. Indeed, they believe the latter also might well be redactional if "one posits the creation of such a saying by an anti-Petrine group" (1973:67). Mark himself is anti-Petrine (e.g. Peter's incompetence at the Transfiguration, his disobedient slumbers at Gethsemene, his triple denial) and so 8:33 too is probably Markan redaction. We find the passion prediction account that is repeated in two other instances in Mark's central section, as well as the use of the messianic secret motif, and a statement that Jesus spoke clearly in contrast to his previous speech in parables. All of these are unquestionably Markan redaction. Further, one may strongly suspect that the condemnation of Peter stems from Mark's theory of the incompetence and culpable inadequacy of the disciples. If so, then Jesus' condemnation of Peter in verse 33, that he thinks as men think and not as God thinks, presupposes the previous passage wherein we are told how men think, which is found in verses 8:27-28. If verse 33 is redactional, the punch-line as it were, then most probably 27-28 are redactional too, for they serve to set up and give meaning to the punch-line. |
in English
Verses 30, 31, 32 are textbook
cases of Markan redaction, and probably verses 27, 28, 33 are
as well. In fact the whole of Mark 8:27-33 probably should be
regarded as a Markan construction influenced conceivably by a
tradition of a Petrine confession (cf. John 6:69). Yet the structure
of that Markan construction remains the same as the structure
of Thomas 13. Because of their similarity in structure Thomas 13 and Mark 8:27-33 are probably versions of the same original, not wholly independent inventions. Because of the overwhelming redactional character of Mark 8:27-33 it is certain that Mark's version is an extensive revision of some original. Either that original was Thomas 13, or the two are both versions of some third unknown original. Number 13 is the most important single passage in the Gospel of Thomas because it justifies the authority of the purported author of the text, authorizes the secret sayings the text purportedly conveys, offers a means by which one might attain to the excellence Thomas has attained, and specifically rejects two early and widely held alternative views of Jesus. Quite a lot for a few lines! |
in English
In the opening section of
13 two points of view are repudiated. First, Jesus is not to
be understood as a righteous aggelos. This term has sometimes
been translated "angel" but there is no early attested
notion of Jesus as an angel and no real justification for that
translation. Rather, aggelos should retain its common meaning
"messenger" with the likely implication "messenger
of the Lord." A messenger of the Lord is a prophet. The
Septuagint speaks of Haggai the prophetes as the aggelos of the
Lord, (Haggai 1:12-13). The book Malachi begins (in the Septuagint)
with an identification of the prophet as aggelos; Mark's quotation
of Malachi 3:1 makes similar use of the term in reference to
John the Baptist, "Behold, I send my aggelos before your
face...." And, indeed, many scholars (e.g. Sanders 1985,
Fredriksen 1988) believe that Jesus was thought to be a prophetic
messenger during his lifetime. Matthew is said to believe Jesus is a wise philosophos. A translation "philosopher" is not incorrect (a cynic philosopher, perhaps), but we must not overlook the literal meaning of the term: "lover of wisdom." Some recent scholarship has reached the conclusion that the Gospel of Thomas, at least at an early stage of its development, presents Jesus as a sage, a wisdom teacher, a philosopher (Crossan 1991, Downing 1988). Burton Mack (1990) writes that one would be well advised to see the tradents of the Gospel of Thomas on a sapiential trajectory from the beginning, cultivating the sayings of Jesus as a sage in conscious contrast at some point to other Jesus people who were known to entertain the apocalyptic option. "The sapiential sayings turned cryptic in the process of their cultivation wherein Jesus' invitation to be different was eventually internalized as self-awareness." |
in English
The views of "Simon
Peter," and of "Matthew", that Jesus is a aggelos,
prophetic messenger of the Lord, that Jesus is a philosophos,
lover of wisdom, are the two conceptions of Jesus which, at the
present stage of scholarly inquiry, are most commonly said to
correspond to the conceptions about Jesus' his first followers
actually held. Thomas 13 certainly evidences a turn toward the
cryptic. Thomas' story seems to leave us with a mystery: what were the three secret sayings? Surely a text advertising itself in its incipit to contain Jesus' "secret sayings" will reveal the only sayings therein which are specified as secret. Evidently the sayings would have been understood by the remaining disciples as blasphemous in some sense or another, but that is all we can surmise from that context. However, saying 108 gives a deliberate clue: one who drinks from Jesus is one to whom the hidden things will be revealed. That Thomas is such a person is evident in number 13. Why he is will be discussed below in detail. |
La storia di Tommaso sembra lasciarci con un
mistero: quali erano i tre detti segreti? Sicuramente un testo
che ha la pretesa, al suo inizio, di contenere i detti segreti
di Gesù, rivelerà le uniche cose che al suo interno
sono esplicitamente dichiarate segrete. Evidentemente i detti
sarebbero dovuti apparire ai rimanenti discepoli in qualche modo
blasfemi, ma questo è tutto ciò che possiamo desumere
dal contesto. Pur tuttavia, il detto 108 ci fornisce un deliberato
indizio: colui che beve da Gesù è colui al quale
le cose segrete saranno rivelate.
Che sia Tommaso tale persona è evidente al detto 13. Perché
sia lui sarà discusso sotto in dettaglio.
in English
The theme found in 108, that
"things that are hidden will be revealed," also occurs
in Thomas 5b and 6: 5. Jesus said, "know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed. 6. His disciples asked himn, "Do you want us to fast? How should we pray? Should we give in charity? What diet should we observe? Jesus said, "Don't lie, and don't do what you hate, because all things are disclosed before heaven. After all, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and there is nothing covered up that will remain undisclosed. James and Thomas aside, the disciples of Jesus are portrayed in the Gospel of Thomas as a collectivity who invariably ask eschatological or Christological questions in need of correction by Jesus. Here Jesus' response their questions is platitudinous and evasive. But in Thomas 13, Thomas is discovered to be one to whom things that are hidden are to be revealed, and Jesus says three things to him. Immediately thereafter Thomas 14 seems to provide the blasphemous answers to the earlier questions of saying 6 which were bracketed by the hidden/revealed motif. Thomas 14 is: Jesus said to them, 'If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth - it is that which will defile you.'" |
5. Gesù disse: "Conosci ciò che ti sta davanti, e ti si manifesterà ciò che ti è nascosto. Giacché non vi è nulla di nascosto che non sarà manifestato".
6. L'interrogarono i suoi discepoli e gli
dissero: "Vuoi tu che digiuniamo? Come pregheremo e daremo
elemosina? E che norma seguiremo riguardo al vitto?"
Gesù disse: "Non mentite e non fate ciò che
odiate, giacché tutto è manifesto al cospetto del
cielo. Non vi è infatti nulla di nascosto che non venga
manifestato, nulla di celato che non venga rivelato."
A parte Giacomo e Tommaso, i discepoli di Gesù vengono ritratti nel Vangelo di Tommaso come una collettività che invariabilmente pone questioni escatologiche o cristologiche avendo bisogno di rettifiche da Gesù. Qui la risposta di Gesù è banale ed evasiva. Ma in Tommaso 13, si scopre che Tommaso è colui al quale le cose celate devono essere rivelate, e Gesù gli dice tre cose. Immediatamente dopo Tommaso 14 sembra fornire le risposte blasfeme alle precedenti domande del detto 6 che erano state racchiuse dal motivo del nascosto/rivelato.
Tommaso 14:
Gesù disse loro: "Se digiunerete vi attribuirete
un peccato; se pregherete vi condanneranno; se darete l'elemosina
farete del male ai vostri spiriti. Se andrete in qualche paese
e viaggerete nelle regioni, se vi accoglieranno, mangiate ciò
che vi porranno davanti e guarite quanti tra loro sono infermi.
Giacché ciò che entra dalla bocca non vi contaminerà,
ma è ciò che esce dalla vostra bocca che vi contaminerà."
in English
Presumably the final redactor
of Thomas intends these three sentences to be the three secret
sayings delivered to Thomas [although I suspect that a former
version of the text contained only the three responses repudiating
fasting, prayer and almsgiving]. To understand the relationship between the Thomas and Mark stories we must first fathom the status of Thomas in number 13. As it stands it is almost completely enigmatic, but a key to understanding it is found in Thomas 108: Jesus said, He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him. Similarly, in Thomas 13 we read that "Jesus said, 'I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.' And he took him and withdrew and told him three things." Thus, drinking from Jesus, or from Jesus' spring, leads in both cases to hidden things being revealed. Evidently Thomas 13 claims that, because Thomas is one who is "like Jesus", one of whom Jesus might say "I myself have become he," therefore Thomas no longer should acknowledge Jesus as his master. |
Per comprendere la relazione tra le storie
di Tommaso e Marco dobbiamo per prima cosa sondare lo status di
Tommaso nel detto 13. Così com'è questo appare completamente
enigmatico, ma una chiave per comprenderlo appare in Tommaso 108:
Gesù disse: "Colui che beve dalla mia bocca, diventerà
come me; io stesso diverrò come lui e gli saranno rivelate
le cose nascoste."
Similmente, in Tommaso 13 leggiamo che:
"Gesù disse: 'Io non sono il tuo maestro, giacché
hai bevuto e ti sei inebriato alla fonte gorgogliante che io ho
misurato'. E lo prese in disparte e gli disse tre parole".
Così, abbeverarsi da Gesù o dalla fonte di Gesù,
porta in entrambi i casi alla rivelazione delle cose celate. Evidentemente
Tommaso 13 dichiara che, per il fatto che Tommaso è "come
Gesù", uno di coloro di cui Gesù può
dire "Io stesso sono divenuto come lui", Tommaso non
dovrebbe più a lungo considerare Gesù come proprio
maestro.
in English
Thomas' status is the key
point for comparison. Understanding 13 by reference to 108 indicates
that Jesus and Thomas have not only changed status relationships
(no longer master - disciple) but also perhaps that Thomas has
changed identities. Understood in light of 108, Thomas has become
like Jesus, has attained whatever categorical identification
Jesus is said to occupy (master, or even Christ), and Thomas
has become Jesus. Thus, Thomas can identify himself with Jesus,
for in 108 Jesus says of one who drinks "I myself will become
he." Hence, perhaps, Thomas must confess that "my mouth
is utterly unable to say what you are like." It sounds on the face of it almost inconceivable that Christians would have believed that under certain circumstances they might be said to be the same as Jesus, to be in whatever category Jesus is in, and even less conceivable that people might claim to be Jesus, to claim "not I but Jesus." But we know that some people did this and we know that Mark was not at all pleased with them. Indeed, Paul may have been such a person, for he tells us that "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me," (Gal. 2:20) and that Christ speaks through him (2 Cor. 13:3). |
A prima vista appare quasi inconcepibile che i Cristiani avrebbero potuto credere che in certe circostanze si sarebbe potuti diventare come Gesù, essere nella stessa categoria, qualunque fosse, in cui era Gesù, e persino meno concepibile che persone potessero proclamare di ESSERE Gesù, dichiarare "non io ma Gesù". Ma sappiamo che alcune persone lo fecero e sappiamo che Marco non era del tutto soddisfatto di loro. Invece, Paolo può essere stato una tal persona, perché ci dice che "Non sono più io che vivo, ma Cristo vive in me!" (Gal 2:20) e che Cristo parla attraverso di lui (2 Cor 13:3).
in English
In Mark's chapter 13, the
little apocalypse, we read passages couched as predictions that
are generally taken by scholars to refer to the time and conditions
of Mark's own community. There are two examples germane to the
present argument. First, in Mark 13:5 "Jesus began to say
to them, 'See that no one deceives you. Many will come in my
name saying, "I am he," and they will deceive many.'"
Second, in Mark 13:21-22 we read that "If anyone says to
you, then, 'Look, here is the Christ! Look, there he is!' do
not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and
will perform signs and wonders in order to mislead, if that were
possible, the elect.'" Mark was evidently concerned that
people were claiming the identity of Jesus, saying "I am
he" and that there were people claiming to be Christ and
claiming to be prophets. If, then, there were people claiming to be Jesus or to be categorically identified with Jesus (e.g. to be Christs) then Thomas 13, understood in terms of Thomas 108, gives Thomas the right to make such a claim. Jesus is not his master, for he drank, and so he is as Jesus is and can be identified with Jesus. Thomas would be one of those of whom Jesus says "I will be he" and so Thomas could claim "I am he." |
Secondo, in Marco 13:21-22 leggiamo che
"Se qualcuno vi dice: 'Il Cristo eccolo qui, eccolo là,
non lo credete; perché sorgeranno falsi cristi e falsi
profeti e faranno segni e prodigi per sedurre, se fosse possibile,
anche gli eletti".
Marco era evidentemente turbato che alcuni proclamassero l'identità di Gesù, dicendo "Io sono lui" e che ci fossero persone che dichiaravano di essere Cristo o di essere profeta (Presumo che tali persone fossero attive all'interno del movimento cristiano, per tal motivo Marco è turbato ed interessato. E' difficile credere che si sarebbe preoccupato di attivisti messianici ebrei del periodo della guerra giudaico-romana per paura che questi sviassero gli eletti cristiani non palestinesi a cui Marco si rivolgeva! NdT).
Se, quindi, c'erano persone che proclamavano di essere Gesù o di essere riconosciuti nella categoria di Gesù (ad essere Cristi), allora Tommaso 13, interpretato attraverso Tommaso 108, dà a Tommaso il diritto di fare tale proclama. Gesù non è suo maestro, poiché egli bevve, così lui è come Gesù, è e può essere identificato con Gesù. Tommaso sarebbe uno di quelli di cui Gesù disse «io sarò lui» e così Tommaso potrebbe affermare «io sono lui»
in English
The metaphor common to Thomas
13 and 108 is drinking and it is through "drinking"
that transformation occurs. This metaphor is common in early
Christian usage and here, as elsewhere, it refers to receiving
the Spirit.(9) In the Gospel of John (7:37-41) we hear that "Jesus stood up and proclaimed, 'If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water," Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." Drinking from Jesus is a metaphor here for receiving the Spirit from Jesus. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 12:13, after Paul has discussed the Spirit in some detail, he writes that "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit." |
Bere da Gesù è qui una metafora
per il ricevimento dello Spirito da Gesù. Similmente, nella
prima lettera ai Corinzi 12:13, Paolo, dopo aver discusso dello
Spirito in alcuni aspetti, scrive che
"Infatti, noi tutti siamo stati battezzati in un solo
Spirito per formare un solo corpo, sia Giudei, sia Greci, sia
schiavi, sia liberi, e tutti siamo dissetati da un solo Spirito".
in English
The metaphor of the Spirit
as a liquid that is poured out can be found in Acts 2:15-33,
following Joel 2:28-29, and in Romans 5:5, and Titus 3:6 where
the Spirit is poured out through Christ.(10)The story of Pentecost
includes reference to the fact that those who had received the
Spirit seemed to be intoxicated, and in Ephesians 5:18 we hear:
"do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but
be filled with the Spirit." There was unquestionably a metaphorical
connection in earliest Christianity between receiving the Spirit
and drinking, with the corollary that the experience of the Spirit
might be likened to intoxication. Thomas 13 and 108 fit well
into this metaphoric system. Thus I think we can understand Thomas 13 and 108 to be saying, respectively, that Jesus said: "He who will receive the Spirit from me will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him." And that "Jesus said, 'I am not your master. Because you have received the Spirit from me.' And he took him and withdrew and told him three things." |
Di conseguenza credo si possano intendere i detti 108 e 13 rispettivamente come: Gesù disse: "Colui che riceverà lo Spirito da me, diventerà come me; io stesso diverrò come lui e gli saranno rivelate le cose nascoste". E che "Gesù disse: 'Io non sono il tuo maestro, giacché tu hai ricevuto lo Spirito da me'. E lo prese in disparte e gli disse tre cose".
in English
Thomas 108 echoes the idea,
found in many cultures, that one who receives the spirit of a
supernatural person can be identified with that person. This
is called "spirit possession" in anthropology. From
this perspective it would not be at all surprising to find Christians
who believed that if one received the Spirit of Jesus from Jesus
one could thereby be identified with Jesus. One's identity depends
on the spirit that is active in one's body, and if that is the
spirit from Jesus, then one has Jesus' identity. Thus Jesus says
in 108 "I will be he," and so, as Mark reports, people
came claiming Jesus' name saying "I am he. Mark profoundly disagreed with this behavior, as we see in 13:5. Furthermore, throughout his gospel, Mark wrote to condemn Jesus' disciples' claims to special privileges and personal primacy. In Thomas 13 we have implicit agreement that Thomas might claim to be "as Christ is, and to be he" and a firm statement about the primacy of Thomas over the other disciples. Had Mark known of this saying, in its present form, in its present location (where it guarantees the primacy of the scribe and author of the Gospel of Thomas) we can understand how and why Mark would have revised it into 8:27-33. |
Perciò Gesù dice nel 108: "Io sarò lui" e così, come riferisce Marco, persone vennero proclamando il nome di Gesù dicendo "Io sono lui".
Marco disapprova profondamente tale comportamento, come vediamo nel 13:5. Inoltre lungo il suo vangelo ha condannato i discepoli di Gesù che reclamavano privilegi speciali e supremazia personale. In Tommaso 13 c'è accordo sul fatto che Tommaso abbia potuto proclamare di essere "come è Cristo, ed essere lui" ed una ferma attestazione circa la sua supremazia sugli altri discepoli. Avesse Marco conosciuto questo detto, nella sua forma attuale, nella sua attuale collocazione (dove garantisce la supremazia dello scriba ed autore del vangelo di Tommaso), potremmo comprendere come e perché Marco lo abbia modificato in 8:27-33.
in English
In the first place, Mark
constructs responses to the question "who do men say I am"
in order to parody the idea of identification through reception
of the spirit from a person. People are said to think that Jesus
is John the Baptist or that he is Elijah (or another prophet).
Peter is condemned in verse 33 for thinking in this manner. Why would anyone think that Jesus was to be identified with John, who had died only months before? According to Mark, they thought so because of the powers working in him (6:14). Because Jesus received the Spirit at the instance of his baptism by John therefore, by virtue of the principle that one may be identified with the one whose spirit one receives, Jesus may be identified as John. Hence, if it is asserted that one receives the spirit from Jesus and so can be identified with Jesus, it should follow that since Jesus received the spirit from John, Jesus can be identified with John. Or, indeed, if John can be equated with Elijah (as seems to be the case in Mark 9:13; cf. Mt 17:13) then Jesus can therefore be identified with Elijah. |
in English
Mark 8:27-28 is a parody of the Thomasine line of thought, an argument reductio ad absurdum. Mark evidently argues that 'since it is absurd to think that Jesus is either John or Elijah, although he did receive the Spirit at his baptism by John in a manner similar to Elisha's reception of the Spirit from Elijah, similarly it is absurd to think that any Christian may claim to be Jesus on the grounds of receiving the spirit from Jesus.' This is how men think and how Peter thinks but, according to Mark, it is not how God thinks. Apparently how God thinks is that any imitatio Christi, any claim to be like Jesus, must be based on the divinely ordained career of the Son of Man, to be delivered up, suffer, die, and rise again. I will return to the motif of imitatio Christi in a later section of this essay. |
in English
It seems to be the case that the individual named Thomas was of no consequence to Mark; Thomas is mentioned once in a listing of the Twelve, but that is all. Mark sought to downplay any claims to primacy made by Jesus' disciples, and particularly any claims made by Peter, James and John. Having no particular interest in Thomas, it seems that Mark eliminated Thomas from the story and substituted Peter, possibly adding a reference to a pre-existing Petrine- confession tradition (cf. John 6:69). Mark radically revised the story into a parody, both of Thomas 13 and of the Petrine- confession tradition. In essence Mark 8:27-33 is a seeming confession that might lead toward the idea of Petrine primacy (cf. Matthew's and Luke's redaction of it) but no -- in fact we hear that it led to Jesus' condemnation of Peter as Satan. That is parody. Norman Petersen (1994) has argued that in other principal ways Mark's gospel is written as a parody of pre-existing textual traditions. |
in English
In Mark's gospel we do not have a story glorifying one disciple at the expense of the others (as in Thomas) but the opposite, a story where one disciple is subordinated to the others, for we read in Mark that Jesus "turning and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.'" In light of Mark 3:22-29, where it is the unforgivable sin to call someone Satan who has received the Spirit, when Jesus calls Peter Satan he thereby unequivocally denies the possibility that Peter has the Spirit of God. |
in English
In regard to Thomas' implicit claim in GT 13 that there are secret sayings of Jesus which are available only to special transformed individuals, I refer the reader to the detailed argument made by Theodore Weeden (1971). Following Eduard Schweizer (1965), he argues that Mark 4:11-12, as well as the parable of the sower and its interpretation, belonged to the tradition used by Mark's opponents. Mark 4:11 may be parallel to Thomas 62a: "Jesus said, 'It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I tell my mysteries." Helmut Koester (1990:53) has commented on this question, agreeing that Mark 4:11-12 are not part of Markan redaction but belong to the older collection of parables that Mark incorporated and noting the similarity of GT 62 to that passage. In Mark we find: "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God," Mark may have adapted Thomas 62a in order to concede that Jesus' delivered his mysteries to the disciples, yet to deny that he did so because the disciples were accounted worthy; for Mark the disciples are never "worthy." Weeden believes "the positions customarily attributed to Mark and his received material respectively are really just the reverse. Mark's received material argues for hidden, exclusive, esoteric teaching. Mark argues for openness, revelation on a nonexclusive basis," (Weeden 1971:144). He finds evidence in Mark's gospel that some in Mark's community had been won over by the appeal of a secret gospel and that Mark mounted a polemic against it (Weeden 1971:148). Mark, he argues, did this by demonstrating the absurdity of the hermeneutical principle embedded in their secret gospel, i.e. Mark shows that it is not the case that only certain insider "disciples" understand Jesus' message but that the reverse occurs and it is the outsiders who correctly perceive and understand Jesus (Weeden 1971:148). |
Helmut Koestler (1990:53) è intervenuto su tale questione asserendo che Marco 4:11-12 non sia parte della redazione marchiana ma appartenga alla più vecchia collezione di parabole che Marco ha incorporato e notando la similarità di VdT 62 con quel passaggio. In Marco troviamo "A voi è dato il segreto del Regno di Dio", Marco può avere adattato Tommaso 62a per ammettere che Gesù abbia rivelato i suoi misteri ai discepoli, ma per negare che lo abbia fatto in quanto i discepoli stessi ne siano degni; per Marco i discepoli non sono mai "degni". Weeden crede che "le posizioni usualmente attribuite a Marco ed al materiale che ha accolto rispettivamente siano in realtà proprio opposte. Marco ha ricevuto materiale tendente ad un insegnamento nascosto, esclusivo, esoterico. Marco va nella direzione dell'apertura, una rivelazione su base non esclusiva" (Weeden 1971:144). Egli trova nel vangelo di Marco evidenze che qualcuno nella sua comunità sia stato persuaso dall'appeal di un vangelo segreto e che Marco abbia montato una polemica contro di esso (Weeden 1971:148). Marco, sostiene, lo fece dimostrando l'assurdità del principio ermeneutico intriso nel loro vangelo segreto, cioè Marco mostra come non sia vero che solo certi discepoli iniziati comprendano il messaggio di Gesù ma che sia vero l'opposto, sono i profani coloro che correttamente percepiscono e comprendono Gesù (Weeden 1971:148).
in English
In the general conclusion to his book, Weeden discusses what he sees as Mark's very clever use of his opponents' positions and material. Mark, he contends, took their hermeneutical principle (4:11-12) and reversed it to show the blindness of those who claimed to be "select and secretly enlightened;" He cites several examples to show that Mark in various ways takes material used by his opponents and turns that material against them through parody or irony (Weeden 1971: 165-168). |
in English
Weeden's book makes no reference whatsoever to the Gospel of Thomas. Yet if one outlines the characteristics of the text he hypothesizes Mark's opponents used, characteristics of that hypothetical text are characteristics of Thomas. In the incipit to the text the Gospel of Thomas declares itself to be a collection of secret sayings. It claims that Jesus revealed mysteries to a worthy elite (62a). In Thomas 13 a disciple elevated to the level of Jesus is the guarantor of the legitimacy of the secret teachings contained in the whole of the Gospel. Thomas shows no knowledge of, and has no interest in, anything like a suffering-servant messiahship and for Thomas neither the crucifixion nor the resurrection have any meaning; they are never mentioned. From Weeden's analysis one cannot conclude with certainty that Thomas was the secret text of Mark's opponents, but one may certainly conclude that if such a document existed, Thomas is the same sort of thing as that document was and contains very many of the same sayings that that document contained. |
in English
It appears that Mark understood Thomas 13 to affirm the principle that one disciple should have primacy, and probably also the principles of Thomas 108 that certain Christians who have "drunk" the Spirit may be identified with Jesus or claim to be Christ. These principles are ones Mark is known to have opposed. By the use of motifs characteristic of him, Mark created a parody of Thomas 13 so that a disciple's implicit primacy quickly turns into his condemnation, a condemnation that stems from his supposed thinking "as men think" which Mark implies is the thesis that because Jesus received the spirit from John (or Elijah) therefore he was John (or Elijah). |
in English
If this analysis seems extreme, allow me to reiterate certain key points. First, the structural similarities between Thomas 13 and Mark 8:27-33 demonstrate that both are versions of the same story. Second, the redactional features of Mark 8:27-33 prove that Mark's version is a completely re-written version of some original story. Third, there is no evidence that Thomas used Mark, and many reasons to think he did not.(11) Fourth, the principal points made by Thomas 13 and 108, that one disciple may have pre-eminence over all others and that a person may be equivalent to or identified with Jesus through receiving his Spirit are points that we know for certain that Mark objected to strongly (13:5, 21-22 specifically, and generally throughout his chapters 8 through 10). If Mark revised Thomas 13 we can understand rather well why he did so. His insertion of motifs typical of his principal redactional concerns so as to produce a parody would have been how he did so and, indeed, this would have been in line with his general strategy throughout his gospel. It seems methodologically unsound to dismiss these factors and substitute the hypothesis that both Mark and Thomas revised some other story completely unknown to us for reasons about which we can know nothing. But that is the alternative to the thesis that Mark revised Thomas 13 |
Accessi al Vangelo di Tommaso:
Attenzione!
Molte
pagine di questo spazio Web sono coperte da Copyright ©
E' vietata la riproduzione non autorizzata. Tutti i diritti sono
riservati.
Le
vostre considerazioni
su queste pagine Web
| Home
page | Indice
generale |
| Proponimenti |
J. Krishnamurti | Alan
Watts | Confronti |
Riflessioni | Consumismo |
L'autore
del sito | Indiani d'America | La
Morte | Tibet |
Gesù:
opinioni | Pagine
dei Saggi | Solidarietà |
La
meditazione | Introspezione |
Links |
Tibet:
approfondim. |