Making Mary Male: the Categories ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ in the Gospel of Thomas
The Coptic Gospel of Thomas is one of the most spectacular of the fifty-two tractates filling the thirteen codices of the Nag Hammadi library. Discovered in December 1945 by several Egyptian fellahin, the Nag Hammadi tractates were subjected to a variety of political and scholarly ploys, and were not made available in their entirety until the very end of 1977, when the last of the volumes of manuscript pages in the Facsimile Edition and the one-volume edition of The Nag Hammadi Library in English finally appeared.1 One of the very first of the documents to be published was the Gospel of Thomas, and its appearance has already stimulated the production of numerous articles and monographs by the scholars who have recognized its significance for our knowledge of Christian origins and early church history. Since the time of its initial publication scholars have suggested a variety of interpretations of the Gospel, and to date no consensus has been reached. Yet, in my estimation, a reasonably strong case can be made that the Gospel of Thomas, in its present form, belongs at least on the periphery of Christian Gnosticism, and to that extent the Coptic text may be termed a gnosticizing gospel.2
The relationship between Apocalypticism and the status of women in early Christian communities
Feminist biblical scholarship has re-evaluated the status and influence that women held within early Christian communities. Recent studies of the participation of women in early Christianity have come to include texts that appear to provide women with roles of leadership and the opportunity to participate in activities that were previously restricted to men. An examination beyond the texts that reinforce traditional Greco-Roman roles permits an individual to examine the actual or incidental status, participation and influence of women within early Christian communities as opposed to their prescribed participation found in later, potentially misogynistic texts that uphold traditional Greco-Roman values (Kraemer 1992). In a continuation of this methodology, this thesis will examine the nature of eschatology and its impact on early Christian communities. Through the examination of primary and secondary documents, the research in this study will reveal that women in different early Christian communities were not treated in the same manner. An examination of the Pauline and Pastoral epistles demonstrates that a change in eschatological beliefs played a changing role in the status accorded Christian women during the first century. This thesis demonstrates that women who lived in early Christian communities which held imminent eschatological expectations were granted greater participation within their communities than those women that lived in communities that established permanent long-term structures.
Book Review: Gnosis: La Connaissance religieuse dans les épîtres de Saint Paul
I thought, was not a sort of rag-bag which had got stuffed with all sorts of contents from various sources, it was a living act" (p. 6). Furthermore the general pattern does not exclude minor ones. The author notices that over the face of the whole Apocalypse is written a pattern based on the name Yahweh, which St. John expanded into : "He who is and was and is to come" (p. 270-71). Allied to the pattern development is the rhythmical growth of John's thought. "The characteristic rhythm of St. John's thinking," the writer observes, "is the direct expression of his divinatory brooding. He takes up a phrase or a word, plays with it, repeats it, turns it inside out, then drops it and revolves in a similar way round another, very often one that has been thrown up in the process of handling the first" (p. 26). To what extent has the thesis been proved? The author himself does not claim certitude but modestly presents the data for his position. An essential basis for his theory is his reconstruction of the Jewish cycle of feasts in the first century A.D. On this point Farrer confesses his lack of special training and hopes that some Talmudic scholar will study and evaluate this phase of the work. But the chief obstacle to immediate acceptance, I think, comes partly from the very complexity of the explanation. After presenting a working hypothesis and explaining certain facts the author comes to other facts which he wishes to explain by the same hypothesis. Here in not a few instances another element is added. At this point the reader may feel puzzled, wondering whether the addition has only accidentally or perhaps essentially modified the original hypothesis. Readers of THEOLOGICAL STUDIES will be pleased to observe a more than usual acquaintance with Catholic attitudes and agreement in large measure with our positions. In a foreword credit is given to assistance received from Fr. Kehoe, O.P. Dr. Farrer deserves our gratitude for a scholarly presentation of a difficult and complicated thesis.