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 Mystery of Marriage in the Gospel of Philip
In the Old Testament one of the most striking analogies provided to the relation of God with Israel is derived from human marriage. This analogy does not come as a complete surprise when one recalls the importance of marriage in the patriarchal narratives and in the story of creation. The prophet Hosea did not entirely lack precedents when he acted out a parable of the relation of God to Israel in his marriage to the faithless Gomer. God loves Israel as a husband loves his wife; and in Hosea's parabolic action this love was revealed as established in grace rather than based on works. Among some of the rabbis the covenant at Sinai was treated as God's wedding with Israel 1. It is significant, however, that in Judaism only God was the husband. Neither Moses nor any messianic figure ever took his place 2. The Philonic allegories of the union of the soul with the Logos, or even with Wisdom, the "daughter of God," seem to be the product of an individual's exegesis and they refer to individuals, not to a community 3. In two Matthaean parables, those of the Wedding Banquet (22:2-14) and the Wise and Foolish Virgins (25:1-13), the coming reign of God is portrayed as a wedding, but is by no means clear that Jesus is the bridegroom. On the other hand, according to Mark 2:19 (and parallels) Jesus referred to himself as a bridegroom and stated that the "sons of the bridechamber" could not fast
School Principals and Education Law: What do they know, what do they need to know?
Principals now work in complex and challenging environments where uncertainty and change are the hallmarks of their roles and responsibilities. As such, the knowledge and capability demands on principals have expanded, including those related to education law. While these matters attracted some research interest a number of years ago, there has been little recent work in the area of principals and education law. This article reports on an exploratory study into aspects of the legal knowledge held by Tasmanian government school principals, particularly concerning non-sexual physical contact between teachers and students. The research was undertaken using a small-scale, mixed-methods research design, which required principals to respond to various legal scenarios. Three key findings emerged from the study. First, principals used two different levels of working knowledge about education law  one related to legal problems, and the other to legally-related routine activities. Second, on the particular topic of physical contact, some knowledge held by principals was not legally accurate. Third, for major legal issues, participants indicated that they acquired access to information from legal experts. The situation for routine legal matters was less clear, although in-service training and practical experience were identified as potential sources of knowledge. Participants recognised the importance of a sound knowledge of education law, especially for dealing with security and safety issues and preferred to access further information through in-service training. Notably, the findings of the study are broadly consistent with those from earlier Australian and international research, suggesting that much remains to be done in the area of principals’ education law knowledge.