The Gnostics: The Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas is a Collection of Sayings Attributed to Jesus

The Two Gospels of Thomas

There are two gospels, neither of which is canonical (included in the New Testament), called the Gospel of Thomas, two among many gospels not included in the canon of the New Testament. One, which has been known for centuries, is called the "Infancy Gospel of Thomas," (more) because it claims to tell stories about the childhood of Jesus.

The other Gospel of Thomas (more), in Coptic, discovered only in 1945, is one of the Gnostic texts found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt (more). Both books are examples of pseudepigrapha (more), literally, "falsely written," or attributed to authors who, it is believed, did not write them.

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Infancy Gospel collects various legendary stories of the childhood of Jesus, in which he is literally a "holy terror," killing people (sometimes bringing them back to life), and showing off miraculous talents, such as making clay birds fly away, an action that got him in trouble because he performed it on the Sabbath. You can find a page referring you to various texts as well as commentaries on the Infancy Gospel here. Please note that the Infancy Gospel is not a Gnostic text.

The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas

The other Gospel of Thomas, the best known and most controversial of the Nag Hammadi texts, has no story, no narrative at all. It is a collection of 114 sayings (logia, literally, words) attributed to Jesus (translations here), some found in the canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). A list of the sayings that parallel sayings in the canonical gospels can be found here.