Comment by Martijn Linssen (martijn-linssen) on WTF is with the Infancy Gospel of Thomas?!? A deep dive into satire, philosophy, and more · 2024-09-26T07:55:27.748Z · LW · GW

"In saying 51 his students ask when the rest for the dead and new world will come, and the response is this has already happened but they don't realize it."

There are few, far too few, accurate translations of Thomas around and those by the usual suspects certainly don't qualify.

51. they said to him, viz. his Disciples: what day will the Repose come to be of they who are dead, and what day is the new World coming? he said to them: that one that you look outward toward, she came: Rather, you yourselves do not know her

A transliteration from the Coptic, only a little distance from the word-for-word. "She came" is indeed what the text says, and 'the Repose', ⲧ ⲁⲛⲁⲡⲁⲩⲥⲓ̉ⲥ, is indeed an explicitly feminine Greek loanword in this case. The World, ⲡ ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ, is an explicitly masculine Greek loanword in this case. Copts have unconventional ideas about the gender of Greek loanwords, hence this addition. Philip for instance uses the masculine article but considers the Spirit, ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ, to be feminine (and even virginal).

So this here is Thomas telling the disciples that their Repose (which is of the dead, see just a few words earlier in Logion 50) has already come. Naturally, there will be no new world in Thomas, who calls for the destruction of the World. What we see here is yet another case of disciple bashing: "you, my dear disciples, are sitting smack in the middle of the Repose of the Dead, and you don't even realise it!".

Likewise, Logion 18 is the only one to use the Greek loanword for Beginning, ⲁⲣⲭⲏ, whereas in the next Logion and everywhere else the native Coptic is used, (ⲉ)ϩⲏ. Greek loanwords usually have a higher metaphorical meaning in Thomas, as becomes clear when we look at the logia that combine both languages, such as e.g. the biting sarcasm on circumcision in Logion 53. The Beginning in Logion 18 points to our psychological beginning, it is not a merely physical / biological beginning. It has everything to do with duality, and Jungian Ego vs Self, and we do indeed need to Heal ourselves from the Separation (Logion 74) so that we can overcome this sickness (Logion 74 again, when translated for what it says).

For a verifiable translation of Thomas, see the interactive interlinear https://www.academia.edu/42110001

For very detailed commentary on the logia (up to Logion 55), see https://www.academia.edu/46974146

Martijn Linssen