THE “MOVEMENT AND REST” IN GOSPEL OF THOMAS 50

The fiftieth logion of the Gospel of Thomas is an enigmatic triad of questions and answers told by Jesus to his disciples. The answer to the third question “What is the sign of your (pl) Father which is in you (pl)?” reads “it is movement and rest.” This phrase has no known parallels in similar lite...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lensink, Benjamin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: [publisher not identified] 2020
In: Sacra scripta
Year: 2020, Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Pages: 50-69
Further subjects:B Rest
B Gospel of Thomas
B Movement
B Jewish Hermeticism
B Platonism
B Plato
B Genesis
B Aristotelianism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The fiftieth logion of the Gospel of Thomas is an enigmatic triad of questions and answers told by Jesus to his disciples. The answer to the third question “What is the sign of your (pl) Father which is in you (pl)?” reads “it is movement and rest.” This phrase has no known parallels in similar literature and its meaning is unclear. The current article evaluates different explanations offered in recent scholarship before assessing the words “movement” and “rest” in the Gospel of Thomas as a whole. It then gives an overview of four possible contexts: Genesis, Jewish Hermeticism, Platonism, and Aristotelianism. The article concludes with claiming that a Platonist view makes most sense: Just as the Demiurge in Plato’s Timaeus placed the rotating soul – which moves while staying at rest – into the head of humankind, so the sign of the Father in his elect disciples is movement and rest.
Contains:Enthalten in: Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai. Centrul de Studii Biblice, Sacra scripta