“The Divine Double in Late Antiquity”

According to an ancient eastern tradition Jesus had a twin brother: the Apostle [Jude] Thomas. This tradition is rooted in the Gospel of John, where it is said about this apostle: “Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus”...

Religions, 2025

This study examines the Thomas/twin motif in the Gospels of John and Thomas, which plays a significant role in each. By analyzing the motif’s meaning, deployment, and development in the two Gospels against Mesopotamian models, this study brings a fresh perspective to the much‑debated topic of the Gospel of Thomas’s place of origin. This study demonstrates that Thomas betrays a knowledge of cuneiform polyvalence and argues that this corroborates the historical tradition that it originated in Mesopotamia. The findings also support the claim that the work is theologically sophisticated despite its disarming surface appearance. Similarly, Mesopotamian hermeneutics shed light on some enigmas of the Fourth Gospel’s symbolism, esotericism, and theology conveyed in the rhetorical and symbolic role of Thomas called Didymos. This study concludes that, in both Gospels, the figure of Thomas/twin is paradigmatic for every adherent of Jesus, but the Gospels have drawn on Mesopotamian sources in different ways.

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2008

The discovery and publication of the Gospel of Judas created a sensation in scholarly and popular settings alike. Much of the interest in the new publication grows out of the interpretation that was advanced, in which Judas Iscariot is understood as a hero, more or less, the greatest of the disciples, to whom Jesus entrusted his most important teaching. Ongoing critical study of the Coptic text, however, has raised troubling questions about this interpretation and on what basis it rests. The recent recovery of more fragments of the text also undermines the widely reported interpretation. The present study reviews several recent publications that suggest a very different interpretation.

David W. Kim and Garry Trompf, “The Gospel of Thomas and The Tchacos Codex.” In the Gnostic World: Routledge Worlds, edited by Garry Trompf, Gunner B. Mikkelsen, and Jay Johnson. London: Routledge, 2018: 180-186.

Rivista Di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, 2008

English follows. Dans l’Évangile de Judas, Jésus invite Judas à se séparer des autres disciples afin de lui dire les « mystères du royaume » (35,24-25). Alors que le lecteur attend la révélation de mystères célestes, la suite du texte est composée de dialogues, entre Jésus et ses disciples d’une part et entre Jésus et Judas d’autre part, au cours desquels on apprend que toutes les générations humaines sont sous le règne de la mort (43,15-23). Quant à la maison réservée aux saints dont Judas a eu la vision et dans laquelle il demande d’être reçu, son accès lui est interdit par Jésus (44,24-45,24) et c’est sur cette interdiction que se clôt la révélation des mystères du Royaume et de l’ « erreur des étoiles » (45,24-46,4). Tout se passe donc comme si le texte, qu’il faut lire sur le mode ironique, jouait avec les attentes des lecteurs en annonçant une révélation portant sur un Royaume supérieur pour dénoncer plutôt le règne de la fatalité astrale et de la mort dont les disciples, incluant Judas lui-même, par le culte qu’ils représentent, sont tout à la fois les complices et les agents (37,16; 42,7-8). In the Gospel of Judas, Jesus, to reveal to him the mysteries of the Kingdom (35:24-25), invites Judas to separate himself from the other disciples. To the reader, awaiting the revelation of the heavenly mysteries, the text instead proposes a series of dialogues between Jesus and his disciples and between Jesus and Judas, in which it is made clear that human generations are subject to the kingdom of death (43:15-21). As for the house reserved for the saints, which Judas has a vision of and where he asks to be admitted, he is forbidden to enter by Jesus (44,25 - 45,24). On this prohibition the revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom and the "error of the stars" closes (45,24 - 46,4). In this text - which should be read ironically - the author mocks the expectations of his readers: in fact, while announcing revelations about the heavenly kingdom, he limits himself to denouncing the reign of astral fatality and death of which the disciples, and Judas himself, through the cult they represent, are both accomplices and agents (37:16; 42:7-8).

Judas, Brother of Jesus dictionary entry

Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 17,1 , 2013

Upon first reading, the Gospel of Judas gives the impression that it is a work composed by an author who was not greatly concerned with organizational matters. However, when we look more closely at it, we are obliged to rethink this first impression. Patterns in the recurrence of themes and language in the Gospel of Judas show the structural importance of a concentric series of inclusions; when these inclusions are taken into account, we see that the work is organized around two sections, with each section echoing and clarifying the other. This bipartite dispositio (to use a term from contemporary Greco-Roman rhetorical analysis) coheres perfectly with the text's content, in which the holy generation is opposed to mortal humans and in which a great deal of use is made of antithesis. The bipartite structure, the thematic dichotomy between the two groups, and the use of antithesis as a technique all work together to encourage readers to choose between the two options offered to them.