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Dec 07, 2007

Kathryn rated it:

I used this for my MA thesis. It's very smoothly and interestingly written--engaging, really--and contains a great deal of interesting information on the foundations of Christianity and, especially, how early church leaders strove to overpower one another and promote their own view of Jesus. Focus on is the "lost" Gospel of Thomas, part of the Nag Hamadi library--theory is that church leaders who came to power tried to destroy evidence of this report of Jesus' teachings that centered More...

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Jan 28, 2009

Mark rated it:

The book compares the outlook of the apostle Thomas with the writings that became the book of John. His outlook is that God is within all of us and Jesus told us to find the way to heaven. Even that all people have the spirit of God within us and need to come to Gnosis ( a mutual knowing or understanding of one another with God) through meditation, introspection and study. My main complaint is that very little of the book actually discusses what Thomas' teachings are. Mostly, the book focuses on More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Lee rated it:

Pagels is a recognized scholar of religion, and the author of The Gnostic Gospels, among others. This book might be her best.

Don't buy this expecting a dull, scholarly exposition on the Gospel of Thomas. It's hardly that. It's sort of an unobtrusive evangelism for unorthodox Christianity, a plea for the kind of "religious truth" that can never hide behind a stale set of doctrine.

Pagels bares her soul in this book, and her passion for spirituality, religion and Chris More...

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Jun 26, 2011

Angela rated it:

This book explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the secret Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945. When her infant son was diagnosed with fatal pulmonary hypertension, Elaine Pagels's spiritual and intellectual quest took on a new urgency, leading her to explore historical and archeological sources and to investigate what Jesus and his teachings meant to his followers before the invention of doctrine -- and before the invention of Christianity as we kn More...

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Apr 06, 2011

Charlotte rated it:

This book was used as a study book for a Tuesday morning discussion group. While it's subtitle is the Secret Gospel of Thomas (and the text of the complete Gospel of Thomas is printed in the back, we found it to be more of a history of the development of the early Christian Church. In 1945 a stone jar was found at Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt containing other writings from the beginning of the Christian era. These texts had been hidden when they had been ordered to be destroyed. Elaine Pagels More...

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Mar 29, 2010

Randy rated it:

While I enjoyed "Beyond Belief", both the content and Dr. Pagels's writing style, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of analysis of the Gospel of Thomas. Dr. Pagels presents decent analysis of the Gnostic movement, and places the Gospel of John within the Gnostic context, yet fails to deliver much on the Gospel of Thomas. I enjoyed her personal story and how she believes that there is more than one way to discover God, but again this book is supposed to be about the Gospel of Th More...

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Jan 17, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

This book had been on my wishlist for a while, as I've always been interested in the "disappeared" books of the Bible. (Well, always... at least as long as I knew such things existed, anyway!) So, when perusing the religion section of the Mecosta library, this title jumped out at me. (Additionally, the rest of their religion section is rather un-challenging, conventional mainstream to right wing Christianity.)

So, I broke my long standing rule to not check out library books More...

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Mar 06, 2009

Bobby rated it:

The subtitle of this book is quite misleading. The book only very briefly touches on The Gospel of Thomas. Instead, Pagels spends a great deal of time discussing the differences between the Gospel of John and the synoptic Gospels - as well as providing evidence that John was, in fact, written in large part as a refutation of the Gospel of Thomas and other "gnostic" Christian interpretations that abounded in the early history of the church. She also spends a large amount of time on Iren More...

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May 03, 2010

Mike rated it:

Beyond Belief has been a formative book for me. (This is the third time I’ve read it.) In a nutshell, the New Testament is the end result of a protracted and often bitter media war. Two thousand years ago those arguing for one belief over another used the same techniques of persuasion that we see today. Case in point. Only is the Gospel of John is there a character named Doubting Thomas. Johannine Christians believed very different things than their contemporaries and rivals, the Thomas Chr More...

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Mar 25, 2009

jcg rated it:

I thought the book was going to be about the Gospel of Thomas, but it is really an overview of early Christianity tied in with Elaine Pagels personal search for something to make sense of the world.

Written in plain language, it covers a lot of territory and shows how the beliefs of some groups were crowded out of orthodox Christianity. As always, the most ruthless win.

The main investigation of the book is how to tell the difference between divinely inspired texts and thos More...

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Sep 29, 2011

Janet rated it:

The book compares the gospel of John with the gnostic gospel of Thomas. Both follow a similar timeline - different from Matthew, Mark and Luke. John's emphasis is on communing to God through Jesus Christ. Thomas has more of a Buddhist approach - looking for God inside yourself.

The theological aspects aren't nearly as interesting as the political ones. In compiling the bible, the "editor" (in the form of Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon) was the one who decided which books to include More...

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Oct 10, 2010

Chip rated it:

Yes, there is a discussion of the Gospel of Thomas; yes, there is a little about the author's struggle to find her own faith; there's even a compact overview of the first millenium of Christianity. What this book is concerned with mostly is the internecine war for dominance between the proponents of the Gospel of John and the proponents of every other Gospel. This book dissects and examines the history of that war and demonstrates how the results of this war shaped, and continues to shape, the More...

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Sep 29, 2011

Jane rated it:

Like some of Bart Ehrman's books, Pagels deals extensively with conflicts among early Christian sects and how the Bible ended up being what it is today. The Gospel of Thomas is one among many others that didn't make the cut and we wouldn't know of it today except that it was hidden for 1600 years with other gnostic gospels at Nag Hammadi. There was not as much detail about the Gospel of Thomas as I had expected. Pagels compares it to the Gospel of John which states that belief in Jesus is the More...

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Jan 09, 2009

JJ rated it:

Among all the books of the Old and New Testaments, there is not one original text still in existence. Also, there is no ancient text with Jesus's own account of his ministry.

The Gospel of Thomas, some believe, contains some of Christ's actual teachings that didn't make it into the scriptures.

Gnostic in nature, Christ's teachings in this text are highly symbolic, and i've found it's imprortant to read various translations, because the meanings can vary quite a bit.
More...

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May 16, 2009

Carol rated it:

After reading Picoult's Change of Heart, I was given this book as a Mom's Day gift. I enjoyed Pagels' guidance through the debate of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries regarding the life and teachings of Jesus. As a Religion Prof a Princeton, Pagels has studied the debate of those years through not only those gospels included in the Bible but also the hidden 50 books that were not included and that were found in Neg Hammadi in 1945. A fascinating read that is 'healing, good sense, and gives permi More...

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May 31, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Once I got over the Osama Bin Laden look-alike on the cover, I was able to get into this book. The title of the book is "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas" and that is my biggest beef with the book. Hardly any of it was about Thomas. She did explain the difference between gnostic and traditional study. Of course, like the gospels, the book of Thomas wasn't written by Thomas, but by his students decades later. In reading this book, I saw for the first time how things weren't so More...

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Feb 09, 2012

William rated it:

There is a lot here about Irenaeus, a major second-century figure in the establishment of the early Church and its gospels, which were later confirmed at the Council of Nicea (325). There is also very interesting material on Emperor Constantine. I had not known, for example, that his support of the early Church had so pervaded the everyday workings of his empire. In addition to sponsoring the Council of Nicea, Constantine ruled the empire from the perspective of a Christian, issuing numerous edi More...

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Nov 13, 2011

Erik rated it:

During my studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York I became acquainted with Elaine Pagels, initially on a social level as one of my girlfriend's favorite teachers at Barnard College, then as my own teacher for a course entitled "Creation Myths in Genesis" at Union. I wasn't much interested in the course topic, but I was interested in working under the author of The Johannine Gospel in Gnostic Exegesis, a book which had impressed me while working on my undergraduate thesis on More...

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Nov 14, 2008

Ron rated it:

A bit repetitive in parts, but it was interesting to learn more about the "apocryphal" gospels (as we were taught they were called), and especially the politics surrounding how gospels became canonized or not. Fairly balanced in trying to portray that while there was a political component, there was also a sincere desire to "organize" the (then) new Christian religion's theology, by Ireneus, Athansius and the other church fathers. Particularly the roles of mystery and self More...

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Dec 03, 2008

Lisa rated it:

While I'm a little disappointed that Beyond Belief is not the book I was hoping it would be, the book's argument builds steadily to a satisfying plateau of understanding, namely that the social and political upheaval that dominated the first two centuries after Jesus' life and death motivated the likes of church father Irenaeus to unify the church under one set of beliefs and practice, and simultaneously to squelch the diversity of beliefs about God and Jesus that abounded in the early church.
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Nov 07, 2007

Jason rated it:

First and foremost I think Elaine Pagels writes nicely. She gives her work a nice tone and it flows easily. This book itself seems to contrast an apparently ancient work, the Gospel of Thomas, to one of the main works in the Four Formed Gospel, John. The Gospel of Thomas was discovered with some other works hid away in a field in the town of Nag Hammadi in upper Egypt. Apparently these works which oppose orthodox Christianity were hid there to preserve them from being destroyed. Pagels herself w More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Liz rated it:

A moving account of one biblical scholar's journey to make faith personal and relevant to her. She has the resources of years of research into the biblical narratives and recent finds in the Holy Land that have monumentally increased our knowledge of life in the first century when the earliest followers of Jesus gathered together to form support. That need for support drove her back to the church of her youth with eyes open to the emotional underpinnings of faith. Beyond mere Belief...

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May 05, 2011

Christopher rated it:

Very easy to read, a bit too easy. I thought it was light on the scholarship, not up to her usual caliber. I thought her musings about the validity of Gnosticism to modern Christians were interesting, but would have preferred more solid information; as is provided in her other books.
Overall, it is what you can expect from a mass marketed book on the subject of Early Christianity. I wouldn't warn against it, but I probably would not read it again any time soon.

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Dec 13, 2009

Nikki rated it:

Another interesting book on early Christianity by Elaine Pagels. It is an analysis of the Gospel of John, which apparently was written in response to the Gnostic text, the Gospel of Thomas. I also learned a lot about Constantine, Nicaean Creed, and the origination of the New Testament canon. I can't help but wonder how Christianity would differ had other texts been selected for the New Testament.

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Sep 18, 2009

Paul rated it:

A travel back to early christianity. Most Christian uses this era as a model of their faith. Yet the writing of Elaine Pagel clearly shows that this era was riddle with egos and contradictions. The difference between the gospel of John and the gospel of thomas are still signposts for us living a fulfilled life both individually and corporately.

Written in plain English, it will confound many but it will be a tool for a few to look for reality.

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Dec 30, 2008

Matt rated it:

Far be it from me to criticize two of the leading scholars in their field, but I think Pagels and Ehrman conjure just a bit too much from their readings of these documents. I can see their point of view, but I can also see several plausible alternative interpretations. Interesting to read, though. I especially liked the sections on the communion of the believers and the definition of sonship.

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Mar 25, 2009

Megan rated it:

Elaine is wonderful and I began enjoying her work as a student. I think her book on the Gnostic Gospels in general is intelligent and accessible yet this particular work ( though I stand by my 5 star rating) is, at times, redundant. This is an endlessly fascinating subject for me and I trust Pagels knowledge base and motives. Good book.

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Apr 05, 2010

Kelly rated it:

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Three excellents. This book explained perfectly why I had come to loathe the Christian religion so much, while at the same time it renewed my admiration, hope, and maybe even love for Jesus again. In other words, no more throwing little baby Jesus out with the bathwater. Thank you, Elaine Pagels.

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Apr 14, 2009

Mary added it

This is the third of Pagels books I picked up without realizing who the author was. Pagels offers a profound look at the new testament writers. She provides insight to the historical events in play at the time of the compilation of the New Testament. Each reader is left to his own conclusions. The gift of a talented Philosopher.

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Apr 11, 2011

Victoria rated it:

More than a presentation of the Gospel of Thomas, Pagels takes us on a journey to discover how such books were excluded from the canonical texts by Ireneus and Athanasius and the Nicene Council. The catholic church preserved Christianity for two thousand years, yet discouraged original thinking and mysticism.

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