D.W. Kim, «Where Does It Fit? The Unknown Parables in the Gospel of Thomas», Vol. 94 (2013) 585-595
This article explores the genesis of some parables in the Gospel of Thomas not found elsewhere. They are not thematically related to each other. Then, how many parables exist in the text? In what way are they different or the same in comparison with the canonical Gospels? These parables in Thomas were not excluded from the concern of the post-1960s scholars, but the literary standard was not unified. The Greek fragments (P. Oxy. 654, 1, and 655) do not offer any crucial source in this case, but the Coptic manuscripts (NHC II, 2. 32-51) evince a new insight that the unknown parable tradition is not intended to show dependency on the canonical tradition; rather they commonly provide key evidence which proves the pre-gnostic Jewish sophia tradition.
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586 DAVID W. KIM
The initial quest was launched by Montefiore in 1962 2. He treated sixteen
Logia as Thomasine parables, but his work, except for some individual cases,
was limited by assuming a gnostic origin for the whole text. The post-gnostic
character was analysed along lines such as “embellishmentâ€, “change of
audienceâ€, “the hortatory use of parables by the churchâ€, and “the influence
of the church’s situationâ€, “allegorisationâ€, “collection and conflation of
parables†and “settingâ€. A decade later, the gnostic perspective was re-
emphasised by Schoedel 3. The number of parables was reduced to five, and
the gnostic assumption was structured in relation to the concept of the
Valentinians. Parable research by Blomberg re-arranged this in eleven
parables 4. Logia 8, 9, 20, 57, 63, 64, 65 and 107 were “abbreviated — shorter
and less detailedâ€, but Logia 76, 96, and 109 reflecting an independent
perspective, were assumed to have displayed “no abbreviationâ€.
In a similar way, Patterson suggested that eleven parables of the common
tradition had parallels in the synoptic Gospels: Logia 8, 9, 20, 57, 63, 64,
65, 76, 96, 107 and 109 5. The author, in 1993, presumed that “not all of
these parables are parables of the kingdom†6, but some of them, such as
Logia 63, 64 and 65, in the context of social criticism are the “parables of
the world†7. The development of the parables was further expanded by
Cameron, so that there now exist fourteen parables 8. The particular point
was that eleven of those parables were parallel with the canonical texts:
Logia 9, 20, and 65.1 parallel with three synoptic texts; Logia 64.1, 96.1 and
107 are seen in Matthew and Luke; Logia 8.1, 57, 76.1 and 109 are found in
Matthew only; and Logion 63.1 is illustrated only in Luke. However, the
remaining Logia of the parable tradition (Logia 21.1, 97 and 98) are
recognised as having no connection with any of the canonical texts.
2
See H. MONTEFIORE, “A Comparison of the Parables of the Gospel Ac-
cording to Thomas and of the Synoptic Gospelsâ€, Thomas and the Evangel-
ists. (eds. H. MONTEFIORE – H. E. W. TURNER) (Studies in Biblical Theology
35; London 1962) 40-78.
3
W.R. SCHOEDEL, “Parables in the Gospel of Thomas: Oral Tradition or
Gnostic Exegesis?†CTM 43 (1972) 548-560.
4
C.L. BLOMBERG, “Tradition and Redaction in the Parables of the Gospel
of Thomasâ€, Gospel Perspectives. The Jesus Tradition Outside the Gospels
(ed. D. WENHAM) (Sheffield 1985) 177-205.
5
S. J. PATTERSON, The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus. (Sonoma, CA 1993)
633-636.
6
PATTERSON, The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus, 633.
7
PATTERSON, The Gospel of Thomas and Jesus, 636.
8
See R. CAMERON, “Parable and Interpretation in the Gospel of Thomasâ€,
Forum 2 (June 1986) 3-39.
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