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Beyond Belief
The Secret Gospel of Thomas
by Elaine Pagels
ISBN: 0375703160
ISBN-13: 9780375703164
Format: Paperback
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Summary
Noted theologian Pagels offers up her latest look inside the Bible, targeting an obscure text reported to be the Gospel of Thomas, the doubting apostle. BEYOND BELIEF offers up Thomas's depiction of Christ, his message, and the history of the era. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
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Media Reviews
"A thoughtful and rewarding essay, as we've come to expect from Pagels, and sure to arouse fundamentalist ire."
-- Kirkus
Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2004
Size: 5.25 x 8 inches
Weight: 0.45 pounds
Pages: 257
Publisher's Notes
In Beyond Belief, renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy.
Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group of researchers, Pagels returns to her investigation of the “secret” Gospel of Thomas, and breathes new life into writings once thought heretical. As she arrives at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the “rogue” voices of Christianity encourage and sustain “the recognition of the light within us all.”
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
Vintage. Used - Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information)
Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
Vintage. Used - Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information)
Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elaine
Vintage. Paperback. 0375703160 SOFTCOVER, GOOD CONDITION WITH MODERATE COSMETIC WEAR, PAGES CLEAN WITH NO HIGHLIGHTING/UNDERLINING/MARKS, BINDING TIGHT, NO MAJOR FLAWS . Good. 5/4/2004. ( more information)
Offered by AB Book Company. (United States)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elaine
Vintage. PAPERBACK. 0375703160 Book has minor shelf wear. Book is clean and binding is tight. Fountain Street Books ships out Same day or Next day. All orders shipped in protective bubble mailers. . Fine. ( more information)
Offered by Fountain Street Books (United States)
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9)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elaine
New York, New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Trade Paperback. Good/No Jacket as Issued. Previous owner marks to inside cover and flyleaf; a few pages of yellow highlighting to text. Solid reading copy. ISBN: 0-375-70316-0. ( more information)
Offered by Muses Books (United States)
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10)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
Vintage, 2004-05-04. Paperback. Like New/Like New . Like new except for the following. The edges of the front and back covers are slightly worn. Satisfaction guaranteed. USPS tracking included at no additional charge. USPS tracking included at no additional charge. International orders ship Global Priority except for oversized books. Multiple item discount. additional items ship for $2.00 for standard shipping. ( more information)
Offered by gehlbh (United States)
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14)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Elaine Pagels
Vintage, 2004-05-04. Paperback. New. New Book. Has slight shelf or time wear. Otherwise new book.FREE Tracking # INCLUDED! We ship on the same or next day you place an order. 100 % Satisfaction Guaranteed. ( more information)
Offered by Book Empire (United States)
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16)
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Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elaine
New York: Vintage, 2003. Trade Paperback. An excellent, unread copy. Pagels' analysis of one of the more obscure gospels brings us revelations, not only of one interpretation of the man called Christ, but also fascinating aspects of proto-church theology. ( more information)
Offered by Fantastic Planet Books (United States)
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Beyond Belief the Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elain and Karen L. King
New York, NY: Vintage, 2003 pages clean but first few front end pages creased and dented. binding tight. edge wear with denting and ink chips. corners rubbed & dented. bottom back corner creased. top and bottom binding edges dented. . 5th Printing. Trade Paperback. Good. ( more information)
Offered by after-words bookstore (United States)
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18)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Qty: 25)
Elaine Pagels
Vintage Books USA, 01-May-2004. Paperback. NEW. Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: U20081117144621G ( more information)
Offered by A1Books (United States)
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19)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Qty: 3)
Pagels, Elaine
Vintage. PAPERBACK. 0375703160 *NO DAMAGE, LIKE NEW* Excellent customer service. Satisfaction guaranteed! Premium retailer since 1996. Over 1.2 million books sold! . Fine. ( more information)
Offered by allstarbooks (United States)
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20)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Qty: 22)
Pagels, Elaine
Vintage. PAPERBACK. 0375703160 *BRAND NEW* Excellent customer service. Satisfaction guaranteed! Premium retailer since 1996. Over 1.2 million books sold! . New. ( more information)
Offered by allstarbooks (United States)
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BEYOND BELIEF: The Secret Gospel Of Thomas (q)
Pagels, Elaine
New. ISBN: 0375703160. Paperback. . Ships in a sturdy box with delivery confirmation (in US). Free giftwrap upon request. Brand new, not a used item. Multiple copies may be available. "Spurred on by personal tragedy, the National Book Award-winning author of The Gnostic Gospels breathes new life into the Gospel of Thomas - once thought heretical - exposing both its profound spiritual truth and the politics that kept it hidden for so many centuries. As she arrives at an ever-deeper conviction in her own faith, Pagels reveals how faith allows for a diversity of interpretations, and that the ""rogue"" voices of Christianity encourage and sustain ""the recognition of the light within us all."" Now in paper." ( more information)
Offered by Konstantin Krylov (United States)
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28)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas
Pagels, Elaine
Vintage May 4, 2004. 8vo softcover pp very good. nShortly after Elaine Pagels' two-and-half-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare lung disease, the religion professor found herself drawn to a Christian church again for the first time in many years. In Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas Pagels, best know for her National Book Award-winning The Gnostic Gospels, wrestles with her own faith as she struggles to understand when--and why--Christianity became associated almost exclusively with the ideas codified in the fourth-century Nicene Creed and in the canonical texts of the New Testament. In her exploration, she uncovers the richness and diversity of Christian philosophy that has only become available since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts. nnAt the center of Beyond Belief is what Pagels identifies as a textual battle between The Gospel of Thomas (rediscovered in Egypt in 1945) and The Gospel of John. While these gospels have many superficial similarities, Pagels demonstrates that John, unlike Thomas, declares that Jesus is equivalent to "God the Father" as identified in the Old Testament. Thomas, in contrast, shares with other supposed secret teachings a belief that Jesus is not God but, rather, is a teacher who seeks to uncover the divine light in all human beings. Pagels then shows how the Gospel of John was used by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon and others to define orthodoxy during the second and third centuries. The secret teachings were literally driven underground, disappearing until the Twentieth Century. As Pagels argues this process "not only impoverished the churches that remained but also impoverished those [Irenaeus] expelled." nnBeyond Belief offers a profound framework with which to examine Christian history and contemporary Christian faith, and Pagels renders her scholarship in a highly readable narrative. The one deficiency in Pagels' examination of Thomas, if there is one, is that she never fully returns in the end to her own struggles with religion that so poignantly open the book. How has the mysticism of the Gnostic Gospels affected her? While she hints that she and others have found new pathways to faith through Thomas, the impact of Pagels' work on contemporary Christianity may not be understood for years to come. --Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. nnFrom Publishers WeeklynIn this majestic new book, Pagels (The Gnostic Gospels) ranges panoramically over the history of early Christianity, demonstrating the religion's initial tremendous diversity and its narrowing to include only certain texts supporting certain beliefs. At the center of her book is the conflict between the gospels of John and Thomas. Reading these gospels closely, she shows that Thomas offered readers a message of spiritual enlightenment. Rather than promoting Jesus as the only light of the world, Thomas taught individuals that "there is a light within each person, and it lights up the whole universe. If it does not shine, there is darkness." As she eloquently and provocatively argues, the author of John wrote his gospel as a refutation of Thomas, portraying the disciple Thomas as a fool when he doubts Jesus, and Jesus as the only true light of the world. Pagels goes on to demonstrate that the early Christian writer Irenaeus promoted John as the true gospel while he excluded Thomas, and a host of other early gospels, from the list of those texts that he considered authoritative. His list became the basis for the New Testament canon when it was fixed in 357. Pagels suggests that we recover Thomas as a way of embracing the glorious diversity of religious tradition. As she elegantly contends, religion is not merely an assent to a set of beliefs, but a rich, multifaceted fabric of teachings and experiences that connect us with the divine. Exhilarating reading, Pagels's book offers a model of careful and thoughtful scholarship in the liv . ( more information)
Offered by Dial a Book (Australia)
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Price: AUD $21.60
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29)
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Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (Qty: 5)
Elaine Pagels
Vintage, 2004-05-04. Paperback. New. Brand New. In Stock. Order Now. Ship from CA, IN, PA, OR, TN and FL. Over 600,000 CD/DVD, Books and bibles. Free tracking with every order.Top Biblio approved seller. International shipping is now available at low rates. ( more information)
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