For a long time now, I have believed that the Gospel of Thomas (hereafter Thomas) was written in Egypt and in Alexandria specifically. After several years of research, my argument has finally been published by the flagship Journal of Biblical Literature.

M. David Litwa

“Thomas in Alexandria: Arguments For Locating the Gospel and Book of Thomas in Alexandria,” Journal of Biblical Literature 143:1 (2024): 163-83.

Here’s a summary of my argument to whet your appetite.

There are many reasons for supporting Thomas’s Egyptian provenance. First, Thomasine sayings and a main character (Salome in Thomas 61) overlap with sayings and a main character from the Gospel according to the Egyptians. In particular, we have Thomas 37, where Jesus’s disciples ask: “‘When will you appear to us and when shall we see you?’ Jesus said, ‘When you strip without being ashamed. . .’.” According to the Gospel according to the Egyptians, “When Salome inquired when what she asked about would become known, the Lord said, ‘When you trample the garment of shame . . .’”[1] In both texts, stripping off the garment of shame is likely a metaphor for leaving the fleshly platform. For the Egyptian provenance of The Gospel of the Egyptians, see my book Early Christianity in Alexandria (https://amzn.to/3w51nGD).

Second, both Julius Cassianus and Thomas present Platonizing interpretations of Genesis. One could say that Cassianus interpreted Genesis in a Thomasine way by appealing to the soul’s preexistence and original androgyny. For the Egyptian provenance of Julius Cassianus, see my book Found Christianities (https://amzn.to/3JmULGH) and Early Christianity in Alexandria.

Third, Thomas’s ascetic sayings (e.g., 79, “Blessed is the womb that has not conceived”) fit Cassianus’s ideological context and rejection of fleshly birth. Not bearing children was a Thomasine ideal, but for Cassianus it was a requirement.[2] We could say that, if Cassianus read Thomas in the mid second century, then he took it in an even more ascetical direction.

In fact, Cassianus evidently quoted the Thomasine saying, “fast from the world.”[3] This saying is also cited in the fourth or fifth century CE Liber Graduum, but its second-century attestation only occurs in Cassianus, Thomas, and P.Oxy 5575.

If Cassianus (between 160 and 180 CE) quoted the Gospel of Thomas, then he is one of our earliest—if not the earliest—receiver of this gospel, which was probably completed about 140 CE (when hope for the rebuilding of the Temple was quashed, Thomas §71). This would mean that the earliest documented use of Thomas was in Alexandria.

To this we can add likely quotations of the Thomas by the author of Testimony of Truth and the Naassene Preacher.[4] For these quotations, please see Early Christianity in Alexandria and The Naassenes: Contours of an Early Christian Identity (https://amzn.to/4aE1Wq9).

Lastly, the surviving versions of Thomas are attested solely in Egyptian papyri—and in fairly early witnesses found in Middle Egypt (late second to early third centuries).

Again, these are only quick summaries of my arguments. For their full forms, please see my articles and books. And if I’ve convinced you—or not!—say why by leaving a comment or question below.

---

[1] Clement, Strom. 3.13.92.2–3.13.93.3.

[2] Cassianus in Clement, Strom. 3.15.92.2; 3.15.97.2.

[3] Gos. Thom. II,2 §27 (attested in P.Oxy 1.5-6, νηστεύσηται τὸν κόσμον); cf. Clement, Strom. 3.15.99.4 (οἱ τοῦ κόσμου νηστεύοντες).

[4] Namely making the “inner” like the “outer” (Test. Truth [IX,3] 68.16-17) and finding rest after seeking (69.2-4).