Lavinia Cerioni: Shifting Genders in Gnosticism. The use of gender categories to determine the Gnostic affiliation of the Gospel of Thomas

The use of gender categories in the theological speculation represents a distinctive mark of Gnostic myths, where feminine and masculine imagery are often used to convey core theological doctrines.In this presentation, I will analyze Logion 114 of the Gospel of Thomas, where it is said that Mary has to become male in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This passage resembles closely other texts affiliated to Gnosticism like Heracleon’s fragments in Origen,Commentary on the Gospel of John, 6, 20, 1 and Hippolytus, Refutatio 5, 8, 44. Similarly, the spiritual seed changes from male to female and vice versa in the Excerpta ex Theodoto, varying according to the mythologies. All these instances suggest that the shifting of genders was a primary issue within Gnostic movements.In this paper, I will compare the use of gender categories in the Gospel of Thomas with those of other Gnostic works, such as the Apocryphon of John, the Hypostasis of the Archons, the Gospel of Philip, the Exegesis of the Soul. Moreover, I intend to highlight the close similarities between the Gospel of Thomas and Gnosticism with regard to the use of gender categories, thus challenging that line of scholarship which supports the non-Gnostic affiliation of this Gospel. In summary, this presentation intends to propose a fresh approach to an old question: can the Gospel of Thomas be deemed a Gnostic work?

David Wilhite: Jesus in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Thomas "the Israelite" and the God of Israel

In recent studies of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the IGT is read as problematic, because the text depicts the young Jesus as shaming, cursing, and killing in an apparent arbitrary manner (van Aarde 2006; Aasgard 2009; Whitenton 2015; Eastman 2015; Cousland 2018). In response, these scholars offer to solve the problem by showing specific contextual elements from late antiquity that can explain certain facets of Jesus depicted in the IGT. In light of the ancient context, it is claimed that there is no problem to be solved; the text’s own thought-world has simply been misunderstood. In my paper, I will argue that the portrayal of Jesus in the IGT is still problematic, but the problem is not created by the IGT itself: instead of claiming that the IGT’s Jesus is incompatible with the canonical picture of Jesus, I argue that the canonical Gospels’ depiction of Jesus is–to some ancient readers–incompatible with the character of the God of Israel depicted in the Jewish scriptures. The IGT dissolves this tension by depicting “the Lord (Kurios)” of Israel as having become a fully human child, who then grows in character and learns “to bless and not to curse” (IGT 4.2), that is, he “grows in wisdom” (IGT 17.5//Luke 2.52). In short, aside from the insights gained in recent studies that focus on the late antique setting, the primary backdrop for explaining Jesus’ character in the IGT is found in the God worshipped by the “Israelite” (IGT 1.1).

David Reis - Peripatetic Pedagogues: Travel and Transgression in Early Christian Fiction

The earliest Christian writings identify travel as a natural expression of faith in Jesus.  The sayings tradition presents Jesus as a homeless wanderer (Q 9:58; Gos. Thom. 86) who commissions his followers to emulate his itinerancy: as “workers” assigned “to gather the harvest,” they must move from house to house proclaiming God’s kingdom (Q 10:2-12; Gos. Thom. 73; cf. Gos. Thom. 42). From Paul’s letters a similar zeal for travel emerges (2 Cor 11:25-26; Rom 15:23-24), one that later becomes enshrined in the directive from the resurrected Jesus to preach to all nations (Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47).

Early Christians clearly perceived sojourning as critical for the dissemination of their message, a point developed in second- and third-century fictional accounts of the missionary activity of apostolic travelers.  In highlighting this link between travel and knowledge, the authors of Acts, the Apocryphal Acts, and the Pseudo-Clementine literature draw upon a topos that stretched back to story of Odysseus (Od. 1.3) and had become especially prevalent among writers of the Second Sophistic (e.g. Dio Chrysostom, Lucian, Philostratus) who debated the merits of journeying.  Those who viewed such movement positively envisioned travel as a form of intellectual and spatial transgression that countered imperial “knowledge” and the empire’s carefully scripted delineations of territory (e.g. Strabo, Pliny).  This essay will demonstrate that the early Christian travelogues functioned similarly to construct an alternative body of knowledge available to those willing to journey with the apostles to places both “real” and fictional.  Along with their Greek and Roman counterparts, such narratives thus contribute to the construction of new subjectivities that negotiate, resist, and reinscribe imperial formulations of identity and space.

Kristi Upson-Saia - The angry young Jesus of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

Although scholars regularly note the unflattering depictions of the child Jesus in certain episodes of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, most attempt to explain them away.  Since the text was circulated among early Christians, they reason, these stories must not have been as shocking and offensive in the ancient context as they are to modern readers.  Given the contemporaneous discussions on anger, clemency, and “childish” behavior, I argue instead that an early Christian audience also would have been uncomfortable with stories of a short-tempered and vengeful young Jesus.  In fact, I submit that certain episodes were likely composed by opponents of Christianity in an effort to undermine Jesus’ character and authority by presenting a compromised portrait of his youth.  The redactor of Infancy Gospel of Thomas, I suggest, placed (edited versions of) these deprecating stories beside scenes of a beneficent and virtuous young Jesus as a way to domesticate their impact.