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The Thomas Code: Solving the mystery of the Gospel of Thomas
An enigmatic manuscript. A secret lost for 2,000 years. The discovery that shines new light on Christianity.
Jesus “I have cast fire upon the world…”
The Thomas Code uncovers and explains the mathematical secret of the Gospel of Thomas. This fascinating book takes the reader on a journey of discovery involving an ancient mathematical code, sayings of Jesus that are riddles we must solve, and a Gospel whose structure is more advanced than anything else known from antiquity. The book demonstrates how this extraordinary Gospel is earlier than the four gospels in the bible.
The Gospel of Thomas was esteemed among early Christians. But after it was declared heretical by the church, all copies were destroyed. Long thought to have been lost, it was recovered in 1945 from a codex buried in a jar in the Egyptian desert. Unlike the New Testament gospels, Thomas is a list of sayings spoken by Jesus. Some are familiar, while others are strange and mysterious. Even odder is the bizarre way in which the sayings are organized, seemingly without any rhyme or reason. Scholars have searched for a structure, but nothing has been found. Until now!
The Thomas Code shows how the Gospel is organized using a mathematical formula and how the clues to this formula have been hiding in plain sight. The abundant evidence is set out simply and clearly with the help of diagrams. Remarkably, the Thomas Code is also the key to the miracle of the loaves and fishes and enables us to understand this miracle for the first time.
The Thomas Code shows a Gospel that delights in paradoxes and riddles. But this is not all. The Gospel of Thomas is structured to reach a climax at which a secret will be told. That secret is a shocking revelation about the nature of Jesus himself.
Includes a complete translation of the Gospel of Thomas organized and renumbered according to the Thomas Code.
S.P. Laurie studied mathematics at the University of Oxford and is the author of The Rock and the Tower.
Jesus “I have cast fire upon the world…”
The Thomas Code uncovers and explains the mathematical secret of the Gospel of Thomas. This fascinating book takes the reader on a journey of discovery involving an ancient mathematical code, sayings of Jesus that are riddles we must solve, and a Gospel whose structure is more advanced than anything else known from antiquity. The book demonstrates how this extraordinary Gospel is earlier than the four gospels in the bible.
The Gospel of Thomas was esteemed among early Christians. But after it was declared heretical by the church, all copies were destroyed. Long thought to have been lost, it was recovered in 1945 from a codex buried in a jar in the Egyptian desert. Unlike the New Testament gospels, Thomas is a list of sayings spoken by Jesus. Some are familiar, while others are strange and mysterious. Even odder is the bizarre way in which the sayings are organized, seemingly without any rhyme or reason. Scholars have searched for a structure, but nothing has been found. Until now!
The Thomas Code shows how the Gospel is organized using a mathematical formula and how the clues to this formula have been hiding in plain sight. The abundant evidence is set out simply and clearly with the help of diagrams. Remarkably, the Thomas Code is also the key to the miracle of the loaves and fishes and enables us to understand this miracle for the first time.
The Thomas Code shows a Gospel that delights in paradoxes and riddles. But this is not all. The Gospel of Thomas is structured to reach a climax at which a secret will be told. That secret is a shocking revelation about the nature of Jesus himself.
Includes a complete translation of the Gospel of Thomas organized and renumbered according to the Thomas Code.
S.P. Laurie studied mathematics at the University of Oxford and is the author of The Rock and the Tower.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 23, 2018
244 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 7, 2020
Astounding Coincidence?
3•2•3•2•3 = 108, which is the number of verses in the Gospel of Thomas. This means the Gospel can be organized in many different ways, for instance 6 chapters of 18 verses. When arranged in this way many enigmatic verses seem to make sense, being descriptions of the structure of the book. It could be an amazing coincidence or deliberately laid out that way. If so, it is the most amazing example of meta authorship ever. It doesn't really make this gospel any more relevant.
The simple fact is that the Gospel was most likely written well into the third century by Coptic Christians and is not a hidden gospel. I have given it a 2 star rating because of the audacity.
3•2•3•2•3 = 108, which is the number of verses in the Gospel of Thomas. This means the Gospel can be organized in many different ways, for instance 6 chapters of 18 verses. When arranged in this way many enigmatic verses seem to make sense, being descriptions of the structure of the book. It could be an amazing coincidence or deliberately laid out that way. If so, it is the most amazing example of meta authorship ever. It doesn't really make this gospel any more relevant.
The simple fact is that the Gospel was most likely written well into the third century by Coptic Christians and is not a hidden gospel. I have given it a 2 star rating because of the audacity.
March 28, 2022
“Who’s On First?”
Maybe the author knew what s/he was talking about, but even though I’ve studied mystical numerology for many years as well as cryptography, I hadn’t a clue how to grok what was being relayed. “Who’s on First” anyone? It was THAT confusing! And I’m also quite familiar with the Bible, having read it through from cover to cover numerous times and researched it six ways to Sunday and back, both by comparing various scriptures within the Bible itself to each other and by researching the works of Biblical scholars as well as numerous ‘secular’ texts in the areas of archaeology, ancient and Biblical history and in other areas. And in my opinion, the Bible is one of the most confusing puzzles of all!
The Lost Books of the Bible, Mystical Christianity and Gnosticism et al, have always intrigued me. This book, however… not so much. I’m a fast reader, and this was a fairly short book at approximately 325 pages. Yet it took me 5 months – not only to read it – but to WANT to read it.
Still, I wanted to give it a fair shot. But ultimately what I determined is that it’s quite likely that this ‘book’ was a red herring, so to speak. Just as with the so-called ‘canonized’ books of the Bible, it is likely that it was carefully crafted by the Roman government in their obviously quite successful attempt to redirect the attention of those who had been drawn to the teachings of an extremely controversial Hebrew Rabbi? Prophet? by the name of Yehoshua, later to be re-christened with the Greek name Iesous, and then still later the Latinized version, Jesus. (Although there could be another reason for this, the fact that Yehoshua’s name was Latinized is suspect, since Latin was of ROMAN origin.)
Allegedly, these actions, initially, were undertaken in an effort to better control what many have referred to as ‘The Jesus Movement,’ as opposed to the ‘Christians,’ the latter name given to those who followed the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings which the laity believed were the teachings of the ‘God-man’ Jesus – teachings which had been significantly altered from their original form.
It’s quite likely that the real ‘author’ of this book was the so-called ‘Apostle’ Paul who never met Jesus (hearing a voice on the road to Damascus doesn’t count, regardless of what Saul/Paul claimed) and fought and argued with the few actual Apostles who remained alive after Yehoshua’s death, over the beliefs, procedures and religious protocols (especially regarding circumcision) to which Yehoshua’s original/early followers adhered.
In fact, it has been determined by many Biblical scholars and researchers that by the time Saul/Paul began his ‘ministry,’ he was also a Roman government ‘plant’ possibly working with the Jews in order to confuse Yehoshua’s teachings and pave the way for a New Roman Religion.
Well, I’d say it worked. There’s been lots of confusion around Yehoshua’s teachings. The question is: were any of the utterances that were believed to have been made by ‘Jesus,’ and found in the New Testament section of the Bible really made by ‘Jesus’?
At least of those words which are found in the Bible. It’s possible, however, according to a rumor that’s been going around for many years that Jesus actually DID write a book filled with his insights and wisdom, and which was likely secreted away by either Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea or the Essenes, with whom he is believed to have studied.
As for The Thomas Code: aside from the inherent confusion as far as the subject of this particular book/author, The Thomas Code, itself, was supposedly ‘based’ (quite loosely, I might add) on the events that were later believed to be the actual source of the four canonized Gospels of the New Testament or the ‘Christian Greek Scriptures’ of what has come to be known as The Bible. Yet these four so-called ‘Gospels’ were actually taken from a much earlier scroll that was dubbed ‘Q’ – which stands for the German word ‘quelle,’ and is translated ‘source.’ – by German researchers.
Bottom line: I was not impressed with this book at all. The fact is, it was more confusing than enlightening. Does that make me a dunce? Possibly. But I’ve studied these subjects for at least 55 years and have noted many conflicting comments/beliefs within the Bible itself, as well as anachronisms and what have been determined to be outright concoctions and fabrications along with numerous/various other Biblical researchers. This may be why for so long the Roman Catholic Church had banned the reading of the Bible by the laity. And then, of course, there was the Inquisition. But that’s another (though closely related) story.
Ultimately, a confusing mishmash that’s likely based on erroneous information anyway.
Maybe the author knew what s/he was talking about, but even though I’ve studied mystical numerology for many years as well as cryptography, I hadn’t a clue how to grok what was being relayed. “Who’s on First” anyone? It was THAT confusing! And I’m also quite familiar with the Bible, having read it through from cover to cover numerous times and researched it six ways to Sunday and back, both by comparing various scriptures within the Bible itself to each other and by researching the works of Biblical scholars as well as numerous ‘secular’ texts in the areas of archaeology, ancient and Biblical history and in other areas. And in my opinion, the Bible is one of the most confusing puzzles of all!
The Lost Books of the Bible, Mystical Christianity and Gnosticism et al, have always intrigued me. This book, however… not so much. I’m a fast reader, and this was a fairly short book at approximately 325 pages. Yet it took me 5 months – not only to read it – but to WANT to read it.
Still, I wanted to give it a fair shot. But ultimately what I determined is that it’s quite likely that this ‘book’ was a red herring, so to speak. Just as with the so-called ‘canonized’ books of the Bible, it is likely that it was carefully crafted by the Roman government in their obviously quite successful attempt to redirect the attention of those who had been drawn to the teachings of an extremely controversial Hebrew Rabbi? Prophet? by the name of Yehoshua, later to be re-christened with the Greek name Iesous, and then still later the Latinized version, Jesus. (Although there could be another reason for this, the fact that Yehoshua’s name was Latinized is suspect, since Latin was of ROMAN origin.)
Allegedly, these actions, initially, were undertaken in an effort to better control what many have referred to as ‘The Jesus Movement,’ as opposed to the ‘Christians,’ the latter name given to those who followed the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings which the laity believed were the teachings of the ‘God-man’ Jesus – teachings which had been significantly altered from their original form.
It’s quite likely that the real ‘author’ of this book was the so-called ‘Apostle’ Paul who never met Jesus (hearing a voice on the road to Damascus doesn’t count, regardless of what Saul/Paul claimed) and fought and argued with the few actual Apostles who remained alive after Yehoshua’s death, over the beliefs, procedures and religious protocols (especially regarding circumcision) to which Yehoshua’s original/early followers adhered.
In fact, it has been determined by many Biblical scholars and researchers that by the time Saul/Paul began his ‘ministry,’ he was also a Roman government ‘plant’ possibly working with the Jews in order to confuse Yehoshua’s teachings and pave the way for a New Roman Religion.
Well, I’d say it worked. There’s been lots of confusion around Yehoshua’s teachings. The question is: were any of the utterances that were believed to have been made by ‘Jesus,’ and found in the New Testament section of the Bible really made by ‘Jesus’?
At least of those words which are found in the Bible. It’s possible, however, according to a rumor that’s been going around for many years that Jesus actually DID write a book filled with his insights and wisdom, and which was likely secreted away by either Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea or the Essenes, with whom he is believed to have studied.
As for The Thomas Code: aside from the inherent confusion as far as the subject of this particular book/author, The Thomas Code, itself, was supposedly ‘based’ (quite loosely, I might add) on the events that were later believed to be the actual source of the four canonized Gospels of the New Testament or the ‘Christian Greek Scriptures’ of what has come to be known as The Bible. Yet these four so-called ‘Gospels’ were actually taken from a much earlier scroll that was dubbed ‘Q’ – which stands for the German word ‘quelle,’ and is translated ‘source.’ – by German researchers.
Bottom line: I was not impressed with this book at all. The fact is, it was more confusing than enlightening. Does that make me a dunce? Possibly. But I’ve studied these subjects for at least 55 years and have noted many conflicting comments/beliefs within the Bible itself, as well as anachronisms and what have been determined to be outright concoctions and fabrications along with numerous/various other Biblical researchers. This may be why for so long the Roman Catholic Church had banned the reading of the Bible by the laity. And then, of course, there was the Inquisition. But that’s another (though closely related) story.
Ultimately, a confusing mishmash that’s likely based on erroneous information anyway.
November 24, 2020
I'm tempted to say, "solved -so what?". The author is a mathematician and it shows, not that that is a bad thing, but once the puzzle has been solved where does the meaning take us? I enjoyed the discussion on the mustard seed parable, and Laurie's explanation of it is the best I've seen, but it still does not take me to the heart of the mystery, and I feel there is still some way to go.
In many ways I'm reminded of Robert Graves's book "The White Goddess" where he tries by a similar method to solve the mystery of the "calendar of the trees", in my opinion that failed for a variety of reasons but even if it had succeeded; again so what?
Laurie's book is well written and I enjoyed a lot of it, but for me it failed to get to the kernel of the mystery.
In many ways I'm reminded of Robert Graves's book "The White Goddess" where he tries by a similar method to solve the mystery of the "calendar of the trees", in my opinion that failed for a variety of reasons but even if it had succeeded; again so what?
Laurie's book is well written and I enjoyed a lot of it, but for me it failed to get to the kernel of the mystery.
January 7, 2019
Although I did not agree with much of what the author wrote I found this book enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews