Original Christianity: A New Key to Understanding the Gospel of Thomas and Other Lost Scriptures

by Peter Novak

"Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death." --from the Gospel of Thomas The work of scholars such as Elaine Pagels and Marvin Meyer have captured the imagination of the public by setting forth the Gospel of Thomas and other lost teachings of Jesus. Now Peter Novak, in Original Christianity , brings forth a critical element essential for fully understanding these scriptures. Novak argues that the authors of these early texts subscribed to the Binary Soul Doctrine--an ancient belief system that allows for both reincarnation and an eternal afterlife. Novak's interdisciplinary approach offers fresh insights on the beliefs and politics of the early church founders. He points out that reincarnation was a commonly held Christian belief until it was voted out of "official" Christianity and the record expunged. This newfound key reveals the true identities of many mysterious Biblical figures, such as Lazarus, Barabbas, Judas, and especially the Apostle Thomas, who may not only have been Jesus' identical twin brother, but indeed a second Christ in his own right, who lived to produce a genetically identical bloodline. More important still, the rediscovery of the lost theology of Original Christianity means Christ's central message of personal integrity can again take center stage.

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2005

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book fails in its fundamental premise.  In order to instruct regarding original Christianity, one has to know what that is, and this author has zero clue about this very pertinent subject.  The entire structure and virtually all of the content of this book is a failure because the author conflates original Christianity with gnosticism [1] with original biblical Christianity and engages persistently in a false dilemma by which there is a satanic dialectic between left-leaning gnostic churches and right-leaning authoritarian types in Orthodox/Catholic world and the Republic Party, whereas the author thinks that his BS doctrine (bodily soul doctrine, abbreviated as BSD dozens of times in the book) serves as a synthesis between these two approaches.  After one reads enough of this book, one realizes that it is pointless and counterproductive to cite every example or argument that this book gets wrong because the entire argument of the book is deeply flawed.  This is a book that seeks to promote a belief in reincarnation among Christian circles, a viewpoint that comes up surprisingly often in my readings.  If this book was not original, it was certainly irritating and contradictory.

The structure of this book is deeply unbalanced, which is perhaps about as well as one would expect from its author given its subject matter and approach.  Covering a bit less than 250 pages of text, about 100 pages or so if it is devoted to a lengthy exegesis of the Gospel of Thomas that manages to make the work coherent but which sabotages any chance that a fair-minded reader would view its contents as biblical if they have any understanding of the biblical approach to the resurrection and the mortal soul.  Much of the rest of the book is dedicated to supporting a thoroughgoing esoteric view of public and private teachings, ad hominem attacks on mainstream Christianity, bogus ideas about the afterlife, the second death, and a host of other subjects, and a curious and remarkable tendency to behave as if he was an expert on subjects on which he knows less than nothing, because at least an ignorant person would be willing to learn instead of convinced of his own profound and deep knowledge and insight.  The author's approach resembles original Christianity in the same way that a painful splinter resembles an original tree, and is about as useful.

If this book has any use, it is in its larger context rather than in its woefully mistaken content.  The content of this book is rubbish--the author manages to imitate the medieval Roman Catholic Church in a massive case of conflation by which Barsabbas, Judas Iscariot, Jude, and Thomas Didymus are all conflated with an imaginary twin of Jesus Christ.  The author ignores some biblical matters and outright misrepresents others, claiming that Paul's reference to what God has prepared for us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 has no biblical reference except for the Gospel of Thomas (which is not biblical), ignoring the reference in Isaiah 64:4.  The more one knows about the Bible, the more dishonest this book appears in its approach, and the less one will be interested in what the author has to say, because he is not looking to discuss those who are knowledgeable about the scriptures but instead those who can be convinced that within the Gnostic corpus there is some hidden truth that was squashed on by evil Orthodox and Catholic Christians and which has now come to light in such a way that the heathen and mystical faiths of the world can come together in perfect harmony, like the ebony and ivory found on the mysterious and occult Templar flags in days gone by.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Glyn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profoundly interesting, I agree a lot of the analysis and even see additional corroborative evidence which supports some interpretations. Fully understand why Rome exerted so much energy to trying to eradicate all copies - and frighteningly almost succeeded.
Shorn of dubious encrustations concerning the meaning of the crucifixion and resurrection (mostly added in the 4th Century) the original teaching makes more sense - James was clear: faith without deeds is valueless; unlike Paul the miracle salesman: faith alone saves, grace is all you need.
We should be very grateful to Peter Novak's efforts to understand the true meanings within the Gospel of Thomas.
I recommend any reader to read at least 3 times to fully understand the interpretations - as the material goes so much against our ingrained prejudices.

[Glyn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning interpretations of the many enigmatic Sayings in the Gospel of Thomas. Constructs a very coherent belief structure.