Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 08:12:39 -0500
From: Michael Grondin <mgrondin@tir.com>
To: crosstalk@info.harpercollins.com
Subject: Re: Original GThomas/"I'm your disciple"

Bill Arnal writes:
>...what do you propose as the original Greek behind this?

Sorry to disappoint, Bill, but I don't know Greek. Wish to Theos I did
(seriously), and someday I will, but in the meantime I'm at the mercy of
the translators of the POxy fragments to provide accuracy.

In general, though, my inclination is to leave it open whether the
Coptic in 13 and 61 is simply a translation or not. I wouldn't
necessarily assume that the Greek had an equivalent of the Coptic. It
might have, but then again the Coptic Gnostics might have done something
like what they appear to have done with #77, viz. mix things up and add
their own element to it. They were, after all, rather creative and
imaginative on the whole. I would be much surprised if they had just
accepted GThom exactly as they found it. I think they would have wanted
to leave their own mark on it, and this may be one of those cases where
they did so.

> To support this view, though, we ought to be able to attribute the 
> words "I am your disciple" in #61 to Jesus, rather than Salome.

As you point out, the statement <anok'tek'mathetes> (I prefer to show
the apostrophes) is addressed to a male. The speaker, however, may be
either male or female, so I don't see any problem attributing the words
to Jesus speaking to Thomas. As you know, translators assume here (in
61) that the scribe has inadvertantly left out the requisite
introductory phrase "she said to him". On my view, there was nothing
inadvertant about it. The introductory phrase is missing simply because
the statement is not intended to be considered a proper part of #61.
That is reinforced by the fact that Jesus takes up again right where he
left off just before Salome interrupted him with this ardent
declaration, just as if she had said nothing at all. Exactly.

(subject continued in my response to Steve)

Mike
-- 
Macomb, Michigan USA (810-954-3562)
The Codex II Student Resource Center
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