"Reading Gospel of Thomas 100 in the Fourth Century: From Roman Imperialism to Pachomian Concern over Wealth”

Fowler, Kimberley A.

Abstract

Recent scholarship has made strides in evidencing a Pachomian monastic relationship to the Nag Hammadi Codices, yet this remains to be sufficiently investigated through analysis of Nag Hammadi material bearing Pachomian traits, or best explained within a Pachomian ideological environment. In this article I argue that Gospel of Thomas 100’s redaction of the “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” pericope (Mk 12:13-17 par.) can be better understood in light of conflict between Pachomian material wealth and ascetic aspirations. The redaction demonstrates that conflict over Roman tax payment, crucial in the first-century context of the Synoptic Gospels, is in this fourth-century context essentially irrelevant.

Citation

Fowler, K. A. (2018). "Reading Gospel of Thomas 100 in the Fourth Century: From Roman Imperialism to Pachomian Concern over Wealth”. Vigiliae Christianae: A Review of Early Christian Life and Language, 72(4), 421-446. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341356

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Sep 14, 2018
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Deposit Date: Nov 28, 2018
• Journal: Vigiliae Christianae
• Print ISSN: 0042-6032
• Electronic ISSN: 1570-0720
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 421-446
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700720-12341356
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1313173