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Gospel of Thomas · 10 of 10

Translator’s Notes

The following are Mark M. Mattison’s notes on specific translation choices in this Gospel of Thomas translation.

Saying 13: “Three things.” Or possibly “three words.” The Coptic term for “word” can also be translated as “saying,” as in the incipit.

Sayings 16, 49, and 75: “One.” Literally, monachos, usually translated “single,” “solitary,” or “alone.” For the translation choice, cf. my book The Gospel of Thomas: A New Translation for Spiritual Seekers (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform), 2015, pp. 24,25, building on Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind – a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala), 2009, p. 21; “The Gift of Life: The Unified Solitude of the Desert Fathers,” Parabola, 1989, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 27,28; building in turn on Gabriele Winkler, “The Origins and Idiosyncrasies of the Earliest Form of Ascetisicm,” The Continuing Quest for God: Monastic Spirituality in Tradition and Transition, ed. William Skuldarek, O.S.B. (The Liturgical Press), 1981, pp. 28,29.

Saying 61: “Equal.” The Coptic literally reads “destroyed,” which may be a scribal error; if one letter is changed, the word would be “equal,” which would echo the earlier phrase “I am the one who exists in equality.”

Saying 65: “Creditor.” Or possibly “a good person”; cf. Michael W. Grondin, “Good Man or Usurer? Battle over a Lacuna,” rev. May 31, 2014.

Saying 105: “A bastard.” Literally, “the son of a prostitute.”

Saying 114: “Manly.” Cf. my book The Gospel of Thomas, op. cit., pp. 25,26, building on Samuel Zinner, The Gospel of Thomas in the Light of Early Jewish, Christian and Islamic Esoteric Trajectories: with a contextualized commentary and a new translation of the Thomas Gospel (The Matheson Trust), 2011, pp. 288-290; building in turn on Paul Schüngel, “Ein Vorschlag, EvTho 114 neu zu übersetzen,” Novum Testamentum, 1994, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 394-401.

Asked of Guide

Why does the translator note different word choices for specific sayings?

The translator explains lexical uncertainty in the Coptic and how small variants change sense, for example Saying 61 reads “destroyed” in the manuscript but a single-letter change yields “equal,” and Saying 13’s term can mean either “word” or “saying.” He names scholarly precedents and sources that guided choices, citing his own book and voices like Cynthia Bourgeault to justify translating monachos as “one.”

Those notes show translation is interpretive: decisions weigh manuscript readings, plausible scribal errors, and prior scholarship (Mattison’s The Gospel of Thomas; Bourgeault; Zinner; others). When a term could be “creditor,” “good person,” or “son of a prostitute,” the translator records alternatives so readers see the textual and scholarly basis for his rendering.

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