The Gospel Truth
What do recently discovered
Gnostic texts reveal about the story of Jesus?
by Meghan Beals McCarthy, Production Dramaturg
In The Busy World is Hushed, playwright Keith Bunin offers us a moving portrait of three individuals caught up in the obsession to unearth true accounts of their fathers. Hannah is an Episcopal minister and religious scholar charged with interpreting a newly-discovered first-century gospel; her son Thomas pores over his dead father’s belongings, trying to understand a father he never knew. Hannah delves in to these texts, often considered “lost” books of the Bible, in hopes of uncovering a portrait of Jesus unsullied by human influence. But history has a way of remaining elusive, particularly when the truth is forever clouded by time, translation, and interpretation. Hannah’s work with the Gnostic Gospels particularly illustrates this: testing the veracity of Jesus’ words is tricky at best.
After Jesus’ death, his followers relied on oral tradition to pass on Jesus’ acts and words through their own teachings. However, as this apostolic generation died out, it was clear that a more permanent tradition was needed. Mark was the first to devise a narrative containing Jesus’ life and sayings (before 70 CE), Matthew and Luke were composed shortly thereafter (drawing heavily on Mark) followed by John (by 100 CE). But even after these Gospels were in circulation, oral tradition was still preferred and the Gospels not yet considered scripture. In fact, well into the 3rd century new gospels were being created, most prolifically by a rival Christian sect, the Gnostics.
The Gnostics were a religious and philosophical group prominent during the 2nd century CE. Evidence indicates wide diversity within the group; however, most Gnostic sects shared the belief that salvation could only be achieved through esoteric knowledge, gained not through learning but divinely imparted through individual, ecstatic communions with God. The development of Christian doctrine was largely in reaction against Gnosticism in an effort to refute their claims. Additionally, to reinforce the Episcopal authority of the Christian Church, a single voice had to prevail; thus, through a complex selection process, 27 books – including the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – were selected to form the New Testament and all others were deemed heretical. Most of the vast number of Gnostic writings was lost.
In 1945, the accidental discovery of Christian Gnostic manuscripts near Naj Hammadi (in Upper Egypt) was a boon to modern religious scholars. Like the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947), the found manuscripts gave evidence of the number of different Jewish and Christian sects active before and after Jesus’ time. Additionally, it renewed interest in the matter of New Testament “source material” – particularly in the case of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas contains many of Jesus’ sayings also found in Matthew and Luke. This commonality of sayings amongst the Gospels gives new evidence for the existence of an earlier collection of sayings, one that would pre-date any existing book in the New Testament. Dating as early as 40 or 50 CE, it could provide the “truest” picture of Jesus possible. For many scholars, the discovery of the Naj Hammadi Gnostic Gospels was evidence enough that this hypothetical “Q” Gospel did, indeed, exist.
Considering the number of gospels that were circulating even through the 3rd century, Hannah’s desire to explore the earliest extant one is understandable, particularly if it were free from potentially biased narratives. (The Gospel of Mark, for example, is commonly recognized as having been used as a primer for converted Gentiles.) It is this search for the clearest picture of our paternal legacies that drive these characters, and one that, ultimately, calls on their faith perhaps far more than they expect.