Gnosis Purchased for $9 USD in 1956

 

Nothing can grab a newspaper reader's attention more so than mentioning the United States dollar.  In an article titled "Egyptian Scholars in Studies of Ancient Religious Scrolls," per the The Marion Star newspaper, dated December 26, 1956, the USD is mentioned straight away.  As are all the articles from this time period in respect to this news item regarding the NHL.  What's the number, you might ask?  I'll let the Associated Press speak to it...

Eleven years ago an Egyptian peasant sold for nine dollars to the son of a Coptic priest a collection of musty, unimportant-looking documents discovered in an old earthenware jar while digging for fertilizer.

They may be worth a fortune.

Curious that the number 911 is tucked in here, and I'm sure I could go on and on about that possible red herring, but I'm going to skip it and call it coincidence.  I do find it fascinating that the unimportant looking documents containing the The Gospel According to Thomas is introduced in terms of money and forecast to be worth a "fortune" in fiat currency.  Always with the dollar...

This article is a follow up to US newspapers initial account of Thomas in 1956 (summarized in the previous post).  Professor Puech is mentioned again, as is the Director of the Coptic Museum in Egypt, Dr. Pahlor Labib.

Again, the news is the potential for discovering a Fifth Gospel...with again mention that this Gospel begins with the statement, "These are the hidden words which Jesus the living spoke, which Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down." 

Other numbers thrown out in the article for fun :

• 20 New Sayings of Jesus
• Putech is quoted in saying they are "impressive in their beauty and simplicity"
• The 20 pages of gospel and 47 other writings were found in 1945 375 miles up the Nile from Cairo
  

As with all mysteries with Gnosticism, the article leaves us with the following questions :

 Have these recorded sayings come down with a stamp of authenticity from the actual time of Jesus?

Have these recorded sayings developed as inventions or embellishments on established traditions of that time?

This article finally mentions that documents originated from the Third or Fourth Centuries A.D.