Thomas: The Secret Twin of Jesus?
Sign up for New Insights into the New Testament here!: religionforbreakfast--ehrman....
Join our Patreon community!: / religionforbreakfast
One-time donations here!: www.paypal.me/religionforbrea...
Check out my favorite religious studies books by following this affiliate link to my Amazon page: www.amazon.com/shop/religionf...
Most scholars agree Jesus had a brother named James. But a bunch of ancient Christians thought he had another brother. An identical twin brother: Judas Didymus Thomas. Where did this belief come from? And what was its significance?
Bibliography:
Gregory Riley, "Didymos Judas Thomas: The Twin Brother of Jesus," in Kimberley Patton (ed.), "Gemini and the Sacred: Twins and Twinship in Religion and Mythology," Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.
M. David Litwa, “I Will Become Him”: Homology and Deification in the Gospel of Thomas, Journal of Biblical Literature, SBL Volume 134, Number 2, 2015. pp. 427-447
Select footage courtesy of Getty
Sign up for New Insights into the New Testament here!: religionforbreakfast--ehrman.thrivecart.com/nint2023/
Monad (from Greek μονάς monas, "singularity" in turn from μόνος monos, "alone") refers, in cosmogony, to the Supreme Being, divinity or the totality of all things. The concept was reportedly conceived by the Pythagoreans and may refer variously to a single source acting alone, or to an indivisible origin, or to both. The concept was later adopted by other philosophers, such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who referred to the Monad as an elementary particle. It had a geometric counterpart, which was debated and discussed contemporaneously by the same groups of people. Q: Is the Monad (first emanation of God) the zero-dimensional space binding our quarks together with the strong nuclear force? A: Leibniz's "The Monadology" is a philosophical work that explores the concept of monads as indivisible, immaterial substances that make up the fabric of reality. While the notion of monads is primarily philosophical and not directly related to modern physics, I can attempt to draw a connection between some of Leibniz's ideas and the strong nuclear force holding quarks together. Here are seven points of connection you could consider: 1) Indivisibility and Unity: Leibniz's monads are indivisible and lack parts. In a similar vein, quarks are elementary particles, indivisible according to our current understanding, and are the building blocks of hadrons, the particles held together by the strong force. 2) Interconnectedness: Leibniz's monads are interconnected, each reflecting the entire universe from its own perspective. In particle physics, the strong force binds quarks within hadrons, creating a complex interconnected system of particles. 3) Inherent Properties: Monads possess inherent perceptions and appetitions. In particle physics, quarks are associated with intrinsic properties like color charge, which influences their interactions through the strong force. 4) Harmony: Leibniz describes monads as creating harmony in the universe. Similarly, the strong nuclear force maintains stability within atomic nuclei by balancing the repulsive electromagnetic forces between positively charged protons. 5) Pre-established Harmony: Leibniz's concept of pre-established harmony suggests that everything is synchronized by design. In particle physics, the strong force ensures that quarks interact in ways that give rise to stable particles, exhibiting a form of "harmony" in their interactions. 6) Non-Mechanical Interaction: Leibniz's monads interact non-mechanically through perceptions. In the context of the strong force, quarks interact through the exchange of gluons, which doesn't follow classical mechanical rules but rather the principles of quantum field theory. 7) Holism: Leibniz's emphasis on the holistic nature of reality could be compared to the way quarks contribute to the overall structure and behavior of hadrons through their interactions mediated by the strong force. em·a·na·tion noun an abstract but perceptible thing that issues or originates from a source.
🐝⚜️Ancient Tile Mosaic recently found in Israel ✡️ of MARY MAGDALENE 🌙 & JESUS ☀️ Encircled by 12 Disciples - Apostles. Internet Image called The Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene by James Bean 🗽 That can be compared to America's Statue of Liberty
😂❤ Warning all sheep ,)black and white ∆ will receive.❤ Jesus power..level 1 portion of youth longevity digestion an self beauty Jesus energy wash. Tonight at 11 05 eastren. Negative energy will creep out yr feet tell it's time.
This is SO dumb! it really is embarrasing for anyone who calls themselves a scholar and actually comes up with this stuff!
Male and female is created for prison slave planets most of the natural Universe can engage in hermaphroditic asexual reproduction... easier to keep people separated and keep your slaves under control with male and female being divided.
I thought his brother was Brian? I saw a whole movie about it.
Look on the bright side of life
Brian is not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!
you're thinking of King Arthur who looked for the Holy Grail
@@dracodistortion9447 that was Brian's cousins son in my head cannon
Of course it’s Brian, his name isn’t stated in the text just the word Twin.
'Early Christian fanfiction' That's the best sentence I've heard in a while, love it😊😊😊😂
I hadn't even reached the point in the video where this was said but I was just about to comment about how a major world religion sprang up out of what basically amounted to an extensive fanfic literary universe.
@@thetruextremeicon You are silly.
@@xunqianbaidu6917 Fabulous! Thanks for that.
@@thetruextremeiconyeah Mormons are weird
It's terribly fitting, since Christianity basically invented the idea of a canon.
So cool that you used the term "fan fiction." To me, it's an acknowledgment that we aren't so different from our ancestors. We are story-telling people and we have a long history of expanded universes.
Or maybe its true, and our version of christianity is the fan fiction?😅
@@reeyees50 Today's Christianity is more like a 2000-year-long game of "telephone." A modern Christian and 1st Century Christian wouldn't agree on anything except the bare basics about a dude getting nailed to a tree for saying everyone should be nice to each other for a change. Even the concept of the Trinity didn't come along for 200-300 years.
@@jasonblalock4429 Not true for two reasons: 1. All copies of the gospels--every single one--have always included the names of the authors, and they are unanimous in their attestation across the entire Roman Empire. The idea that there was a game of telephone going on; and yet every single copy of the 4 gospels were unanimously attributed across Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor from before 125 AD is ridiculous. ~There is no such thing as an anonymous Gospel.~ Not to mention both Matthew and John were apostles themselves. 2. ~170 AD: Theophilius of Antioch talked about the Trinity by name ~155 AD: Polycarp of Smyrna--"I praise [the Father] through Jesus Christ, with Him and the Holy Spirit be glory now and forever." ~110 AD: Ignatius of Antioch--"prosper in the Son, and in the Father, and in the Spirit" ~90 AD: John the Apostle, called Jesus God--"the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ~60 AD: St. Paul was calling Jesus God--"the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." ~33 AD: Jesus--"baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"
@@jasonblalock4429 Depends on the congregation and the first century believer. If they’re the original followers? No. We don’t even know much about who they were as people in the historical record or what they truly believed. But they’re most likely Second Temple Jewish or at the least follow the laws. They likely wouldn’t agree much with their Jewish cousins either since Judaism has definitely changed somewhat as well. They wouldn’t really agree with pretty much anyone. Though it’d make for great entertainment once the language barrier is surpassed to cause peoples heads to explode or go into denial. It would certainly make churches even emptier.
@@jasonblalock4429bro has never read the Bible
Its always fascinating seeing different intepretations branching off, especially when they involve apocrypha centered around minor characters like this.
It's like fan fiction. Everyone in the fanbase has their own interpretation.
It's been ages since I saw anyone bring up this "Jesus had a twin" heresy.
@@br.mif he did, that'd be extra uncool to Mary by God. Delivering twins in the modern age is hard enough! Doing it in a stable in winter? Eeshm
@@leminjapan Hebrew women are vigorous.
@@mattmorehouse9685apocryphas are fan fiction, the books that compile the new testament all have apostolic authority and are legitimate however.
It's incredible to me how complicated these early Christian traditions and how different they're are from our modern ideas of this religion
Studying the diversity of these early offshoots can be a great way of defamiliarizing the modern orthodoxy and looking at it with fresh perspective.
Not so much complicated per se, but simply hadn’t been trimmed down and codified by the inevitable.. unenviable process of human expansion and editorial process that is accrued during the development of any belief system or longstanding Institutional. It’s truly fascinating to see how people fail to understand the fact that it’s been two thousand years since Jesus walked into the Judaean Narrative/Timeline.
It’s odd how you think this is unique. Please stick to your studies.
Rando fringe movements have always existed. You are comparing them to the norm religion and not to other Christian rando fringe movements like frankly, Mormonism or Some of the weirder Pentecostal sects.
Oh, it was complicated - maybe people are only aware of their little corner of interest. For example, I'm not so interested in gnostic cosmologies... but I glanced into that door, and OMG is it overly complicated and weird in there, IMO. And they were only contrasting 2 groups... but there were many more groups of gnostics, and many more Christians who weren't gnostics.
This reminds me of a very interesting place I once encountered in the rural north of Japan that claims to be the true burial site of Jesus. According to believers, Jesus left the Levant in his youth and somehow navigated across the world in the 1st century to eventually arrive in Japan where he preached Christianity. He later returned, and during the time of his persecution by the Romans there was mention of a twin brother of his called 'Isukiri' who "casually took his place on the cross" while Jesus escaped to Japan once more to eventually settle and pass away peacefully there. Wild Bible fanfiction if you ask me, but learning about Thomas made me wonder how this apocrypha could have somehow promulgated in the far east...
I'm reading in the comments that some Muslims do believe Judas took Jesus's place on the cross. I wasn't sure if this was a wide spread belief. I interviewed a Muslim man over ten years ago, and this version stayed with me since I heard it from him, but I never knew if it was a common belief or not. Even when I tried looking into it a few years ago. This comment section is very interesting, especially how different cultures have similar ideas.
Simon (hearing), whose name was changed to Cepheus(Rock), which in Latin is Peter (Rock) and close in sound to Piter (father) … it’s so literary it’s obvious.
Nestorian Christians certainly got to Tang China, and there was a relationship between China and Japan.
Yeah I've heard people say "Jesus wasn't resurrected, it was his secret twin that fooled everyone haha". That's blasphemy though, which is the one unforgivable sin. It's also colossally stupid, because people would have KNOWN if he had a twin. Back then is not like now, where people are totally disconnected in a sea of anonymous people. Anyone that grew up in a village in like a third world country knows what I'm talking about. You have zero privacy and anonymity. Everyone knows what's going on.
@@psychedelicyeti6053Yes, all muslims believe that Judas is the one who died on the cross and that Jesus ascended to heaven to return at the end of time.
NEW JESUS LORE JUST DROPPED LET'S GOOO
The section where one recognizes themselves as a "twin of Jesus" reminded me a lot of certain beliefs in Hinduism where ones Self is in actuality Shiva. Is it possible that those who cultivated Thomas as a central figure to Christianity did so from impulses eastward -- as you said, the Acts of Thomas had him travel to India. Great video as always!
This is what I was thinking about too! Ive been very fulfilled following nondual Shaivism for some time, and its curious how this overlaps. Sri Ramakrishna became Christian for a time, and said these paths all lead to the divine.
@@bustedkeaton Thank you, yes! That is exactly what I was referring to, but just couldn't remember the name!
Gnostic Gospels do have alot of parallels to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs so it is highly possible the Thomasine Christians had influences(I also tend to believe Jesus himself was influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism).
There are similar ideas in the Egyptian Priestly/Professional initiation rituals that inspired the Greek Hermetica so there's really no reason to go to India. Mostly Indian parrellels just stand out because Indian thought is both relatively popular and highly exoticised/othered. Hindu Temple culture was probably imported from the Egypt/Syria/Babylon cultural continium (best evidence for this is lack of clear temple buildings in the Harrapan phase or Temple ideology in the Rig Veda) and the concept of divine doubles is kind of natural in 'idolatorous' cultures.
@@BuddhaMelffyQueen Jesus being influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism is very unlikely imo.
Twins have always been HUGE in mythology: Lav and Kusha from the Ramayana, Shatruman and Lakshmana from same, Nakul and Sahadev from the Mahabharata, Remus and Romulus, Artemis and Apollo (it's rarer to have fraternal twins), Castor and Pollux, the Asvan Horse Twins, Tijus Keha and Tawis Karong in Huron mythology: you name me a Near Eastern mythology, I can probably name you a set of twins.
They're common in the mythologies that developed from the the Proto Indo European religion, which Christianity is not. It is interesting that twins exist in the big two Sanskrit epics: Nakula-Sahadeva in the Mahabharata and Lakshmana and Shatrughna in the Ramayana.
Esau and Jacob as well, obviously.
@@chronikhiles Divine Twins are not exclusive to PIE-derived religions: the Mayan god twins, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl and various other examples in the Americas attest to that. Besides, Christiniaty was influenced by Greek religion and philosophy, which is IE.
It was hard enough for a singleton birth to survive and thrive in the eras where almost half of them died before age 5. For twins to survive was a rare feat indeed. Unsurprisingly, many cultures considered this either a miracle, a curse, or possibly both. Freyr and Freyja from Norse mythology are another set of fraternal twins.
@@digitaljanus I forget where I heard this from but in many cultures, twins posed a huge problem for inheritance, which made them be seen as bad luck. That and the fact that you had actual clones running around just seems unnatural, so it's quite sensical that people would ascribe cosmological importance to twins in one way or another.
I'm from Chennai, and we do have a St Thomas Mount which is supposedly the burial site of Thomas. Despite the fact that there's no historical evidence of this, it is mind blowing that one of the Apostles is believed to be buried in my city according to Christian tradition and it's not that big of a deal here. xD
Last year I walked the Camino de Santiago. A pilgrimage to the burial place of St James the Apostle, according to tradition. I loved it, it was great. Not long after I visited family in India and we went to Chennai. They took me to the Basilica and I went down into the crypt to see the reliquary pray. Both amazing experiences. But it was hard not to think how funny it is that hundreds of people a day go to Santiago and Rome to see Saints Peter, Paul and James. But I was in Chennai and there were only about a dozen people in the Basilica where Saint Thomas is believed to have been laid to rest.
@@emilchandran546 it's mostly down to eurocentrism. Most christians and most of christian history happened in Europe so European locations are generally more prominent
@@msdd7610most Christian history happened in Egypt, Ethiopia, Turkey, India, China, Persia and Arabia/Petra/Yemen. Europeans were alien to Christianity until 300 years until it's way better established in Asia and Africa way longer.
@@abc_cba Most of the history didn't happen west of Syria, mostly in Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy (and yeah ethiopia) there has been christianity in India, China and Persia but most of christian history didn't take place there.
@@msdd7610 I am talking about the populace and not the mentions of the places.
When I knew little about the transmission of religion through history, I thought Christianity had always stayed constant throughout time. When I knew a little more, I realized that we have lost some of the original context of Christianity and reinterpreted it to fit our current ideas. Now I’m learning that since the very beginning of Christianity, Christians have been interpreting and reinterpreting the story of Jesus. It’s crazy how there has never been a static idea of who Jesus was or what he taught
wkwkwkwk
Wrong. The gospels are authentic, this is fantasy stuff from some groups way later. There are much more fake storys about jesus, read the quran. Historicaly unauthentic
The story of Jesus has been static since ~100 AD. The earliest copies of the gospels we have are from ~125 AD, none of them are anonymous. The idea that there was a game of telephone going on; and yet every single copy of the 4 gospels were unanimously attributed across Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor from before 125 AD is ridiculous. Additionally, even critics of Christianity from Rome said that we knew who the authors were. Celsus, 2nd-century Greek philosopher, does not attack the idea of Jesus existing, or that we did not even know who wrote the stories about Jesus. Instead, he says Jesus himself made up stories: “Let us imagine what a Jew - let alone a philosopher- might say to Jesus: ‘Is it not true, good sir, that you fabricated the story of your birth from a virgin to quiet rumours about the true and insavoury circumstances of your origins? Is it not the case that far from being born in the royal David’s city of bethlehem, you were born in a poor country town, and of a woman who earned her living by spinning?'"
Biggest change was the change from the Judaism which he taught to creation of a brand new religion divorced from the Judaism he taught
@michajones7837 where are you getting your info? Basically every Athiest and Thiest historian disagrees with you. The meaning of the Bible is the same now as it was from the original manuscripts.
This has me thinking about a parallel in ancient Egyptian culture: the Ka. It's often represented by a "twin" or mirror image of a person with the Ka symbol on their head. Since the Ka represents the spark of life and the spark of the divine in a person, it makes sense that it looks like the person. It's their divine twin! So interesting!
no. read what i wrote above. your following the wrong path
@@ashzole huh? I'm confused. What path am I following?
@@KTempestBradford Your silly Ka and sparks of life. Wrong PATH to think and make a silly connection. I told you already to look at my other post. New comments.
@@ashzole um. Are you okay? Your comments don't make much sense.
@@KTempestBradford dude, read my comments on the main thread, it explains everything EVERYTHING
I love bible fanfiction. Always enjoy these episodes. It connects me with people from thousands of years ago, because it's just the same today. People get two voice lines and an item description and develop whole complex lore, theories and storylines off of that. It's just about games and movies instead of the bible.
Sure "fanfiction" yup.....just that and nothing more 😅
@@reeyees50 Are you trying to suggest that historically unproven scriptures are real?
@@brant-sd8ui Such as? So many contratictions in the scriptures, as well as little supporting archeological evidence suggest most of what was written is pure fiction.
@@TitaniusAnglesmith How does one historically prove a text, religious or non religious? And can you explain the difference between a Biblical account of Jesus and a non Biblical account of Pontius Pilate, for example?
@@ReyFelipe00 Mostly archeological evidence and corroborating accounts. We know that certain people, Pontus Pilatus, Jesus, Julius Caesar, for instance, existed and even know many of their actions. We can determine with a decent degree of certainty that they existed and did certain things. However, when there are many accounts that do not line up with eachother, we know that, at the least, that events did not take place as described. If 100 people see a crime and write down the same witness, it's more likely they are correct than the group that only gives verbal testimony and everyone gives a different description.
"Blessed be Tommie for he kept the books while his brother ran the operation!"
I'm a St Thomas Catholic from South India. St Thomas is thought havs landed very close to my mom's ancestral home in the legendary port city of Muziris which attracted many Jewish traders. St Thomas Christians of Kerala goes by the name of "Nasranis" and is one of the oldest Christian community in the world
@religionforbreakfast can you do a vedik about this. I am very curious about the origin of “nasranis”
5:20 Hey, I'm from Kerala (India).Can you make a video on Indian Christians ? They are really fascinating
I think Jesus is speaking to you if you believe this, you should do some research on his life and teachings. I have a fascination with Indian Christians also.
@@domcruise274 man I'm already a Christian 😂. I am just curious about our history
@@whotfcaresaboutyouropinionname checks out
All the proof of God I need is the fact that we get access to this caliber of superb educational content for FREE 🙌🏻 Awesome video as usual
Blessing the algorithm with commentary is the True Way :]
I think you're on the right track! ✊🤓
You're being led away from the truth with this message. Jesus was the 6 son of the most high.
This seems to explain a number of etymological questions I've had. I'm going to watch this again and rejoice if it indeed leads me where I need to go. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Always happy to see a post notification from your channel!
I always assumed Thomas was Jesus' twin to fit Hercules and Iphicles, Castor and Pollux, Helen and Clytemnestra etc where one twin is divine and the other mortal But nickname, maybe Thomas was just some random guy who looked like Jesus, hence the nickname. Either way look-a-like explains the Judas kiss. When the Police arrest Jesus, He makes a big deal, "You saw me preaching in the Temple every day. Why didn't you arrest me then?" If Thomas looked the same as Jesus, then the Judas kiss becomes necessary
Well, You're a bit off with the Police things in here. Because the one who arrested Yesus was Roman Soldiers, not Jew Police or something. Of course Romans would never come to the Temple.
Al final una lógica verdad. Aún así cientos antes y después.... Truco Alienígena????👽
I went to Catholic schools, and there were all sorts of statements that the word brother -- referring to James or Jude -- really meant cousin because Mary was "ever virgin." As a Protestant, I found it both funny and puzzling. I liked this video.
A virgin can become pregnant through IVF.
@@user61512 not sure they had that 2000 years ago
Seems like I’ve heard of that interpretation before, but growing up Baptist, I always knew it as coming from one of the other denominations and therefore being “wrong.” I can honestly see why Mary having other sons might be troubling for the theology of a sect that venerates her for her purity, though it strikes me as odd because why would they describe them as brothers when they mean cousins if they described John the Baptist as his cousin?
Well, it is possible but I think it is less likely.
Kinship terms in various language families: kzhead.info/sun/jLOiYsdqm2WVf6M/bejne.html
I like the gospel of Thomas... I'm not a Christian, I'm Abrahamic(somewhere between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and of all the books not included as cannon, and even some that are, it's my favorite It doesn't feel like a gospel, but some of the sayings are very very useful to keep close to oneself, it's not Psalm level good, but it's definitely easy to see with tweaking how it would have been a "new testament" Psalms I wish it was part of some Christian churches gospels, or considered important enough for some to quote, maybe it's because my favorite canonical gospel is John Or maybe just because I like the sayings, as you needn't be of any faith to find them good and helpful, just as with Psalms As you needn't believe in something to love the ideas, be it from a religious book, a apocryphal religious book, a fictitious book in another universe, a biography,a rock song, or even a movie to find good words to hold close to your heart Like Bruce Lee said "be like water"
Everytime I watch one of these videos I am reminded of the joy of academic study and how one should apply themselves to learning. This is an incredible channel and I am so glad I stumbled upon it.
I LOLed at the “early Christian fan fiction” reference. Very informative. Thanks!
Wait, I've been taught brother is the same word as cousin in Aramaic, with a few examples found also in the Old testament of people calling each other brothers when they are simply blood relatives.
Yup
You probably should have mentioned that in the Gospel of Thomas the apostles ask Jesus who should their leader be after he is gone and he specifically said James. I've often wondered about that. Since the Gospel of Thomas isn't specifically "gnostic" or some other heretical theology it's possible that is the reason it was left out of the "official" canon.
Mark really doesn't seem to have liked James very much, and as we know he influenced all the later gospels. The canonical ones that is.
The word “James” didn’t even exist in Jesus’ vocabulary if he ever existed. It would have been “Jacob” which is also the guy Yahweh changed the name from Jacob into Israel. It’s all theological marketing when you understand this.
Maybe because all the eye witnesses were dead when it was written? Maybe that’s why it was disregarded. Before you go on a rabbit hole of conspiracy theory question the reasoning of why the other gospels are accepted and then use that measure to judge any other book. I know it’s fun to make stuff up but nothing in the gospels is made up. It’s historically reliable and doesn’t contradict one another’s testimony. Different perspectives but Jesus has the same message. The gospels are eye witness testimony of people that actually were with Jesus.
@marcusreichert8566 all the Gospels are "made up". Fiction. Frauds. Maybe before you invest yourself and believe obvious BS written by ignorant clowns that you don't have a clue about you should go down a "rabbit hole" of research and investigation. But I guess you don't have to bother since you already have the so-called "answers" without bothering.🙄
"Early Christian Fanfiction" So the Council of Nicia was the first JesusCon that had a group of panelists to determine which books about Jesus was to be considered Canon Lore.
No. The canon of Scripture was not decided at the Council of Nicaea.
This channel never misses!! Even with subjects I dont find interetsting I always watch and leave with soem interest or knowledge gained
Happy to see the name tag joke/visual aid continued.
James always lived in his brother's shadow, he was like the dollar store Jesus... he had sort of an off-brand divinity
So like the Aldi brand Jesus called Jeshooah?
The Life of Brian
He got to live a much longer life, so there's that.
"we have jesus at home" the jesus at home:
Did he get hanged on a Dollar Tree?
Videos like these are why I am happy I subscribed, thank you
I've been waiting!! Thank you 😊
I think he wasnt a literal twin, but a brother that really came out just like Jesus, everyone has seen siblings like that, so its interesting to see how they treat this
Tomas literally means twin, It's unambiguous, not a oh wow you look alike, of course they looked alike they were all brothers.. His brothers were Jacob/Yakov which for some reason they translate as James, Shimon/Simeon who everyone calls Peter. Joseph again hellenized as Joses and finally his twin brother Judah changed to Judas or Jude. Both Joshua (hellenized as Jesus) and Judah would have been known as twin, in the same way we would call both twins we know 'twin' as well as their actual names now. The brothers. Joshua, Judah, Jacob, Shimon, were the leaders of a sect of ultra orthodox Torah observance from Arabia. Living in a commune nicknamed 'The Poor' dedicated the brothers dedicated their lives to Torah and pop up in all sorts of extra-biblical sources that are remarkable in the sense that they all seem to not only challenge the Gospel narrative but agree with each other in certain senses. Some things can be extrapolated from this. Joshua/Jesus' ''disciples' were basically his brothers initially & eventually many more. Their hometown was in the South, Arabian Desert. They may have spent time in all of Egypt, Iraq, Iran, India all of which had thriving Torah observant Jewish communities. They were related to and married into wealthy and influential families in the Levant. Both Joshua & Jacob became high priests as stated by both Josephus and the Talmud. There are many Joshua/Jesuses at the time as it was a popular messianic name. Josephus names about 20. IT appears that the gospel writers amalgamated a number of these into their character version of Jesus The Christ. Joshua and Judah as twins are a clear motif to previous literary twins/brothers like Cain/Abel, Jacob/Esau, Romulus/Remus, Enki/Enlil signifying good/evil, heaven/underworld, city/nomad, farmer/hunter as well as gnostic teachings of spiritual duality. It's all made up nonsense tagged onto snippets of myth and legend, bundled into something ritualistic as the basis of a theological way of life. The perennial search for meaning by lost souls.
Good to know the “Draco in leather pants” trope is 2000 years old! 🤣
Fascinating! I'd love to see you do a video on the Gospel of Barnabas (which I've seen shared throughout social media lately...)
9:04 This is the first time I've heard about this in such depth. Thank you.
10:38 can you please give a reference to the belief that humans preexisted as beings of light? That's quite interesting
Not directly related, but I find it funny-awesome that "fanfiction" has apparently become a standard comparison in analyzing ancient texts and their impact. I mean, it makes perfect sense, but it's still interesting that such a niche geeky term has migrated into academic discourse.
this is packed with all sorts of importance. Thank you so much
Pontius Pilate : "This is getting out of hand! Now, there are two of them!"
Everyone standing up and declaring, "I am Jesus". Pilate: "This is too much. The court is adjourned. Come back when you're all sober."
This is such an evocative subject matter! The notions about our place as primordial beings "made of light" feels particularly reminiscent of Eastern philosophies as well as modern perceptions of the afterlife, especially related to the psychedelic movement. The idea of Oneness, the idea of life inherently being the nexus of suffering and that our return to the Oneness will allow us to escape it. Great video RFB!
Yeah I was surprised to hear that was a popular belief all the way back then, it sounds exactly like what many people who have had nde's describe.
@@CampingforCool41 Early Syrian Christians high on mushrooms xD
Manechaism was huge at the time. Mani spent a lot of his family’s wealth and personal charisma pushing it so far it almost took over Buddhism and Augustine converted away from it because Manichaeism was too vegan and personally useless to gain social power against another.
kzhead.info/sun/pdpul7eGiIpogKs/bejne.html
That's all related to gnosticism, which the Church recognized as heretical because it denied the goodness of physical reality. The gnostics also denied that Jesus was was fully human because God can't become part of nasty dirty physical reality. But Christians always believed in the incarnation and the physical resurrection of christ, and that after the judgement the dead will be raised into new bodies like christ was. This was what made Christianity much more unique; it was and is incarnational. God's plan was not for us to escape this world, but to redeem and remake it.
I’m so struck by that verse from the Gospel of Thomas chap. 22, speaking on duality and oneness. These ideas are universal truths that we see repeated throughout so many other religions (especially those from South Asia)
Me too! This union of opposites has also become central in Jungian psychology, it's the path to becoming One's Self
No
Well look at that, another great video Dr. Henry! Truly appreciate the insight you provide.
Thank you so much for putting footnotes on screen. I just wish I still had my JSTOR account.
As a kid I came up with the idea that Jesus was basically just doing the prestige.
The Thomasine teaching of twins is something we see in Valentinianism (a Gnostic branch of Christianity), where the heavenly marriage between your soul and your angel counterpart is salvation itself.
As always, thank you for this video. It makes me wonder how much this concept has influenced modern Christianity without it ever being explicitly spoken about.
The originally androgynous nature of Adam “the first man” is obscured in the English bible by the mistranslation of the story in Genesis about how God created Eve. The word which is rib does not mean rib but side. Thus the story in the Hebrew bible is how god took one side of Adam and made it into a separate female person. Adam lost his feminine side and became just male. I found the ideas, about humans originally being androgynous beings of light discussed in this video very interesting as they appear to fuse Greek ideas about us being beings of the light with Hebrew ideas about our originally androgynous nature.
Also when translation says Adam became a living soul. In Hebrew is didn't say soul, rather a word that means sentient.
The book of Genesis does not support that idea in Hebrew, it's not a translation error. For example, the verb "he would call" [יקרא] starts with [ י ], or yode, which denotes a male actor. This is in the sentence "and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them." The reason Eve was taken from the side of Adam is to denote equality and complementarity with Adam. Also, the rest of Genesis just does not support that idea in any language: "male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27 "she shall be called ‘woman,’ [ישה, Female] for she was taken out of man. [איש, Male]” - Genesis 2:23 In this sentence the word "Aish" is specifically used to denote she was taken out of a male, not just mankind in general (which would have been "Ha-Adam")
@@whitebeans7292 The androgynous nature of Adam is inherent in the story. Eve is fashioned from a part of Adam. Her femininity is not new but comes from the part of Adam which was taken to fashion her.
@@brucetownsend691 That is not grammatically supported in the text, nor is it supported by the narrative. "God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" -- You need a man and a woman for reproduction. If Adam had femininity inside him from the beginning, he would not have been lonely -- "it is not good for man to be alone." This also does not make sense in light of Jesus, the new Adam. The Church came from the side of Jesus on the Cross in blood and water, just like Eve came from Adam. And Jesus says Adam was originally a man and designed to be a man: "Have you not read that he who created them **from the beginning** made them male and female" - Matthew 19:4 You are reading into the text things that are not there.
@@whitebeans7292 Grammatically masculine gender markers do not preclude androgyny. For example the Greek Dionysos is grammatically masculine yet is androgynous. There is no uniquely androgynous gender available. Your arguments are theological from an orthodox Christian perspective rather than textual as is evident by your reference to the New Testament as a guide to what the meaning of an Old Testament passage is.
Early Christianity weirdness is my sauce. Thank you Andrew!
This is very creative. I am pretty sure I am doubting Thomas's fraternal twin. In Greek, brother means relative. In the Odyssey, we know that Odysseus is an only son. He does have a sister. Yet, the Osysseus crewmen are called his brothers. Some Eastern Christians think Jude and James are Joseph's children. I think the term brother is just like we call someone's friends homeboy or homie.
I never knew about this. Thank you!
I had no idea that Rimmer's religion in Red Dwarf actually had historic grounding.
It's interesting to me that some of the quotes calling Thomas "Jesus's Twin Brother" could just mean he's Jesus's brother and a twin. Doesn't necessarily mean Jesus was the other twin. At least that's a possible modern English vernacular reading. Of course, some of those quotes are more direct. I wonder how ancient Greek and Aramaic siblings of twins spoke of them...
I read the Bible in Latin and I didn’t ever pick up the twin meanings in the name because it doesn’t translate the same way (not specifically what you asked but it’s a different translation lol)
@@fZM0OY We don't usually pick it up in English translations either.
I wonder if this isn't a reflection of the indo-european horse twin cult, in which one child was the son of a god (usually the sky father) and the other was his mortal twin brother, and both would be heroes of great renown. Castor and Pollux was one example, Hengist and Horsa is probably another, and the Ashvins are the indian reflex.
I love that you used the term "Christian Fanfic". I've been using that term for years to refer to The Book of Mormon.
Thank you for this excellent summary of Thomas!
That reminds me of Star Wars lore before the prequals. There were people who believed uncle Owen was Obi-Wan brother,not Anakin's. And there were many fanfics about their relation.
Your best line was at 3:17! The line starting "if you know anything . . . "! It is a hilarious line. If your students aren't laughing in the aisles during your lectures, I won't understand why!
It warrants a chuckle but nothing more
he is saying subliminally in the time frame you gave 3:17. If you know… what in that time frame you gave, what message do you see. hint: cananitte god. do you see it, if not THEN YOU KNOW NOTHING
What an interesting backdrop for your video
For the Gen Z's: "On the 1st day of the week, Jesus came & stood among them saying, “Stay up, fam.” When he said this, he showed them his hands & his side. The disciples were shook when they saw the CEO. Jesus said to them, “Stay up fam. As the Top G has sent me, I am sending you.” When he said this, he breathed on them, saying, “Be cooked with the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the L's of any, they are forgiven; if you withhold their L's, it is withheld.” Now Thomas, one of the 12 mods, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other mods told him, “We have seen the Main Character.” But he said to them, "Cap. This aint it, chief. Unless I see the receipts, there is no vibe check.” 8 days later, his mods were inside again, & Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came & stood among them saying, “Stay up, fam.” Then he said to Thomas, “Are you serious, bruh? Facts. No cap. Dont take the L, but the W.” Thomas answered him, “My CEO & my Top G!” Jesus said to him, “Now you understand the assignment because you saw the receipts? W to those who don't demand receipts and yet understand the assignment.”
Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” *John 20:24-28* Anyone can understand the Bible, but they stay willfully ignorant of it
It would be interesting to compare cultures & traditions where Thomas is considered a twin with the non-christian religious traditions in the same area, particularly looking at if the Divine Twins archetype is also present! I mean, we know that a temple to Castor & Pollux was converted to the Basilica of Cosmas & Damian, but they weren't martyred until the turn of the fourth century IIRC.
It's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny deVito all over again.
Blind sheep 🐑. 🐑 Haha 😄🤣😂
Hi, First, I want to say the I really enjoy your channel and videos. I was wondering why you've never referenced Elaine Pagels or her work. She seems to be a legitimate scholar and I find her lectures fascinating. I also want to say that I have listened to and am a fan of Bart D. Ehrman. I've listened to many of his lectures. Again just curious about Elaine and if you feel if she is a legitimate source. Thanks, Dean
These videos are fascinating.
Thinking as an early church father, it would not be so convenient to have Thomas as a twin, it wouldn't be so hard to draw a paralel between Jacob and Esau, with Jesus being Jacob and Esau Thomas. In this case, Thomas would not be be a redemeed Esau, but he could be interpreted as anti-christ, and be worship as a living god. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it would also present issues with the nativity narrative since we don't have any details on the cannonical gospels talking about two babies being born at once. Maybe Thomas was born like a year later and he did look a lot alike, hence the nickname, without being his actual twin? Well, all that assuming that there was a historical Jesus with a bunch of brothers all running around after him.
When I was learning about Islam, over 10 years ago, I went to a mosque and interviewed someone. Not sure how many people actually believe this, but at least this person I interviewed believed Judas was Jesus's look-a-like. He used the word "twin", but they are not blood related. He believed Judas felt guilty he betrayed Jesus, and Judas took his place at the cross so that Jesus could escape and live the rest of his life in secret. That always stuck with me.
Yes, the Quran says that not Jesus, but a man looking like him was killed (4:157). It does not say it was Judas, I'm afraid that is muslim fanfic inspired by the bible.
Nice story. But for that to happen, the Roman guards would have to be in on it or at least bribed. It does explain what the Buddhists in India say. That Jesus (Jeshua) ended up dying in India at an old age. They even say that he spent his missing teenage years in India, that the three wise men were Buddhist scholars who predicted his birth with Astronomy and that the name he later used in India was given to him by people in Persia as he travelled to India from the middle east. The story is plausible because in the Bible, Judas does die. The main thing is the wisdom that Jesus tried to tell people. Whether he was Indian / Jewish / lived on or died is not that important. Personally, I find the India story less offensive than the story that he went to France. The most interesting thing is whether Jesus ever actually existed. Some believe he didn't, some believe he did. This is why I find Thomas so interesting. Do Indian people remember Thomas going to India? I mean, are there any historical records of this in India? The labelling of St Thomas as "the doubter" is some kind of anti-Thomas propaganda. I am very interested in anything about Thomas Didymus Judas (St Thomas). According to the Bible Thomas had to inspect the wound. So that he could believe. Logically, if Jesus and Judas faked it, Jesus would have left as soon as possible, not been hanging around there days later. But you can't believe everything in scripture. Originally Muslims believed in Jesus. For some reason this changed. Believing in him and worshiping him was where Islam split from Christianity. Now I have learned that there is a trinity at the heart of Hinduism. Interesting ...
@@berranari1 muslims still believe in Jesus peace be upon him, as a messiah, not a God. Christians worship Jesus PBUH. Muslims follow Jesus’s PBUH message alongside the other prophets. Thats the difference.
@@israahmad1981 I am starting to agree with that position personally. After all we are all children of God.
@@berranari1 considering that Islams quaran is a badly written and crudely plagerised version of of the old and new testament. And the holy Bible is very detailed compared to the small and very confusing and conflicting quaran. Then maybe you should drive deeper in both books do research on each of them where certain subjects come from and ask questions like "why is the quaran not in chronological order? Why in the holy Bible does Jesus Christ call himself the son of man? Where else in Arabia were there other fringe sects that viewed Jesus Christ not as God prior to Islam? And why did Mohammed/Allah seem to change opinions constantly?" There are many more but if you use critical thinking and good judgement you'll see a clearer understanding of which one is the one true faith.
Wow this is new to me. Very interesting- thank you.
I'm kinda flabbergasted that Red Dwarf referenced this in an episode somewhat accurately even including the link to India!
I know you’ve got to do your thing and cover a range of subjects but for whatever reason, your early Christianity videos always seem the strongest and draw me in the most. Was it your research speciality?
My name is Thomas but strangers all ways call me Jesus maybe its time people start worshipping me religiously
Attention seeker 😒
"Exploration and interpretation in spinoff" yadda yadda is where I live. Love these videos. Professional and polished.
It doesn’t beg the question. It raises the question. Begging the question refers to circular reasoning.
This has some interesting parallels with the Indo-European divine twins theme
Westerners copying Asians. 😁
Excuse me but the middle east IS IN ASIA
Brother is used in many different ways.
Another fascinating video! Great.
I love to learn more about the how we are/were beings of light and other related subjects pertaining to some primordial form or existence. So where is a good place to start? What are some suggestions to try and learn about such subjects?
Funny to think that the whole resurrection story might just have been an elaborate twin-prank that got waaay out of control 🙄
A Jesus twin could explain the resurrection, like the twin trick in “The Prestige”. For example when my dad passed away, we went round his house, and his (doppelgänger) brother came out to greet us. We hadn’t seen him in years, and we momentarily shat a brick.
Very thought-provoking, thank you!
Very interesting episode ❗🔥💯👍
Wouldn't an identical twin make it several times easier to rise from the dead?
I always assumed, without necessarily being told, that the sect associated with the gospel of Thomas under-emphasized the resurrection as important to Jesus’s story, which is why the later John gospel does a character assassination of Thomas … maybe I’m reading too much into it???
Thanks for the awesome videos. Hope you can make a video about the earliest icons of Jesus and how it impacted early Christianity. Also, can you tackle why most of the New Testament mostly focuses on Paul's letters where there are also letters coming from the other apostles of Jesus. Thank you.
As always thanks for a magnificent video.
If Jesus had an identical twin brother, that could explain (and complicate) the whole "Jesus was resurrected" story. If it was just his brother that everyone saw, that could explain many of the revelation stories.
Okay, okay. His "Twin" wasn't some mysterious hidden twin that's been in Albion for the 12 years and got back stowing away on a ship. His "Twin" was literally a disciple of his and according to John, also interacted with the risen him. Do you really think people are gonna mistake an adult they've seen near another adult a thousand times even after having close personal conversations?.
@@ikengaspirit3063 I have twin friends who AREN'T identical (though they look similar) and people who have known them for years, but who aren't that close with them, still confuse them sometimes. Also, seeing someone from a distance, etc. can also make a difference. No one is saying that all of the stories are all 100% accurate. This could still explain some things.
@@GaviLazan And how many of the stories are about seeing some guy from a distance?. One is about meeting, traveling with and then logging for a while with disciples. Another is about meeting his apostles so closely that Thomas could stick his hand in Jesus' stomach, another is fishing with Peter and the apostles. These are people that knew well, personal appearances and expressing awareness of some of the clear(not vague like slightly different facial muscles, which people do notice) differences that would exist between twins like a huge scar/wound on the stomach. This doesn't work, at all.
The problem with Thomas being a literal twin is the logistics of Mary's pregnancy. In order for one twin to be divinely conceived and one ordinarily conceived, Mary would have had to have not been a virgin. I think it's more likely that he was someone who resembled Jesus enough to have been frequently mistaken for him when seen up close--maybe even his half-brother.
I like to think all this started because Jesus and his buddy Thomas showed up to the market accidentally wearing the same robe and sandals, called each other "twinsies," and then a whole lot of future christians took it WAAAAAY out of context in the best way.
Some Muslims believe a man (maybe Judas) was crucified instead of Jesus. Maybe it was Judas Thomas?
Yes, someone told me his belief is that Judas took his place for his betrayal.
I wonder if they imagined that Tomas was also born without a human father and preceded creation.
What??! Never heard that🤯 OMG poor Mary 😅
If he was Jesus twin, he had no mortal father, meaning god knocked Mary up only once
Beautifully explained 🙏
This literature which is just a bunch of sayings of Jesus, is by far my favorite thing he left behind on this earth. The quotes are so good, the church wanted to leave them out, because it strips the church of its power. Jesus said in such few words, how we do not need them, and they are even deceivers, and heaven is not a place somewhere that you strive for. But something that can be achieved here and now.
Wake up bro, new RfB just dropped 😊
3:16 My guess, based solely upon being a human being, is that maybe he looked like Jesus (or possibly another member of the group), so they gave him the nickname of The Twin. Why not? I served with someone who was a dead ringer for our squad leader...a bit smaller, though...so I called him Junior. And the name stuck.
Junior means descendant, twin means equal. Remember we are speaking of Jesus Christ here. It’s not a fitting dichotomy in this case.
Another great episode. This is great
There's a channel called Crecganford that goes into a lot of mythology, and divine twins are a staple in old myths. I wouldn't be surprised if Jesus fit the divine twin trope
as someone named Thomas this was a very nice little ego stroke to me :)
There was Thomism in the medieval church as well.
So little bro started his own cult. 😆😁😄
@@hackman669 it's a joke, different thomas lol
Fascinating. Thank you.
8:17 _"All three of these text emphasize that Thomas had access to secret knowledge."_ Gnostic texts, disregard.