The Lost Way
The Gospel of Thomas was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945. Together with “Q,” the lost gospel behind the biblical gospels of Matthew and Luke, it opens a window onto a world of forgotten paths once trod in the earliest years of Christianity.
Thomas and Q don’t include a story of Jesus’ life. No miracles, no death, no resurrection. Instead, they are collections of sayings attributed to Jesus. According to Patterson, the followers of Jesus who created these gospels had a different conception of him than most modern Christians.
“Instead of thinking about Jesus as God, God’s son, or even a martyr, these early followers of Jesus considered him a great teacher who shared divine wisdom,” Patterson says. “I think that many will be surprised to learn that Jesus’ death and resurrection were not always the focus of his followers. For many, it was Jesus’ words that made him significant.”
Patterson has spent his career considering the question, “Who was Jesus?” from the perspective of lost and forgotten writings not found in the Bible. He’s still intrigued by the pursuit and shares this dramatic story in The Lost Way.
From HarperOne
Praise for The Lost Way
“Stephen Patterson’s fascinating and wonderfully readable new book reveals how Jesus’ followers told, wrote, rewrote, and handed down his teachings.”
“This accessible but scholarly introduction to the earliest Jesus traditions shares academic discoveries that do not usually reach the pews.”
“In this book Stephen Patterson, a leading scholar in the Jesus Seminar, explores the terrain of primitive Christianity. He explodes popular myths and proposes startling new possibilities. ”
“The Lost Way is at once a crisp and readable introduction to two ‘lost’ gospels, the Sayings Gospel Q, and the Gospel of Thomas, and an exposé of the unnoticed ways that alternate views about Jesus are present in the books of the New Testament.”