Abstract

Abstract
Logion 7 of the Gospel according to Thomas and the Notion of “Oneness”:
A Rhetorical / Structural Analysis.
Costa Babalis
The scholarly community, up to the present time, has struggled to find a solution for the
enigma of logion 7 in the Gospel of Thomas. Resolution has been met with difficulty due
to the isolation of the leonine imagery to the logion itself, the significance of
consumption and its relationship with either a blessed or cursed state and finally the
untenable ending to the logion that defies the conventions of a balanced chiastic structure.
Speaking to the last point, many are convinced that what they are confronting is an
apparent homoioteleuton and therefore opt to correct the error by amending the text. The
remaining issues are examined diachronically and inter-textually decided by the influence
of the Platonic school that informed the worldview of the period in which Gos. Thom.
was written. In this thesis, I propose that a synchronic reading complimented with a
rhetorical/structural analysis of logia 7-11 offers an alternative perspective to the
difficulties that may be resolved within the text itself and exposes “oneness” as its central
theme.