The Power of Brevity: Microextuality and Gnostic Initiation in the Gospel of Thomas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31921/microtextualidades.n18a3Keywords:
Brevity, communication pressure, early Christianity, gnosticism, hermeneutics, interpretation, logion, microextuality, salvation, soteriologyAbstract
The Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2) constitutes an exemplary realization of religious microextuality where textual form and gnostic content converge integrally. Its radical brevity, maximum semantic density, and fragmented disposition are not redactional accidents but constitutive characteristics of a communicative strategy where the hermeneutic process is simultaneously interpretation and salvation. Logion 1 establishes that "whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death," instituting that salvation is inseparable from the hermeneutic act. The communicative pressure resulting from maximum concentration of semantic force in minimal space forces active hermeneutic participation from the reader, precluding passive reading. The solidarity among the 114 logion creates an interpretive architecture where each element reinforces itself through syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, constituting a "galaxy of discourses" where microextuality operates as an integral mechanism of soteriological transmission.
Downloads
Global Statistics ℹ️
|
69
Views
|
41
Downloads
|
|
110
Total
|
|
References
Albaladejo, Tomás. "Configuración retórico-textual del microtexto", Microtextualidades. Revista Internacional de microrrelato y minificción, 15 (2024): pp. 93-122.
Brakke, D. (2010). The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, Thomas Paterson, trad. y ed. Los Evangelios de Tomás, Felipe y la Verdad: Metalogos. Málaga: Editorial Sirio, 2009.
Denzey Lewis, Nicola. "Was the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?" Bible Odyssey (2012). 10 de enero de 2026.
Dorfsman, Eva V. Microtextuality in the Digital Age: Performance, Pedagogy, and Presence. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Elpizein, H. T. Evangelio según Tomás: Biblioteca Copta de Nag Hammadi NHC II, 2. Ediciones Epopteia, 2018.
García Bazán, F. (2013). La biblioteca gnóstica de Nag Hammadi y los orígenes cristianos. Buenos Aires: El Hilo de Ariadna.
King, Karen L. What is Gnosticism? Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
Koester, Helmut. "The Gospel of Thomas: Does it Contain Authentic Sayings of Jesus?" Bible Review, 6.4, (1990): 39-45.
Pagels, Elaine, Beyond Belief. The Secret Gospel of Thomas, New York, Random House, 2003.
Patterson, Stephen J. The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Origins: Essays on the Fifth Gospel. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
Puech, H.-Ch. (1985). Sulle tracce della Gnosi. I. La Gnosi e il tempo. II. Sul Vangelo secondo Tommaso. Milano: Adelphi.
Puig, Armando. Un Jesús desconocido: Las claves del evangelio gnóstico de Tomás. Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2008.
Robinson, James M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. Leiden: Brill, 1997.
Schoedel, William R. “Parables in the Gospel of Thomas. Oral Tradition or Gnostic Exegesis?”, Concordia Theological Monthly 43 (1972), 548–559.
Trevijano Etcheverría, R. (1999). Gnosticismo y hermenéutica: El Evangelio de Tomás. Trotta 2, 53–97.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Samuel Pérez Bravo, Roberto García Sánchez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Microtextualidades. Revista Internacional de microrrelato y minificción is an open access journal. All of its content is available free of charge, at no cost to the user or their institution.The works are published under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (legal text).
NOTE: The journal changed license type on May 1, 2022. All articles published prior to May 1, 2022, are under the Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
How to Cite
