(a page of The Gospel of Thomas Resource Center, by M.W. Grondin, rev 20 Jun 2025)
Primary Resources
Søren Giversen, Apocryphon Johannis: The Coptic Text of the Apocryphon Johannis
in the Nag Hammadi Codex II with Translation, Introduction and Commentary
(Copenhagen, 1963) ... (used only)
The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices: Codex II (E.J.Brill, 1974) not available?
The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices: Introduction (E.J.Brill, 1974)
Bentley Layton, Volume Editor, Nag Hammadi Codex II, 2-7 (E.J.Brill, 1989)
... this is volume 1 of 2, which contains the Gospel of Thomas
Michael Waldstein & Frederik Wisse, eds, The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of
Nag Hammadi Codices II,1; III,1; and IV,1 with BG 8502,2 (E.J.Brill, 1995)
The Coptic Language, Sahidic Dialect
W.E. Crum, Coptic Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1939, reprinted Wipf & Stock, 2005)
[Caveat: Currently THE authority, it's also huge, pricey, pre-Nag Hammadi, and user-unfriendly.]
[Available online at Metalogos]
[For many purposes, the generous 150-page glossary in Lambdin's Intro will suffice.]
Thomas O. Lambdin, Introduction to Sahidic Coptic
(Mercer University Press, 1983)
==> long a standard, for price and content, still the best *****
Richard H. Smith, A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon, 2nd Edition (SBL, 2002)
Bentley Layton, Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic (Peeters, 2006/7)
Johanna Brankaer, Coptic: A Learning Grammar (Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010)
Bentley Layton, A Coptic Grammar (Harrassowitz Verlag, 3rd revised edition, 2011)
History/Commentary, General
Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (Random House, 1979)
[Caveat: Contains the erroneous claim that there were 13 books in the jar.]
John Dart, The Jesus of Heresy and History: The Discovery and Meaning
of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Library (Harper & Row, 1988)
C. Wilfred Griggs, Early Egyptian Christianity: From Its Origins to 451 C.E. (E.J.Brill, 1990)
Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins
(Eerdmans, 2006)
Translations, Other
Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (1987, 2nd ed, Yale Univ Press, 2021)
James M. Robinson, General Editor, The Nag Hammadi Library,
Revised Edition
(Harper & Row, 1988)(3rd ed.)(reprinted 1990 HarperCollins)
Kloppenborg, Meyer, Patterson, Steinhauser, Q-Thomas Reader (Polebridge Press, 1990)
Helmut Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development
(Trinity Press International, 1990)
Robert W. Funk (The Jesus Seminar), The Five Gospels
(Polebridge Press, 1993; HarperCollins paperback 1997)
(a page of
The Gospel of Thomas Resource Center, by M.W. Grondin, rev 20 Jun 2025)