The Gospel of Thomas as Puzzle-Text

Over the course of thirty years of study of the Coptic text of the Gospel of Thomas, I've become convinced
that it has two faces, or sides, to it. What could be more natural, given the name 'Thomas' in the title? But
this is not speculation. One by one, as I worked my way thru certain odd textual features, I've run across a
significant number of cases where a logical resolution of that feature was actually confirmed by the text
itself. But if this is so, then Thomas had a secret, private, inwardly-directed side to it that is unknown to
Thomas scholars as of this date. I've written a great deal about this in 30-odd papers (mostly short) on
Academia. Some of the papers are detailed textual findings, others are attempts to explain what the
findings likely imply. Needless to say, this is an extraordinary theory, but I believe it's grounded in good
evidence of an extraordinary (though unconventional) nature. Moreover, it turns out to have the power to
explain oddities in the text otherwise explicable only by speculation. - M.W.Grondin (5/4/22)

.... "... your work has been superb."
.... (Richard Valantasis, author of "The Gospel of Thomas" (1997), msg 12/6/22)
.... "Your work on Thomas has been both meticulous and free from bias ..."
.... (Joseph Gebhardt-Klein, author of "The Syriac Clementine Recognitions and Homilies," 5/9/23)

Keys to the Gospel of Thomas Puzzle: Two-time Keywords (231110, corr 231112)
.... (An examination of seven TTK's involved in my work, with links to other
.... Academia pieces where they play a role in determining authorial intentions.)

In Search of Secret Thomas: How the Gospel of Thomas Really Works (230614, corr 230625)
.... (A preliminary description of what's needed to work with the hidden side of the
.... Coptic Gospel of Thomas in order to transform its chaotic and imperfect public
.... side into the intended perfection of "Secret Thomas".)

Letter-Counts of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas and Why They Matter (revamped 230509)
.... (A showing that the total number of letters in Coptic Thomas is 16800, clearly an
.... intentional number, given that only16800 and its multiples are evenly divisible by
.... 210 and 800, the values of IC and XC, i.e., IHSOUS XRISTOS. New forward shows
.... how the data supports a long-overdue paradigm-shift in Gospel of Thomas studies.)

The Controlled Use of Greek in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, Revisited (230325)
... (A showing that there are 500 occurrences of Greek words and names within Coptic
... Thomas, consisting of 2400 letters. New foreword added 230325.)

Identifying the "Three Words" of the Gospel of Thomas (230207, retitled)
... (New foreword added providing additional proof that my suggestion of Jan, 2018
... that the "three words" are Th108 is correct. Essentially, this is self-reference.)
..."Up until yesterday, I just thought that the "three words" were something that we will
... never know. Interesting, too, how it helps explains the "twin" typology of Thomas
... in relation to Jesus." (Joseph Gebhardt-Klein, 2/8/23)

The Inconvenient Truth about the Gospel of Thomas (210917)
.... (A one-page overview of the puzzle-text theory and the evidence behind it)

Why the Gospel of Thomas Had To Be Imperfect: A Response to Alin Suciu et al (210310)
.... (A showing that the textual imperfections of Gos.Thom. were essential to what it was)
.... "Incisive and compelling" (Joseph F. Badir, Egyptian Coptologist)

The Prologue to the Gospel of Thomas as "The Stone the Builders Rejected" (200405)
.... (Proposed solution to a dilemma entailed by the 16800-letter size of Gos.Thom. sans prologue.)
.... "Another intriguing analysis!" (Alexandros Tsakos, University of Bergen)
.... (Expanded 200517 to include commentary from the Academia feedback session)

Foundational
The Hidden World in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas (190815)
.... (the solution to the organization problem)
.... "I'm not sure what to say except "wow!" and to applaud both your attention to detail
.... from the minutest level to that of big picture and overall structure, and your creative
.... and insightful suggestion for how to interpret those details as a whole!" (James McGrath)

The Hidden Father in the Coptic Gospel of Thomas (190919)
.... (a companion piece to "Hidden World")

Most links here are to academia.edu. Use links below if unable to download or print from there.
.... "World"..."Father" (but note that links within the papers are to academia.edu as well)

Findings and Applications
The Omega, the New World, and the Gospel of Thomas (171029)
On the Greek Prologue to the Gospel of Thomas (171015)
The Hidden Structure of the Coptic Prologue to the Gospel of Thomas (180807)
A Glimpse of Gos.Thom.'s Secret Inner Workings: Logia 8, 72, and 100 (171117)
Catchword at a Distance: Gospel of Thomas Logia 11.1 and 42 (180119)
The Sickness in Th74: Scribal Error or Catchword at a Distance? (180211)
The Intended Joining of Gospel of Thomas Logia 1 and 38 (180826)
The 60 and the 120: L111 and 112 as the "Good Fruit" of L9.5 (181102)
Thomasine Letter-Counting and the Analysis of Th111 (190130)

About My Work and Its Involvement in the Wife Fragment Controversy
The Kingdom of God Puzzle: Extract from Ariel Sabar's "Veritas" (220427)
The Gospel of Thomas Puzzle, the Jesus Wife Fragment, and I (201021)
.... (The Detroit News article with notes, discussed at Academia)
Aspects of the Gospel of Thomas Puzzle (210217)
... (Academia session comments on "The Gospel of Thomas Puzzle, the Jesus Wife
... Fragment, and I", plus an afterthought on "intentional errors".)

(on-site)
Detroit News article "Macomb Researcher ..." (Francis X. Donnelly, 201001)
.... (Details the connection between my work on GTh and its involvement in the GJW hoax)
.... "Beautifully written ... the reporter did his homework ..." (Ariel Sabar)
.... (The pdf file is taken from the e-edition, which contains pics not in the printed edition.)