Jesus and his Teachers in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas: A High-Risk Profession
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53111/ea.v60i1.1203Keywords:
Infancy Gospel, Jesus, Teachers, educationAbstract
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) recounts three episodies in which Jesus, during his childhood, attends the school to learn the alfhabet. However his defiant attitude creates conflicts with his teachers, who punish him, provoking Jesus' anger with serious consequences for them. Jesus displays exceptional knowledge of the alfhabet as a wisdom which trascends human understanding, ridiculing his instructors. Previous studies have highlighted this divine knowledge but have overlooked his role as a teacher, which becomes evident when these stories are connected to the gospel climax , where Jesus teaches to the Pharisees and the scholars in the Temple. The discrediting of Jewish teachers in contrast of Jesus as a teacher could be interpreted as a critique of Jewish educators and, at the same time, as an exhortation to Christian parents to entrust their Children's education to Christin teachers.
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