Superman to the rescue of Jesus

Superman will help teach British children about Jesus in state-mandated religious education classes, The Telegraph reports. —Superman to the rescue of Jesus (JoanneJacobs.com)

I’m blogging this one not just because it’s odd enough to be interesting, but because of Joanne Jacobs’ final suggestion, just before “Posted by joannej”.

6 thoughts on “Superman to the rescue of Jesus

  1. Bobby, it’s possible, that the story you’re refering to, about the child Jesus resurrecting a child is from The Lost Books of the Bible. There’s a book called The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ inside that book. I vaguely remember something like that story, and perhaps that’s where I read it.
    I know, this is an old blog… but, it’s new to me, so I’m answering it, since it might still be relevant to you.

  2. Bobby, I’m pretty sure the Gospel of Thomas is mostly a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus. I guess it’s what was left on the cutting room floor when the other Gospels were compiled from the orally transmitted stories that were told by the earliest followers of Jesus. The infancy narratives that are more fanciful stories that fill in the gaps between the canonical literature. I guess you could call it fan fiction. And yes, the best-known of those stories were compiled under the name of Thomas. My guess is that the Acts of Thomas probably follows the adventures of the apostle Thomas, who, if my early church history is right, is said to have brought Christianity to India. When European missionaries arrived in India around the 1500s, they find Christians already there — dating from about Thomas’s work around 50 AD. I’m not sure if the Acts of Thomas record those particular adventures, but it sure sounds like it would make a good story.

    I’m doing some casual Googling to refresh my memory, but I’m sure visits to Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopedia would help provide more context.

  3. Ah! During RCIA, I don’t remember learning about the incarnation, let alone a difference between it and the immaculate conception. It looks like I got a little rusty on my catechism =)

    You’re right, the Biblical canon does not include anything Thomas, but I was thinking of a story about a young Jesus who tells a fellow child something like “You will not make it” and he drops dead. The story ends with the child Jesus resurrecting him. I once asked a bishop about how Catholics should treat Thomas and he said “like good bedtime fairy tales.”

    Is that still Acts of Thomas? What is the Gospel of Thomas then?

  4. Bobby, the immaculate conception refers to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother. The conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary is the incarnation, which led to the Virgin Birth. You’re not the only one who gets those mixed up.

    You’re right that the Superman canon includes much on the formative years of Superman, but the official Biblical canon does not include much on the youth of Jesus.

    I think you mean the Acts of Thomas, rather than the Gospel of Thomas — the latter was discovered in the 1940s and is mostly a list of sayings attributed to Jesus, and the former is sort of an expansion of the Gospel of Luke, with more stories from the childhood of Jesus.

    Both works are attributed to someone named Thomas, although I don’t think many scholars attribute either to the apostle Thomas.

  5. I blogged this post from Superman Homepage and contest two points about Superman on it. First, Superman’s birth and arrival on Earth is not wrapped in mystery such as the immaculate conception. Second, the formative years of Jesus and Superman are chronicled in the Gospel of Thomas and comic books, respectively. Although Superman is an excellent role model for our society, I am hesitant to compare him with Jesus.

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