Thomasine Church
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Thomasine Church has several possible meanings:
- It can be used to refer to the Christians in India who recognize the Apostle Thomas to be the founder of their churches. The usual term for these groups is Saint Thomas Christians.
- It can be used to refer to the ancient religious communities that revered the Gospel of Thomas, the Book of Thomas the Contender, and related works. Although the existence and nature of such communities is debated by historians, one common view is that this group consisted of Gnostic Christians. Scholars usually refer to these groups as the School of Saint Thomas.
- It can be used to refer to the modern Gnostic revival movement, Thomasine Church (Gnostic), in the United States and Canada that bases its Christian Gnosticism on the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and the Hymn of the Pearl.