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Interesting interview with Elaine Pagels (author of The Gnostic Gospels and new book, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas) on Beliefnet.

Sheahen. So when 'Doubting Thomas' felt Jesus' nail wounds and exclaimed, "My Lord and my God," that was a way for the author of John's gospel to tell the author of Thomas "You've got it wrong, there isn't necessarily this universal access to God, you have to go through Jesus, who is Lord"?

Pagels. Yes, it's really a way to tell people who follow that kind of teaching--you might call them 'Thomas Christians'--that even their own apostle realized at a certain point that he was absolutely wrong, and that John was right. It's quite a wonderful device. And it worked! If I mention Thomas, most people say, "Oh, you mean Doubting Thomas."

Trying to make Austin plans.

Well, my first thought was to fly to Austin a week from today. But as much as tickets will cost... I may as well spend a little bit more and fly in on Saturday or Sunday. Otherwise I will only get to spend four days there, and I might as well spend as much time there as possible.

The question this raises though is, what kind of an imposition this will put on those of you who have agreed to help me make this trip a reality? Please email me, or comment to this post, as soon as possible, this morning if you can.

For the rest of you -- help me decide what I should do and see while I'm there! Feel free to comment to this post, or write me privately at sophiaserpentia -at- aol -dot- com, as you prefer.