The Education of Jesus in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

I was recently gifted Simon Gathercole's new translation of "The Apocryphal Gospels" published by Penguin Classics (2021). I have been very pleased with the book overall, the introduction was brief, but surprisingly informative, the same with the introductions for each gospel work. The translations by Gathercole are very readable and the presentation of the translation text is free from versification and other marginal or interlinear distractions common with translations, further encouraging the reader to take in large portions of the text. 

One apocryphal gospel grabbed my attention in particular as I had not paid it too much attention when I had first read it years before; The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. The (attempted) education of the boy Jesus is a central theme of the apocryphal text, with three separate education events depicted. Paul Foster provides an excellent analysis of these accounts in the J. K. Elliott feschrift, "The Education of Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas," (pg. 327-347). The three accounts are located in chapters 6-7, 13, and 14, of Gathercole's translation.

Zacchaeus is given as the names of Jesus's first teacher,

"Now a teacher named Zacchaeus was standing by and heard Jesus saying this to his father Joseph. Dumbfounded, he said to Joseph, 'Look here, brother--entrust him to me so he can be taught to read and write, and study all fields of knowledge" (Inf. Gos. Thom. 6) 

Later in the chapter, Jesus is forcibly taken to "school" by his father Joseph so that he can be taught how to read and write.

"Zaccheaus wrote down the alphabet for him and started him on his elementary education. He said the same letter a number of times, but Jesus would not give any response. The teacher was peeved and clipped him around the ear. The boy was irritated at this. 'I should be teaching you, rather than being taught by you! After all, I know the letters you're teaching much better than you do. What you are giving me is like sounding brass and a clanging cymbal, producing neither sound nor thought nor any possible understanding!' When the child's anger abated, he spoke by himself all the letters, from alpha to omega, perfectly." (Inf. Gos. Thom. 6)

Jesus is only five years old in this setting and the recitation of all of his letters would be considered miraculous considering his youthful age. Augustine (ca. 400 CE) gives a similar account of receiving physical punishment while attempting to learn Greek language and literature

"But what was the cause of my dislike of Greek literature, which I studied from my boyhood, I cannot even now understand. For the Latin I loved exceedingly — not what our first masters, but what the grammarians teach; for those primary lessons of reading, writing, and ciphering, I considered no less of a burden and a punishment than Greek. . . . The difficulty, in truth, the difficulty of learning a foreign language mingled as it were with gall all the sweetness of those fabulous Grecian stories. For not a single word of it did I understand, and to make me do so, they vehemently urged me with cruel threatenings and punishments." (Confessions 1:13-14)

Later, in this same first education account in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas 6, the boy Jesus addresses the teacher Zacchaeus.

"'If you don't know the essence of the alpha, Jesus said, 'how can you teach beta after it? You hypocrite! If you're so clever, first teach me alpha, and then I'll believe you when you talk about beta.' Then he started questioning his teacher about the letter alpha, but the man did not know what to say in reply. A number of people were there listening in. 'Pay attention, sir,' Jesus explained to the teacher, 'and understand the arrangement of the first letter. Notice here how it has diagonal lines and a stroke in the middle, and then you can see the alpha's lines pointing and straddling, joining together and parting, leading off and going up, circling and darting, tripartite and double-edged, of similar shape and thickness and kind, rectilinear, equilibrious, isometric and isomeric.'" (Inf. Gos. Thom. 6)

This account is interesting in that it is similar to comments made by Irenaeus (ca. 180 CE) the "apocryphal and spurious Scriptures of the Marcosians." This indicates that these stories in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas likely date into the second century.

"Besides the above [misrepresentations], they adduce an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish men, and of such as are ignorant of the Scriptures of truth. Among other things, they bring forward that false and wicked story which relates that our Lord, when He was a boy learning His letters, on the teacher saying to Him, as is usual, Pronounce Alpha, replied [as He was bid], Alpha. But when, again, the teacher bade Him say, Beta, the Lord replied, First tell me what Alpha is, and then I will tell you what Beta is. This they expound as meaning that He alone knew the Unknown, which He revealed under its type Alpha." (Haer. 1.20.1)

The second education account in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is brief and repeats Jesus's words concerning the alpha and omega. The third account is more interesting in that it describes an eight year old Jesus interacting with a book in a classroom setting.

"When he came into the classroom, he found a scroll resting on the reading desk. He took it but did not read what was written in it because it was not from the Law of God. Instead, he opened his mouth and made such awe-inspiring statements that the teacher sitting opposite him listened to him with pure delight, and urged him on to say more, while the crowd standing by was staggered by the holy matters of which Jesus spoke." (Inf. Gos. Thom. 14)

The parallels with the account in Luke 4:16-22 where Jesus enters the synagogue at Nazareth and read from an Isaiah scroll, are obvious. Though the Infancy Gospel of Thomas makes a point to emphasize that it was not a book of the Law and that Jesus did not actually read it. Though it is implied that he could have if he wished to. 

Collectively these three instances of Jesus's education are a fascinating snapshot of Greco-Roman education at the time. It appears that the author of The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was writing in a context where tutors, schools, and educational resources were abundant and affordable (Foster, "The Education of Jesus," pg. 339). Though these educational settings are likely idealized and exaggerated to some degree, they likely reflected realistic expectations of the author(s)'s context. This indicates that education was abundantly available in the region where The Infancy Gospel of Thomas was initially written in the second century and reflects at least an expectation of widespread basic literacy in the region.

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Foster, Paul "The Education of Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas," pages 327–347 in P. Doble and J. Kloha (eds), Texts and Traditions. Essays in Honour of J. Keith Elliott.
Leiden and Boston: Brill ( 2014).