This book makes the point that you are supposed to figure out the meaning of the Gnostic gospels (with which this gospel is loosely groupd) by yourself, so the author feels he can't do more than sort of point you in the right direction. Which he does in a fascinating way. This is a take on Jesus that is radically different than that of the Bible. For one thing, the Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas is consistently spirited and even sometimes humorous, as opposed to the sometimes spirited, sometimes mild-mannered split personality in the Bible (for which there are, of course, theories). For another, the author's interpretation of stories found in similar form in the bible is pretty much opposite that found in teh Bible. His interpretation of the prodigal son was startling. For those of us who are very familiar with Biblical interpretations, this book is fascinating because it stands those interpretations on their heads. It left me wanting more, so even though I'm supposed to figure it all out for myself, I'm gonna cheat get a book with more in depth interpretations. Well worth reading.