Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Elaine Pagels frames her scholarly investigation with her own story of being drawn to and later leaving evangelical Christianity. How did this personal narrative affect your reading of the book’s historical arguments? Did it make the complex scholarship feel more accessible or compelling?

2. Pagels has spent her career exploring early Christianity in books like The Gnostic Gospels (1979). How did Miracles and Wonder compare to other works of historical or religious inquiry you may have read? Did her approach change how you might think about religious texts in the future?

3. The book concludes that the gospels’ enduring power comes from their pattern of transforming suffering into an “outburst of hope” (264). Did you find this to be the book’s most powerful takeaway, or did another aspect of Pagels’s analysis, such as the political formation of the canon, resonate more strongly with you?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. What are your thoughts on the modern approach to faith described in the Vineyard Churches, where members cultivate a personal, intimate friendship with Jesus? Does this resonate with your own approach to faith or spirituality, if you have one?

2. Pagels’s academic journey was sparked when her professor challenged her quest for a single “essence of Christianity” (5). In your own life or learning, when has searching for a single, simple truth been less helpful than exploring complexity and multiple perspectives?

3. Pagels argues that the various accounts of Jesus’s resurrection are united in their message of hope. Where do you find hope in the face of suffering and death? 

4. The final chapter discusses how filmmakers like Martin Scorsese use Jesus’s story to explore internal human conflict. Has a new artistic depiction of a well-known story ever changed your perspective on it? What was that experience like?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Pagels traces a direct line from the gospel writers shifting blame for Jesus’s death onto Jewish leaders to centuries of Christian antisemitism. How does this analysis of “Passion Blame” inform your understanding of how religious narratives can be used to justify social or political violence?

2. What does the formation of the Christian creed at the Council of Nicaea, heavily influenced by Emperor Constantine’s desire for a unified empire, reveal about the relationship between political power and religious doctrine, both historically and today?

3. The guide mentions how converting to Christianity gave the Piro people of Peru “cristiano” status, which elevated them from being considered “subhuman” in a colonial context. In what ways have religious identities been used, both historically and currently, as tools for social liberation or, conversely, for oppression?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Why might Pagels place non-canonical texts like the Gospel of Thomas alongside the four canonical gospels? How does this comparative approach change your understanding of early Christianity and the process of canon formation?

2. Pagels argues that miracles in the Gospel of Mark function as “coded signs.” How did this interpretation affect your reading of the miracle stories? Did you find it a convincing way to understand their purpose?

3. Pagels highlights the stark contrast between the gospels of Thomas and John, with one presenting a path to divinity open to all and the other insisting on Jesus’s unique status. How do these competing narratives reveal the theological battles of early Christianity?

4. What is the significance of the two different types of resurrection stories: the “visionary” accounts like Paul’s and the “bodily appearance” accounts in Luke and John? How do these different accounts reflect different understandings of life, death, and the nature of salvation?

5. Pagels shows how each gospel writer revises the Passion narrative, progressively making Pontius Pilate more sympathetic. What specific changes from Mark to Matthew to Luke stood out to you, and how do they demonstrate the evolving goals of the Christian movement?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. The film Mary Magdalene reinterprets the early Christian movement by focusing on her spiritual insights, which are dismissed by Peter. If you were to create a short scene from a noncanonical perspective, which “heretical” idea from the book would you choose to explore?

2. Imagine you are a filmmaker tasked with adapting a key gospel event for a modern audience. Which event would you choose, and what contemporary issue would you use it to explore?

3. The Council of Nicaea solidified the Gospel of John’s perspective as orthodoxy. Imagine an alternate history where the council instead favored the teachings of the Gospel of Thomas. What might a “Thomist Creed” sound like, and how might Christianity have developed differently as a result?