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Technically accomplished, stylistically brilliant, Tomàs’s ‘Gospel’ is at once a tale of hope in the discovery of love in Jesus – of hope in redemption, forgiving, forgetting, and denial – and it is a journey through those troubled, complex regions of the disappearing centre of Catholic faith..
The Gospel According to Tomàs – a novel by Oliver Peers
A journey of faith, doubt and self-discovery in the heart of Spain..
Tomàs is in trouble. He’s in seminary—training to be a priest. This may have been a mistake.
Mid-life, after years of indulgence and questionable choices, Tomàs sought clarity, a path to purity, to something true. But faith isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. His thoughts bristle—restless, relentless, even sexual. The confessional was meant to fix this. Instead, it unravels everything.
In Valladolid, Spain, under the weight of Church doctrine and his own tangled history, Tomàs wrestles with a brutal realization: if love is truth and truth is love—then the Church is wrong.
A novel of faith and failure, desire and self-deception, The Gospel According to Tomàs is an unflinching study of belief on the edge of collapse. With wry intelligence and piercing introspection, Oliver Peers delivers a vivid, fearless portrait of a man running out of places to hide.
For readers drawn to literary fiction, theological reckoning, and the uneasy intersection of faith, memory, and desire—reminiscent of the existential and philosophical fiction of Graham Greene, Rachel Cusk, and Julian Barnes.
Stylistically, Oliver Peers may be located within the traditions of Martin Amis and James Joyce.
A gripping, intelligent novel that lingers in the mind long after the final page.
Available to purchase – on Amazon.com – on Amazon.co.uk
Click here to read the full text as PDF
Click here to read the full text as PDF
Jesus’ listeners continue to think that Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem there to inaugurate an earthly, political Kingdom of God, to expel the Roman power and restore an only ever briefly realized independent nation state in the Promised Land. Jesus speaks this parable, which is similar to the parable of the talents, in order to teach his disciples that they are not very soon to see an instant transformation in the world and that they have a lot of work to do. Their calling is not to be to lord it over others; it is to serve and do the utmost with the gifts they have received through walking with Jesus, to magnify the faith and preach the Gospel to the whole world [ … ]
In this homily, Saint John Chrysostom reflects on the Apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthian church: ‘Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged.’ (2 Corinthians 6:11) Chrysostom, known for his deep pastoral insight and command of Scripture, explores how love works to expand the heart, just as heat causes material things to expand. He sees in Paul not only a preacher of doctrine but a man whose heart was capacious—so full of love that it embraced both the faithful and the unbelieving [ … ]
In the Old Testament of the Bible, the image of a woman giving birth is often used to express great pain. It is also often used, especially by the prophets, to signify the birth of the new messianic people – see, for example, Isaiah. Jesus recalls both the pain of the Old Testament and the hope and fulfilment expressed through the prophets. The new birth is imminent. Through the sorrow and pain of the crucifixion, we are called to God [ … ]
