Some Christadelphians have imputed some level of inspiration to John Thomas. In the Logos (as in the Christadelphian publishers in Australia, not the Bible software company), we read the following in an appendix to volume 1 of Eureka, John Thomas’s 3-volume commentary on the book of Revelation:
With many Christadelphians, we
believe that though Eureka is not
inspired as the Scriptures are inspired, its author was divinely guided in the
interpretation set forth. That does not mean that we necessarily endorse every
detail of it; but it does mean that by and large, we accept it as the true
meaning of the Revelation. We are convinced that an unbiased examination of the
evidence will demonstrate the soundness of what is therein set forth. (“Appendix:
Why the Apocalypse Should Be studied: A Blessing or a Curse?,” in John Thomas, Eureka: An Exposition of the Apocalypse,
electronic ed. (West Beach, South Australia: Logos Publications, 1997), Logos
Bible Software edition)
One Christadelphian apologist, Duncan Heaster, characterized
the Logos organization as a “John Thomas-worshipping group” (“Christadelphian History and Current
Issues,” 48:10 mark)
This is not new. Robert Roberts once wrote the following:
To the charge of holding “that
the knowledge of Scripture, in the writings of Dr. Thomas, has reached a
finality,” we plead guilty. If we were ignorant or unfamiliar with the
Scriptures, or were like those who, when they attempt to write or speak, have
to look at them through the telescope of dictionaries, concordances, and such
like, we should not have ground sufficient to entertain this conviction; but
our acquaintance with them in daily intercourse for twenty-one years, enables
us to be confident on the point. Our reading has not been confined fined to the
Scriptures, or to the writings of Dr. Thomas. We have read what others have to
say. We have, therefore, all the materials to form a judgment; and our judgment
is distinctly to the effect imputed—that, in the writings of Dr. Thomas, the
truth is developed as a finality, and that they are a depot of the Christian doctrine.
In this sense we are “committed to Dr. Thomas.” (Robert Roberts, “Mere-Manism,
&c,” The Christadelphian 11, no. 123 [September 1874]: 408-9)
