Goodbye to Matteo Grosso

Mr. Grosso has been working with me for the past five weeks on his dissertation - the reception history of the Gospel of Thomas. He worked on the Gospel of Mark for his first thesis, and now is writing on the Gospel of Thomas for his second. He is a doctoral student at the University of Turino, who came to Rice University this semester as a visiting student-scholar. We first met at Madeleine Scopello's outstanding conference on the Gospel of Judas put on last October at the Sorbonne where he told me about his dissertation topic and his wishes to come to Rice.

His stay has gone by quickly, but he has accomplished much, setting up all the chapters to his dissertation and completely writing two of them using a classic commentary style (Thomas, Hippolytus and the Naassenes; Thomas and Clement of Alexandria). He is writing in Italian since this is a requirement for graduation from the University of Turino. Once he finishes the book, he plans to translate it into English immediately with an eye on submitting it for publication.

So I recommend watching for his name and his book in the next couple of years. His work will be a very valuable contribution to the studies of the Gospel of Thomas.

I have thoroughly enjoying our time together, and I wish him the best in travel back to Italy, and continued success writing.