I have been through some non-traditional Christian texts, but it has been a long time. I read the Lost Books many years ago, and was struck by how low quality the content seemed. It never ocurred to me this was because they were never developed into the overweight bloat of religious literature. After reading Beyond Belief I can appreciate the simplicity of those books not subjected to canonization.
The book covers much more history and context than actual Gospel, but that is expected because the book of Thomas is short and lacks narrative. The Gospel of Thomas is the equivalent of the Jesus Roku. The sayings and doings of Jesus strike a Buddhist mind in an oddly familiar way. He is stressing that his followers must do more than listen and understand. It must be practiced, not memorized. It can be lived, not just admired and worshipped. You can be as Jesus is.
As controversial and heretical as that sounds, I don’t disagree. In Christian terminology, we are all born in Gods’ image, but it took the example of Jesus to shake us back to that realization. In Thomas’s followers estimation, Jesus was not special. He was flesh and blood like everyone else, but saw how to manifest God’s grace personally. Heaven and Hell are right here when they are seen to be products of mind and are transcended.