Andrew Cockburn, May 2006. “The Judas Gospel.” Pages 78-95 in National Geographic Magazine.
This is National Geographic’s story of the year, perhaps of the century. Mr. Cockburn, a National Geographic author, writes an overview of the discovery and restoration of the Gospel of Judas in fine journalistic style. Beautiful photographs by Kenneth Garrett grace the pages. 17 pages.Bart D. Ehrman, 2006. The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Professor Ehrman discusses his own involvement in National Geographic’s project to analyze the Gospel of Judas along with the tale of the discovery of Judas. He describes the contents of the gospel, its relationship to the New Testament gospels, suggesting that it presents a unique view of Jesus, the twelve disciples, and Judas who is the only one who remains faithful to Jesus even to his death. 198 pages.Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, with additional commentary by Bart D. Ehrman, 2006. The Gospel of Judas (Washington D.C.; National Geographic).
The original publication of the English translation of the Gospel of Judas made by Professors Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, in collaboration with François Gaudard. It includes chapters of commentary on the story of the Tchacos Codex (by Kasser), Judas as a typical Gnostic text and alternative vision of Judas (by Ehrman), early mentions of the Gospel of Judas by the Church Fathers (by Wurst), and Judas as a Sethian gospel (by Meyer). 185 pages.Herbert Krosney, 2006. The Lost Gospel of Judas: The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot (Washington D.C.: National Geographic).
Herbert Krosney is an investigative journalist who traces in his book what can be known about the discovery, recovery, and restoration of the Gospel of Judas. Includes a brief foreword by Bart Ehrman and an epilogue by Marvin Meyer. 309 pages.Nicholas Perrin, 2006. The Judas Gospel (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press).
Nicholas Perrin provides us with a brief history of the discovery of the Gospel of Judas in this pamphlet. He makes an overview of the contents as a second century Gnostic gospel. He argues that the text has little historical value in terms of telling us anything about Jesus and Judas. Rather its value comes from what it reveals about gnostic alternatives to what Perrin understands as "authentic" Christianity. 32 pages.James Robinson, 2006. The Secrets of Judas: The Story of the Misunderstood Disciple and his Lost Gospel (San Francisco: Harper).
Professor James Robinson discusses what can be known about the historical Judas from the Bible and other ancient Christian texts. He recounts the story of the discovery of the Gospel of Judas and its sensationalistic release by National Geographic, criticizing the way in which the publication of the text has been handled. 192 pages.N. T. Wright, 2006. Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? (Grand Rapids: Baker Books).
Bishop Wright argues that the Gospel of Judas tells us nothing about the historical Jesus or the historical Judas. Its rehabilitation of Judas in this second century text cannot be linked to the real Judas who betrayed Jesus. He thinks that the publication of this gospel is part of a scholarly agenda to find an alternative Jesus, which has another sensationalistic life in popular literature like The Da Vinci Code – financial profit. 155 pages.Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King, 2007. Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity (New York: Viking).
This book contains Karen King’s own English translation of the Gospel of Judas, followed by a brief running commentary. The other chapters are written collaboratively by Professors Pagels and King. These chapters attempt to contextualize Judas within the milieu of early Christian persecution and martyrdom, suggesting that the Christians who wrote this gospel were condemning church leaders who were encouraging their flock to die as sacrifices to God. 198 pages.Craig A. Evans, 2006. Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press).
Included in the back of this book is a brief appendix, “What Should We Think About the Gospel of Judas?” He mentions his own involvement on the National Geographic team and the text’s recovery. He outlines the contents of the Tchacos Codex yet to be published. This is followed by a short description of the contents of the gospel and its meaning, weighing in on the perspective of the Church Fathers – that the gospel honored Judas because it was written by a Gnostic who revered all the “evil” men in the scriptures. These villains like Judas were only “evil” in the eyes of Yahweh the lesser god because they worked for the God of light in his war against Yahweh. So in reality, the villains were the good guys. 6 pages.Update 4-20-07: a response on another blog
Mark Goodacre
6 comments:
The Lost Gospel of Judas by Stanley E. Porter and Gordon L. Heath. Eerdmans. 135 pages.
Tim,
Thanks. Wasn't aware of this one!
In the updated paperback edition of Secrets from the Lost Bible (not the hardcover edition), Kenneth Hanson, Ph.D., has a chapter on the Gospel of Judas which includes his own paraphrase of the text. Published by Council Oak Books. I picked up a copy at Barnes & Noble.
Hanson freely admits that his verson of the text is "a reconstructed, modern paraphrase," not a translation.
The National Geographic Society's recent publication of a translation of "The Gospel of Judas" provoked world-wide interest and controversy. Conflicting opinions about its importance and authenticity as well as the sensationalism that accompanied it prompt us to ask: What about the Gospel of Judas?
"The Gospel of Judas" is part of a collection of ancient writings discovered in Egypt at Nag Hammadi in 1945. Local peasants found 13 leather bound books (codices) in a sealed jar. The books contained more than 50 separate articles (treatises called tractates), - all of them 3rd or 4th century Coptic translations of treatises originally written in Greek. All but three of the Nag Hammadi treatises are Gnostic documents.
The Gnostics were a heretical sect already at the time of the apostles. (St. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in part to expose and refute the anti-Christian philosophy of Cerinthus, a Gnostic apostle.} Like other sects, the Gnostics promulgated their beliefs through their writings. "The Gospel of Judas" is just one of many such texts.
The suggestion that "The Gospel of Judas" may be a missing book of the Bible is completely without warrant and totally irresponsible. In 180 A.D. an early church father, Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon exposed "The Gospel of Judas" as heresy in his book "Against Heresies", A Refutation of Gnosticism.
The Gnostic Judas tract is a proponent of Greek dualistic philosophy. Dualism insists that matter (the physical body) is evil and that spirit (the human mind) is good. (It was this same body/mind dualism that led the Greek philosophers in Athens to ridicule St. Paul when he proclaimed the resurrection of the body, Acts 17:16-34). According to this scheme of things, Judas would be doing Jesus a favor by betraying him. Jesus' subsequent death would free his good spirit from the evil prison of his body. That makes Judas a heroic figure rather than a villain. But it also distorts what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tells us about Judas, and about the death of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Newsweek's article (4/17/06, page 48) on "The Gospel of Judas" calls it "a long-lost Christian text." Calling it a "Christian text" is tantamount (similar) to calling "Alice in Wonderland" a scientific treatise because it was written by a renowned scientist. In fact, as Irenaeus noted in the 2nd century, "The Gospel of Judas" is anti-Christian, - not unsimilar to the sentiment that prevails in much of Western civilization in the 21st century. In all likelihood, there was nothing coincidental about the fact that the National Geographic Society's TV special together with its publication of the fragmented text of "The Gospel of Judas" coincided with the Christian observance of Holy Week and Easter.
As the old aphorism goes, "This too shall pass."
The National Geographic Society's recent publication of a translation of "The Gospel of Judas" provoked world-wide interest and controversy. Conflicting opinions about its importance and authenticity as well as the sensationalism that accompanied it prompt us to ask: What about the Gospel of Judas?
"The Gospel of Judas" is part of a collection of ancient writings discovered in Egypt at Nag Hammadi in 1945. Local peasants found 13 leather bound books (codices) in a sealed jar. The books contained more than 50 separate articles (treatises called tractates), - all of them 3rd or 4th century Coptic translations of treatises originally written in Greek. All but three of the Nag Hammadi treatises are Gnostic documents.
The Gnostics were a heretical sect already at the time of the apostles. (St. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in part to expose and refute the anti-Christian philosophy of Cerinthus, a Gnostic apostle.} Like other sects, the Gnostics promulgated their beliefs through their writings. "The Gospel of Judas" is just one of many such texts.
The suggestion that "The Gospel of Judas" may be a missing book of the Bible is completely without warrant and totally irresponsible. In 180 A.D. an early church father, Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon exposed "The Gospel of Judas" as heresy in his book "Against Heresies", A Refutation of Gnosticism.
The Gnostic Judas tract is a proponent of Greek dualistic philosophy. Dualism insists that matter (the physical body) is evil and that spirit (the human mind) is good. (It was this same body/mind dualism that led the Greek philosophers in Athens to ridicule St. Paul when he proclaimed the resurrection of the body, Acts 17:16-34). According to this scheme of things, Judas would be doing Jesus a favor by betraying him. Jesus' subsequent death would free his good spirit from the evil prison of his body. That makes Judas a heroic figure rather than a villain. But it also distorts what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tells us about Judas, and about the death of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Newsweek's article (4/17/06, page 48) on "The Gospel of Judas" calls it "a long-lost Christian text." Calling it a "Christian text" is tantamount (similar) to calling "Alice in Wonderland" a scientific treatise because it was written by a renowned scientist. In fact, as Irenaeus noted in the 2nd century, "The Gospel of Judas" is anti-Christian, - not unsimilar to the sentiment that prevails in much of Western civilization in the 21st century. In all likelihood, there was nothing coincidental about the fact that the National Geographic Society's TV special together with its publication of the fragmented text of "The Gospel of Judas" coincided with the Christian observance of Holy Week and Easter.
As the old aphorism goes, "This too shall pass."
The National Geographic Society's recent publication of a translation of "The Gospel of Judas" provoked world-wide interest and controversy. Conflicting opinions about its importance and authenticity as well as the sensationalism that accompanied it prompt us to ask: What about the Gospel of Judas?
"The Gospel of Judas" is part of a collection of ancient writings discovered in Egypt at Nag Hammadi in 1945. Local peasants found 13 leather bound books (codices) in a sealed jar. The books contained more than 50 separate articles (treatises called tractates), - all of them 3rd or 4th century Coptic translations of treatises originally written in Greek. All but three of the Nag Hammadi treatises are Gnostic documents.
The Gnostics were a heretical sect already at the time of the apostles. (St. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians in part to expose and refute the anti-Christian philosophy of Cerinthus, a Gnostic apostle.} Like other sects, the Gnostics promulgated their beliefs through their writings. "The Gospel of Judas" is just one of many such texts.
The suggestion that "The Gospel of Judas" may be a missing book of the Bible is completely without warrant and totally irresponsible. In 180 A.D. an early church father, Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon exposed "The Gospel of Judas" as heresy in his book "Against Heresies", A Refutation of Gnosticism.
The Gnostic Judas tract is a proponent of Greek dualistic philosophy. Dualism insists that matter (the physical body) is evil and that spirit (the human mind) is good. (It was this same body/mind dualism that led the Greek philosophers in Athens to ridicule St. Paul when he proclaimed the resurrection of the body, Acts 17:16-34). According to this scheme of things, Judas would be doing Jesus a favor by betraying him. Jesus' subsequent death would free his good spirit from the evil prison of his body. That makes Judas a heroic figure rather than a villain. But it also distorts what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tells us about Judas, and about the death of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Newsweek's article (4/17/06, page 48) on "The Gospel of Judas" calls it "a long-lost Christian text." Calling it a "Christian text" is tantamount (similar) to calling "Alice in Wonderland" a scientific treatise because it was written by a renowned scientist. In fact, as Irenaeus noted in the 2nd century, "The Gospel of Judas" is anti-Christian, - not unsimilar to the sentiment that prevails in much of Western civilization in the 21st century. In all likelihood, there was nothing coincidental about the fact that the National Geographic Society's TV special together with its publication of the fragmented text of "The Gospel of Judas" coincided with the Christian observance of Holy Week and Easter.
As the old aphorism goes, "This too shall pass."
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