Codex Judas Congress Report 2

The CJC did result in at least one consensus. It was agreed that the Gospel of Judas was written as a critique of mainstream or Apostolic Christianity. The twelve disciples were understood to be negative figures, giving homage to Ialdabaoth-Nebro-Saklas. What was the critique about? All agreed that the eucharist was being critiqued in the text. Some thought also baptism.

Highlights
Jim Robinson raised a series of questions in his paper about the state of affairs with the Tchacos Codex. Gregor Wurst provided some of the answers. He said that he continues to work on placing the fragments which are found in the back of The Critical Edition. He encouraged everyone to work on trying to place them. He said that he doesn't know when the Codex will be returned to Egypt. He has heard 2010. At the moment, it is in the possession of the Maecenas Foundation and Mario Roberty. It is housed at the Bodmer Library and access is regulated by a written protocol which scholars must follow.

Gregor Wurst told us that he first saw the papyri in August 2004. He said that his initial interpretation of the Gospel of Judas was influenced by Irenaeus' testimony. When the team wrote their book, The Gospel of Judas, they didn't have any idea what pp. 55-56 said because the big island fragment had not been placed yet. Gregor placed it in Fall 2005-Spring 2006 when the book was already in print. He was able to stop the press and insert the translation, but could not use the information to rewrite the interpretation. This is the page that links Judas' sacrifice with the sacrifices mentioned earlier, and that Judas wouldn't ascend beyond the thirteenth realm. My own memory of my initial reaction to the Gospel of Judas when I read it for the first time was a feeling of dread when I came across this very passage. This is the passage that signaled for me that Judas was serving the demiurge, and that the NGS interpretation was off.

More later...