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Title: The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed
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Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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| The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA Not one of Ehrman's best | I have read a number of Ehrman's books (e.g., "Misquoting Jesus," "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture," "Lost Christianities"), and have generally enjoyed them, but found this one to be a bit disappointing.
One might expect, as I did, that based on the title, one would find a complete translation of the Gospel of Judas (it's not that long) plus some commentary where necessary explaining Gnostic terms and contrasting with other such heretical gospels. But unfortunately only excerpts are given - the bulk of the Gospel is described rather than shown. Moreover, only a relatively small portion of the book is devoted to the contents of the Gospel (one 14-page chapter plus parts of a couple of others). The bulk of Ehrman's work consists of (1) an account of how the manuscript was discovered and his part in analyzing it, and (2) his ruminations on who the real Judas and Jesus were and what they actually did. Now, as several other reviewers have pointed out, the tale of how this Gospel was discovered does read somewhat like the DaVinci Code, but that was not why I was interested in this book. On the other hand, Ehrman's ideas about the historical Jesus, namely, that he was an apocalyptic preacher, have been spelled out in much more detail in some of his other works.
Ehrman notes that the Gospel of Judas is unlikely to contain any historical data on Judas or Jesus, considering how late it was written, how radically it differs from other descriptions of them, and the facts that it includes many private conversations between them but does not claim to be written by someone with that sort of access. Thus, when Ehrman spends several chapters searching for the "real" Judas, he discards this Gospel entirely and uses the NT Gospels entirely for his sources. Thus this book is really a book about Judas rather than the Gospel of Judas.
It may come as a surprise to those unfamiliar with NT critical scholarship, but Ehrman is actually unusually conservative in his approach to the Gospels. He dates Mark to (just) before the destruction of the Jewish temple in AD 70 and places all 4 Gospels, and Acts, in the first century, contrary to the majority of critical scholars. He then constructs motives for Judas by assuming that the narrative of the Gospels is more or less factually correct, despite the fact that he acknowledges that they aren't, so his conclusions come across as 18th-century Rationalistic - he speculates freely while simultaneously assuming the accuracy of the Gospel account, leaving himself open to criticism on both fronts. As an example, he posits that Judas may have betrayed Jesus out of a desire to protect him from himself (Jesus was stirring up the authorities). Ehrman arrives at this conclusion by noting that Jesus was tried for claiming to be the King of the Jews, even though he never makes that claim in the Gospels, and so Ehrman supposes that Jesus told his disciples that in private, which Judas than told to the authorities. But this is all guesswork - nothing to this effect is even implied in the Gospels - and moreover rests on the assumption, among others, that the description of the trial, including private deliberations of the Sandherin, are accurate.
Ehrman also devotes a couple of chapters to discussing the Gnostic character of the Gospel of Judas, but gives only a cursory sketch of what Gnostics actually believed. I would rather that he had delved further into that subject, but he brushes it off as being too technical.
Most bizarre is Ehrman's conclusion. He states, on the penultimate page, that the Gospel of Judas is significant for 2 reasons: First, it is another example of a heretic Gospel. But he admits that there were many such Gospels from that time period, and moreover this one was already known, having been mentioned by Irenaeus in AD 180, so how would the actual discovery of this text make any difference in this regard? Ehrman's second reason is, according to him, that this Gospel states that Judas was actually the only disciple that understood Jesus, and by helping to have him killed he was freeing Jesus from his earthly body. That is how Ehrman ends his book - without actually explaining why this is important. I was expecting him to elaborate on this point, but instead he just repeated his summary of the main point of the Gospel, without saying why it is significant. Did he run out of time or space? Did he think it was self-evident? Is Ehrman endorsing this view of Jesus and Judas? The ending felt rushed and unsatisfactory. | | The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA Where's the Beef? | | Ok, so maybe this book deserved a better rating from me than two stars; however, I've given other books more stars, and I don't want to be known for star inflation. If you are an academic, a scholar, or a serious armchair student of all things early Christian, then knock yourself out with this book. I purchased this book from one of those book of the month clubs just to keep my membership alive. So what I was looking for was a translation of the surviving text (yes, throw in some commentary). I was looking forward to being shocked and awed by "the truth" some fossil with a quill was going to reveal to me (yes me!) after being hidden for a thousand plus many years. Tidbits of the Gospel of Judas were revealed in the book followed by considerable input from the author. Maybe the text was so degraded there were only tidbits left to share. The ultimate problem with this book isn't so much with the author as it is with me. I'm just not that interested in early Christianity. I simply wanted to be entertained with "The Secret THEY Didn't Want You to Know!" Maybe the secret was revealed to me, but my eyes were glossed over by that point. | | The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA The Yin & Yang of Judas Iscariot | Professor Ehrman gave a fascinating account on his personal involvement in Gospel of Judas, the long lost scripture. In this book, he did not render a direct translation from Coptic writings. Instead, he compared and contrasted Paul's writing with the later four Gospels. With his scholar study work, he presented an unorthodox Judas Iscariot contrary to the familiar image of a greedy, evil, Christ-killer with the fatal kiss.
The Jesus in Gospel of Judas was a happy one as he laughed four times - quite different from the familiar scripture - Jesus wept, (John 11:35). Ehrman rightly pointed out the Tao of Gnosticism - the more information you have, the less you realized you know (P.100)
He spent a few chapters in the development of Gnosticism which teaches enlightenment and transcendence by self-cultivated knowledge - a challenge alternative to the organized faith associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His last three chapters concentrated on the point of why Judas betrayed his master. Judas simply helped Rabbi Jesus fulfill his mission by releasing his soul trapped in this earthy body to join the one realm of heavenly home. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).
Ehrman offered a good church history not commonly available on Sunday. Readers will have a better understanding on the Yin and Yang of Judas Iscariot, on the diverse groups of Christian sects (comparable to contemporary 296) and on the struggle to define Christianity by orthodox and heresy. No doubt, Gospel of Judas will stir up debate and controversy. Hopefully, Gnostic Christians will not be forced out completely with another seventeen century resurrection.
| | The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA Another Great Book | | Once again Dr. Ehrman has written an excellent book. Well thought out and very informative. Perhaps the best writer on the early Christians there is and this is but another example of his scholarly approach and general knowledge. | | The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA Good, but not great: little bits missing | First, I like a few other commentators, find Ehrman too "conservative" in his estimation of the development of early Christianity. (I would put at least John, probably Luke and maybe Matthew as second-century products, I believe the Eucharist was purely a co-option by Paul from pagan ritual, and a few other things.)
That said, the highlights of this book are Ehrman's analysis of its place within Gnostic Christianity and, to me, the thrill of discovery, attainment, and repairing of the codex of which it is part.
That also said, without expecting Ehrman to rewrite Kurt Rudolph's Gnosis, I would have liked to seen even more analysis by Ehrman of where exactly in the Gnostic, or at least "Gnosticizing," stream this fits. Does the one mention of Seth show that much of a connection to Sethian Gnosticism? Does Judas as protagonist show any connection to the (Judas) Thomas Christianity of The Gospel of Thomas and other literature?
Perhaps we shall here more on this from some quarter. | | The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed by Oxford University Press, USA Product Description | The recent National Geographic special on the Gospel of Judas was a major media event, introducing to tens of millions of viewers one of the most important biblical discoveries of modern times. Now, a leading historian of the early church, Bart Ehrman, offers the first comprehensive account of
the newly discovered Gospel of Judas, revealing what this legendary lost gospel contains and why it is so important for our understanding of Christianity.
Ehrman, a featured commentator in the National Geographic special, describes how he first saw the Gospel of Judas--surprisingly, in a small room above a pizza parlor in a Swiss town near Lake Geneva--and he recounts the fascinating story of where and how this ancient papyrus document was
discovered, how it moved around among antiquities dealers in Egypt, the United States, and Switzerland, and how it came to be restored and translated. More important, Ehrman gives the reader a complete and clear account of what the book teaches and he shows how it relates to other Gospel texts--both
those inside the New Testament and those outside of it, most notably, the Gnostic texts of early Christianity. Finally, he describes what we now can say about the historical Judas himself as well as his relationship with Jesus, suggesting that one needs to read between the lines of the early Gospels
to see exactly what Judas did and why he did it.
The Gospel of Judas presents an entirely new view of Jesus, his disciples, and the man who allegedly betrayed him. It raises many questions and Bart Ehrman provides illuminating and authoritative answers, in a book that will interest anyone curious about the New Testament, the life of Jesus,
and the history of Christianity after his death. |
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