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Title: The Gospel of Judas
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Manufacturer: National Geographic
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| The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic There's Something about Judas | Recently, the early Christian text The Gospel of Judas received a lot of attention in the media. Some of the excitement about the discovery of this text was probably misplaced since there is nothing at all the (likely) mid-second century text tells us about the historical Jesus or Judas. On the other hand, it is rightly welcomed as another valuable window into the variety of early Christian communities, and it is certainly intriguing that one such community identified with Judas and created a revisionist account wherein he is the one disciple to know Jesus' true nature. I missed the television special but enjoyed reading this book, which includes a translation and 4 essays.
In the first essay, Rodolphe Kasser describes the perilous journey of the manuscript from discovery to publication. In the second essay Bart Ehrman gives a very basic overview on the Gospel in the context of the conventional wisdom regarding the relationship of the Gnostic gospels to the proto-orthodox church. While I like Ehrman from other his other books, I thought this was a fairly weak essay which ignored other interpretations. In the third essay, Gregor Wurst briefly relates the gospel to the anti-heretical writings of Iraneaus, and in the final essay Marvin Meyer helpfully explains the strange and complicated cosmology in the Gospel by relating it to parallels in other texts.
I note that in the intervening time since the publication, some contrary interpretations have emerged, for instance that of April DeConick, whose book I also reviewed. Also I understand there is a second edition of this book (which I have not seen) which corrects some errors in the original translation. | | The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic An Interesting Take on a Apostolic "Gnostic" Gospel | I haven't seen the original Gospel of Judas in person, but I imagine that this is a very accurate translation. The author annotates exactly where a passage leaves off and starts again; the author also fills in some of what was missing if it seems obvious which makes it easier to read.
The historical context and commentary make this a fascinating historical read. | | The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic Biased propaganda? | New York Times
Gospel Truth
By APRIL D. DECONICK
Published: December 1, 2007
AMID much publicity last year, the National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The shocker: Judas didn't betray Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed. Judas's reward? Ascent to heaven and exaltation above the other disciples.
It was a great story. Unfortunately, after re-translating the society's transcription of the Coptic text, I have found that the actual meaning is vastly different. While National Geographic's translation supported the provocative interpretation of Judas as a hero, a more careful reading makes clear that Judas is not only no hero, he is a demon.
Several of the translation choices made by the society's scholars fall well outside the commonly accepted practices in the field. For example, in one instance the National Geographic transcription refers to Judas as a "daimon," which the society's experts have translated as "spirit." Actually, the universally accepted word for "spirit" is "pneuma " -- in Gnostic literature "daimon" is always taken to mean "demon."
Likewise, Judas is not set apart "for" the holy generation, as the National Geographic translation says, he is separated "from" it. He does not receive the mysteries of the kingdom because "it is possible for him to go there." He receives them because Jesus tells him that he can't go there, and Jesus doesn't want Judas to betray him out of ignorance. Jesus wants him informed, so that the demonic Judas can suffer all that he deserves.
Perhaps the most egregious mistake I found was a single alteration made to the original Coptic. According to the National Geographic translation, Judas's ascent to the holy generation would be cursed. But it's clear from the transcription that the scholars altered the Coptic original, which eliminated a negative from the original sentence. In fact, the original states that Judas will "not ascend to the holy generation." To its credit, National Geographic has acknowledged this mistake, albeit far too late to change the public misconception.
So what does the Gospel of Judas really say? It says that Judas is a specific demon called the "Thirteenth." In certain Gnostic traditions, this is the given name of the king of demons -- an entity known as Ialdabaoth who lives in the 13th realm above the earth. Judas is his human alter ego, his undercover agent in the world. These Gnostics equated Ialdabaoth with the Hebrew Yahweh, whom they saw as a jealous and wrathful deity and an opponent of the supreme God whom Jesus came to earth to reveal.
Whoever wrote the Gospel of Judas was a harsh critic of mainstream Christianity and its rituals. Because Judas is a demon working for Ialdabaoth, the author believed, when Judas sacrifices Jesus he does so to the demons, not to the supreme God. This mocks mainstream Christians' belief in the atoning value of Jesus' death and in the effectiveness of the Eucharist.
How could these serious mistakes have been made? Were they genuine errors or was something more deliberate going on? This is the question of the hour, and I do not have a satisfactory answer.
Admittedly, the society had a tough task: restoring an old gospel that was lying in a box of its own crumbs. It had been looted from an Egyptian tomb in the 1970s and languished on the underground antiquities market for decades, even spending time in someone's freezer. So it is truly incredible that the society could resurrect any part of it, let alone piece together about 85 percent of it.
That said, I think the big problem is that National Geographic wanted an exclusive. So it required its scholars to sign nondisclosure statements, to not discuss the text with other experts before publication. The best scholarship is done when life-sized photos of each page of a new manuscript are published before a translation, allowing experts worldwide to share information as they independently work through the text.
Another difficulty is that when National Geographic published its transcription, the facsimiles of the original manuscript it made public were reduced by 56 percent, making them fairly useless for academic work. Without life-size copies, we are the blind leading the blind. The situation reminds me of the deadlock that held scholarship back on the Dead Sea Scrolls decades ago. When manuscripts are hoarded by a few, it results in errors and monopoly interpretations that are very hard to overturn even after they are proved wrong.
To avoid this, the Society of Biblical Literature passed a resolution in 1991 holding that, if the condition of the written manuscript requires that access be restricted, a facsimile reproduction should be the first order of business. It's a shame that National Geographic, and its group of scholars, did not follow this sensible injunction.
I have wondered why so many scholars and writers have been inspired by the National Geographic version of the Gospel of Judas. I think it may stem from an understandable desire to reform the relationship between Jews and Christians. Judas is a frightening character. For Christians, he is the one who had it all and yet betrayed God to his death for a few coins. For Jews, he is the man whose story was used by Christians to persecute them for centuries. Although we should continue to work toward a reconciliation of this ancient schism, manufacturing a hero Judas is not the answer.
April D. DeConick, a professor of Biblical studies at Rice University, is the author of "The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says." | | The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic Does it tell us anything new? | The Gospel of Judas presents a fragmented account of Christ's life and a number of essays about the origins of the book. Maybe it wasn't the authors' intention or the purpose of the book, but I found it disappointing the book does not explore the significance of the Gospel or the reasons it generates such interest today.
The Gospel of Judas does not deny what we were told. That Judas betrayed Christ, Christ knew he was going to do it and may have encouraged it, that Judas's actions were well rewarded and were essential to the `grand plan'. The question is why did he do it?
Human nature has not changed significantly in the last 2000 years. Our understanding and control of our environment may have changed out of all recognition but why we do has not. Betrayal is betrayal. Was Judas convinced of good moral reason? That Christ, a revolutionary was about to create such public unrest as to harm people at a time of a religious festival? It doesn't seem so. Did Judas do it for the money? It was a handsome sum. Judas clearly liked to believe he was special. So special, that he alone amongst the disciples was chosen for ever-lasting life and he and Jesus secretly knew that. The Gospel of Judas suggests that the other disciples failed to acknowledge Judas's special status and were even rejecting Judas to such an extent that Judas was fearful they would gang up on him. So was it revenge on the other disciples? Or was it Christ manipulating Judas's love for him? The good they may die young, but don't expect that King, Ghandi, Lennon, Kennedy or any of the martyrs burnt at the cross wanted to die for their beliefs. It was a risk they courageously took.
Clearly all the gospels have been re-written. Judas's is no exception, apart from the fact that it was re-written by the Gnostics who - according to this book - were people who did and believed the opposite of what they were told. So they believed Judas did it for a heroic reason: To free Christ from the torture of being trapped inside a human body in the hell that is earth. Heroic? Why didn't Judas plunge the knife into Christ and say "I release you, Lord." That's heroic. To get someone else to do it. is cowardly.
The only additional `fact' of this book is that it confirms what we already knew about Judas, Christ and the Gnostics. The reason that Judas did it seems a thin rationalisation. To me it confirms why Judas became a Judas. He did it fro vengeance and money. It was unforgivable.
Why the current surge in interest? Because the Catholics are yet again in the dog house? It is fashionable to believe the Catholics `conspired' to ensure a perfect, united image of their founding leader. Of course they did. Every institution has done, does today and will try to do in the future. What if the church had not done it? Would the Gnostics version be as acceptable? If only 1 in 12 disciples were going to enjoy eternal life, then you and your loved ones have about a 1% chance. Before you reject such belief, look into that long dark night. Even Dawkins leaves open a 20% chance that God exists. Hawkins, a remarkable man who has every reason to expect a better life hereafter, is an atheist and yet is sensitive to people's fears to say `Now we can see the mind of God.'
I am not about to forgive the catholic church for the atrocities it has been involved in or the ignorance it has perpetuated but I will not condemn it for preserving, even shaping a remarkable philosophy by which most people live their lives today. Whether believers, agnostics or atheists - most try to `love they neighbour'.
OK, it is interesting to see that the Gospel of Judas exists. It would have been so much more interesting to place it within the context of Judas's actions, the day it was re-written by Gnostics and the time in which it was discovered. Maybe I missed it.
just Jack - rambling again
| | The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic New perspective | | If you ever wondered why G_D would condemn Judas when "his actions" were actually necessary in the "greater scheme of things", this book offers another perspective. I find this version a bit easier to accept. | | The Gospel of Judas by National Geographic Product Description | For 1,600 years its message lay hidden. When the bound papyrus pages of this lost gospel finally reached scholars who could unlock its meaning, they were astounded. Here was a gospel that had not been seen since the early days of Christianity, and which few experts had even thought existed–a gospel told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, history’s ultimate traitor. And far from being a villain, the Judas that emerges in its pages is a hero.
In this radical reinterpretation, Jesus asks Judas to betray him. In contrast to the New Testament Gospels, Judas Iscariot is presented as a role model for all those who wish to be disciples of Jesus. He is the one apostle who truly understands Jesus.
This volume is the first publication of the remarkable gospel since it was condemned as heresy by early Church leaders, most notably by St. Irenaeus, in 180. Hidden away in a cavern in Middle Egypt, the codex (or book) containing the gospel was discovered by farmers in the 1970s. In the intervening years the papyrus codex was bought and sold by antiquities traders, hidden away, and carried across three continents, all the while suffering damage that reduced much of it to fragments. In 2001, it finally found its way into the hands of a team of experts who would painstakingly reassemble and restore it.
The Gospel of Judas has been translated from its original Coptic in clear prose, and is accompanied by commentary that explains its fascinating history in the context of the early Church, offering a whole new way of understanding the message of Jesus Christ. |
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