The Gospel of Judas

If one is a mainline religion believer, one will find this Gospel contrary of one's belief system. Basically, it says that the (lesser)god of thoughs beliefs is the cause of all of the worlds troubles and they are headed for doom. The belief in the (Greater)God of Jesus is ones only way out. The part, of why Judas betrayed Jesus,the main focus point, is a mute point, when considering the underlying point, and most important one, that salvation is thru knowledge and not thru faith, according to this Gospel. Much of the historical and backround information can be collaberated from the Sumerian Text found and interpreted by Zecharia Sitchin's books, an archaeologist and biblical scholar, who resides in Isreal. The contradiction according to this Gospel from others, and the main point, is that the God of Jesus is not the god of the mainline religions, or of the twelve apostles even. That his spirit was resurrected long before he was crucified, and an empty body shell must have then died for ones sins, if that was the case. And much, much more, that I won't get into, if one is already condemming this as hersy. But one can. And should one? Well, if one believes in conspiracies, this one will keep one awake at night, or at least get one thinking. Other backround reading probably should be about the Sethian Gnostic's, Texts from the Nag Hammadi Library, and maybe even Platonism.

If you are a history buff and are curious about Judas' role in changing the world, this book will engage you. It's a bit dry but a good look into Judas' role in the death of Jesus.

Ok, so now we're in the midst of a comedy that only the demon Saklas could have concocted for the poor scholars caught up in National Geographic's super-hype of a few years back. We admit, we were quite familiar with the "news" of this Gospel before it even appeared. It's been written of, and treated in fictional manner well before the drum beat began for the discovery of the "true" book. Once it arrived, of course we bit and bought both the Gospel and the Herbert Krosney companion volume explaining the history of the discovery and eventual publication of the codex, and when we sat down to inhale both in almost a single sitting, we were not disappointed. The Gospel itself treds familair ground with a cast of characters straight out of The Nag Hammadi Library. There were the lower forms or "demiurges" that set themselves up as the titular creators of this world of darkness and pain, and there was the Christ of the Sethians--smiling as he revealed the "truth" of the whole set-up to Judas and the rest. The truth being, of course that there was a real Creator beyond the horror masters like Nebro and Yaldaboath and EL with faces of bears and blood-spattered shapes, and that there was a paradise out there in the after-worlds that was a mighty cool place to be. Judas has a vision of something like palaces there as Christ speaks. In addition Christ tells Judas that not all humans have permanent souls, but only "borrowed" spirits that must be given back at death, so therefore being a follower of the true Christ was great thing indeed. At the end of the Gospel, Judas has a transcendent vision of more coolness and is engulfed in a glowing cloud (UFO fans take note!) Finally this inspires him to turn Jesus over to the authorities for those thirty pieces of jingle and the rest is--as they say--pseudo-history. Or is it? Now it appears that after reading all of the explanations and leap-frogging across the scholarly apparatus of the text (ellipses, brackets and all) several times, all was probably in vain for--(laughter worthy of Nobodaddy himself!)--the translation by Randolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, et al. appears to have been incorrect, and the "good" Judas, may have been a bad--even a demonic guy after all! Yes, this is the latest wrinkle in this Coptic codex comedy, with Meyer and company racing like Keystone Cops for their scholarly fig leaves, even as we write. So stay tuned, folks! Can't wait for the next act! Keep your eye out for the future "correct" version of the codex, and for further corrections after that, and after that, and after that. And so it goes all the way up to the Uncreated Uncreator of this world!

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.

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.