•Feed
•Gospel of Judas
FOUR ARTICLES:
I. ‘Gospel of Judas’ -A Problem For Christians? Not!
The history of this manuscript reads like a story from “Raiders of The Lost Ark”, but the contents are no surprise to Bible Scholars & historians of early Christianity. It is always interesting to observe how news like this ‘discovery’ is handled by the secular MSM. It is so predictable that the ‘Gospel of Judas’ manuscript would be presented as a problem & ‘controversy’ for Bible believing Christians. It is a matter of wishful thinking on the part of many in the media, who hold a world-view which is at odds with that of ’people of faith’. They choose to feature & pick every major scholar in the field that opposes an orthodox understanding of Christianity, thereby creating an impression that Biblical Christianity is being challenged by this ‘discovery’.
This supposed ‘Challenge’ has already been more than adequately answered over 1800 years ago by Irenaeus the Bishop of Lyons, an early Christian theologian, who cited the Greek version of the ‘Gospel of Judas’ in his famous work- “Against Heresies” (I read it in seminary 25 years ago and found it to be a sure cure for insomnia). He responds: “They (The Gnostics) produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.” The ‘Gospel of Judas’ was originally written by Gnostics (an early ‘heretical’ Christian group) late in the second century AD, 120+ years after the ministry of Jesus, and long after the last Apostle and disciple had died. The absurdity of claiming ‘authority’ for this work was deftly resolved once & for all by Bishop Irenaeus (180 AD). Even James M. Robinson, a noted Coptic & Gnostic scholar, famous for his work on the “Nag Hammadi Library” (also one of my old profs-I had him for a lecture or two at Claremont), concludes that the New Testament Gospels are not really challenged by ‘Judas’: “Correctly understood, there’s nothing undermining about the Gospel of Judas,”.
The work really says more about the beliefs & faith of late 2nd century Gnostics than it possibly can about the origins of Biblical Christianity. The Gnostics believed that Humanity was imprisoned in physical bodies by the evil one. So in Gnostic theology, Judas was a hero for having a role in the death of Jesus, and thereby made possible his release from his physicality and his resurrection into the spiritual realm.
The manuscript was actually discovered in the 1970’s, so its existence is really not news to those in the field. James M. Robinson tried to purchase it in 1983, but fell short of the required $3 million needed. It was finally rescued from antiquity dealers and collectors in 2001, and made available to scholars through The National Geographic. Marvin Meyer of Chapman University was chosen to make the English translation. See his interesting story in The Register-front page 4/07/06: www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1092171.php
*Update-4/9
It is interesting to me that they would choose now, around Easter in 2006, to publicize its existence. Hmm, I wonder why? I heard a commercial for a National Geographic TV special on ‘Judas’ showing tonight (Sunday 4/9). It was obviously planned many months ago, so they must have decided in their planning that a ‘Easter’ week announcement & TV presentation would bring them the maximum coverage & greatest potential for publicity and viewers. Is any one else offended by this choice? It is tantamount to an attack on Christianity, during the most holy week of the year for Christians!
See full story in The New York Times 4/6/06:
www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/science/06cnd-judas.html?
II. ‘The Gospel of Judas’: Is It Authentic -The Historical Test
The question of authenticity for the ‘Gospel of Judas’ can be addressed in a number of different ways.
1. If we ask, is the manuscript that was found a genuine copy of the ‘Gospel’? The answer is Yes. The scientific evidence seems to prove that the manuscript is a 4th century copy of the ‘Gospel’ written in Coptic. The original ‘Gospel of Judas’ was written in Greek during the last half of the 2nd century.
2. Is the manuscript a good & faithful copy of the original text? That we can’t answer for sure, the original is not extant. We only have opposing comments by Irenaeus (180 AD), in his diatribe against the Greek text.
3. Is the text really what it claims to be? Does it record genuine conversation between the ‘real’ Judas and the ‘historical’ Jesus? The answer is no-Definitely not! How do we know for sure? It flunks the ‘historical test’– Just do the numbers. The ‘Gospel of Judas’ arrived on the scene after 150 AD and contains ideas & concepts which reflect the ‘Gnostic’ movement in the later part of the 2nd century. Again-just do the numbers! This supposed ‘Gospel’ was written 120 years after the actual events of the ministry of Jesus. All participants and actual observers were long gone & buried, and several generations had passed.
James M. Robinson, Emeritus Professor at Claremont Graduate School, and a leading authority in the study of Gnostic & Coptic documents, is quoted by the AP as saying that the texts are old, but not old enough–”Does it go back to Judas? No,”. While he acknowledges that the text will be valuable in the study of 2nd century thought, he does not think that it will reveal anything about the 1st century: ”There are a lot of second-, third-, and fourth-century gospels attributed to various apostles,…”We don’t really assume they give us any first-century information.” See: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11655998/
*The most telling historical problem for the ‘Gospel of Judas’ is the content itself, particularly the theology presented in the document. I’ll deal with this in my next post.
III. ‘The Gospel of Judas’: Is it Authentic? -The Theological Test
The defining test for ‘Judas’ is the content evaluation test. The following questions must be applied to the document in order to authenticate it and to identify its place in history:
1. What does the ‘Gospel of Judas’ actually teach?
The ‘Gospel’ teaches that there are many gods-”among all those called God.” Jesus in this document, makes fun of the disciples for praying a prayer of thanksgiving over their food to “their God”. This writing makes it clear that the other 11 Apostles are worshiping a lesser god named Saklas, who created the earth & imprisoned humanity in physical bodies. The highest immortal realm is said to be ruled by Barbelo (feminine), and the ‘Great One’ the invisible spirit is above and beyond “all those called God”. Salvation comes through having special knowledge that gives one power to overcome this physical life. Judas is the special one of the twelve, the only one given the special knowledge. The other Apostles will continue to worship a lesser god and lead their followers astray. Read the ‘Gospel’: www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/document.html
2. Does the teaching validate its claim as a Gospel from the first century?
No, definitely not. The content of the document, does not represent the prevailing theology of Judah & Galilee of the first century. Jesus and his disciples were Jews who believed in one God & one creator of all things–they were monotheistic. Jesus and the early Christian leaders, had a high regard for the Hebrew scriptures, and considered themselves to be a continuation of the ancient Hebrew religion. The four recognized Gospels reflect this understanding. The ‘Judas’ document teaches that the 11 Apostles were wrong and presents to us a polytheistic ‘mystery’ religion–a different religion entirely. This is why early Christian leaders, like Iranaeus, rejected the so-called ‘Gospel of Judas’.
3. To what community and time frame, can we assign this ‘Gospel’ then?
The theology, the names, the symbols, and heavenly places mentioned in the book, are indicators that the work belongs to the Sethian ’school’ or community of ‘Christian’ Gnostics-probably middle to late second century. This particular manuscript is a 4th century copy of the original, translated into Coptic (Egyptian). It was found near the same area of Egypt that the ‘Nag Hammadi’ manuscripts came from. Similarities in writing style and codex production demonstrate that this manuscript most likely came from the same ‘Sethian’ community. See: “The Gospel of Judas” (Washington DC: National Geographic Pub., 2006), Chapter on-”Judas and The Gnostic Connection” by Marvin Meyer.
*Conclusion: The theology of the document proves that ’The Gospel of Judas’ cannot be an actual production of the first century, but is really a ‘fictitious’ account penned by a Sethian Gnostic writer/writers in the last half of the second century.
IV. ‘Judas’ Documentary: Did The Four Gospels Lead To The Holocaust?
During the National Geographic documentary on the ‘Gospel of Judas’, shown Sunday night (National Geographic Channel), several of the scholars, including Bart Ehrman & Elaine Pagels, made the claim that the four NT Gospels may have led to the holocaust. With scenes from the Nazi death camps as a backdrop, these scholars explained how the historical linkage of Judas with the Jews, and the negative treatment of Judas & Jewish religious leaders in the NT Gospels, may have seeded the ground that grew ‘The Holocaust’. Several Jewish scholars over the years have made such claims, and recently when the movie ‘The Passion’ came out similar concerns were voiced.
However, one must remember that Jesus & the disciples were all Jewish and worshipped in Jewish Synagogues & at the Jewish Temple. They did not oppose the Jewish religion, but did oppose the Jewish leaders of the 1st century and their contemporary teachings and interpretations. The writers of the Gospels were merely defending their own understanding of ‘true’ religion & their sect against the contemporary Jewish leadership. Later generations misinterpreted some of the texts and used them in persecuting the Jewish people. The original writers would undoubtedly be horrified to see how their writings were quoted and misused.
After WWII, Christian Leaders & Theologians have addressed these incorrect interpretations. The NT Gospels must be interpreted in their 1st century context. In that context, they are not anti-Semitic nor can they be.
*Note-Historical Fact: The Dialectical Materialism, Feuerbach, & especially Nietzsche, provided the philosophical underpinnings for the Nazi Movement. Also, Hitler was known to be heavily into the ‘occult’ and was not sympathetic to Christianity.
