Gospel of Judas
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| Thu, 04-06-2006 - 1:20pm |
April 6, 2006
'Gospel of Judas' Surfaces After 1,700 Years
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
An early Christian manuscript, including the only known text of what is known as the Gospel of Judas, has surfaced after 1,700 years. The text gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him, scholars reported today. In this version, Jesus asked Judas, as a close friend, to sell him out to the authorities, telling Judas he will "exceed" the other disciples by doing so.
Though some theologians have hypothesized this, scholars who have studied the new-found text said, this is the first time an ancient document defends the idea.
The discovery in the desert of Egypt of the leather-bound papyrus manuscript, and now its translation, was announced by the National Geographic Society at a news conference in Washington. The 26-page Judas text is said to be a copy in Coptic, made around A. D. 300, of the original Gospel of Judas, written in Greek the century before.
Terry Garcia, an executive vice president of the geographic society, said the manuscript, or codex, is considered by scholars and scientists to be the most significant ancient, nonbiblical text to be found in the past 60 years.
"The codex has been authenticated as a genuine work of ancient Christian apocryphal literature," Mr. Garcia said, citing extensive tests of radiocarbon dating, ink analysis and multispectral imaging and studies of the script and linguistic style. The ink, for example, was consistent with ink of that era, and there was no evidence of multiple rewriting.
"This is absolutely typical of ancient Coptic manuscripts," said Stephen Emmel, professor of Coptic studies at the University of Munster in Germany. "I am completely convinced."
The most revealing passages in the Judas manuscript begins, "The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during a week, three days before he celebrated Passover."
The account goes on to relate that Jesus refers to the other disciples, telling Judas "you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me." By that, scholars familiar with Gnostic thinking said, Jesus meant that by helping him get rid of his physical flesh, Judas will act to liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within Jesus.
Unlike the accounts in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the anonymous author of the Gospel of Judas believed that Judas Iscariot alone among the 12 disciples understood the meaning of Jesus' teachings and acceded to his will. In the diversity of early Christian thought, a group known as Gnostics believed in a secret knowledge of how people could escape the prisons of their material bodies and return to the spiritual realm from which they came.

How wonderful that something of this magnitude has surfaced.
"In the diversity of early Christian thought, a group known as Gnostics believed in a secret knowledge of how people could escape the prisons of their material bodies and return to the spiritual realm from which they came."
I touched on this idea in the thesis that I posted. We basically are not supposed to be here, our true home is in the spiritual realms. The Christs' last incarnation, as Jesus, was His completetion of this cycle and liberation. In that sense Judas was doing God's will in allowing this to happen. It would seem entirely possible that Jesus would have supported Judas since He knew what was needed for Him to complete his cycles of incarnation, most likely He was glad to escape.
This is also where movies like "The Passion of the Christ" get it wrong. The Cayce readings say that Jesus actually laughed and joked on His way to His crucifixion.
Anyway-there are a lot of documents that were suppressed for political reasons during the early church, thankfully not all of them were lost. Salvation or enlightement is a personal thing, unique to each individual. The emphasis on doctrine in the modern church is a stumbling block to this.
dablacksox
Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.
National Geographic Channel is presenting a two-hour special on The Gospel of Judas, Sunday from 8:00 - 10:00 EDT.
Wow.
Yes I watched it and was fascinated. I think that it holds so much truth! Some of the things that Jesus said....don't worship in a church...that keeps coming up over and over again. Laughing at the disciples as they worship a god that they can understand. The special was very well done. It mocks close-mindedness and gives people a reason to take another look at their religion, if their religion has anything to do with Jesus, that is.
Sarah
The most interesting part of this new Gospel is the way people are reacting to it.
"The early church decided there would only be four gospels in the bible because there were four corners of the (flat) earth. The four that were most prominent at the time were the easiest to read and brought out the humanness of Jesus."
Karen Armstrong is one of the finest writers on religion today. She reported in one of her books about speculation over the years of an old gospel that the 4 writers worked from, based on the similarities in their naratives.
The speculation now is that this was the Gospel of Thomas and this gospel is now thought to be the oldest and original Gospel.
http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/Trans.htm
Most likely this Gospel was ignored because, as a gnostic text, it states that the Kingdom of God is within you. This isn't a very desireable teaching to those looking to establish political control over the masses. It's more useful for them to believe that only you know the way to heaven and if they follow you, you will show them.
dablacksox
Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.
Interesting.