Can anyone give me a lay man's version of what this is all about???
Gospel of Judas???
by Confucious 6 Replies latest jw friends
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Hellrider
It`s a text from the 3rd century, from a christian community referred to as the "gnostics" (from greek "gnosis", which means something like "knowledge", I think). This group had lots of texts, which were discovered at Nag-Hammadi in 1945. The Gospel of Judas was found some 20 or 30 years ago, but hasn`t been translated before now. It tells the story of Jesus and the betrayal (by Judas) seen from a different view than the 4 Gospels which were included in the Bible. In the Judas-gospel, Judas is told by Jesus to hand him over to the Romans, so the Romans could kill him off, and thereby setting his soul free, so that it could be united with God. The gnostics believed that every man has a "divine spark" in him, which was released at death, and it is this divine spark that Judas helps Jesus set free from the flesh. And for this, he would be condemned by all mankind, but rewarded by Jesus, and taken to see the "mysteries in the heavens". Or something like that...(you asked for the layman-version, and that`s all I got, mister ). The publicity-thing around this whole text is kind of weird. It`s not so special, there were perhaps something like 3 dozens of different gospels in circulation at that time, some of which were found at Nag-Hammadi. It`s not written by Judas himself, he had been dead for 300 years at the time, but neither was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
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under_believer
It generally fits into the large body of early Christian literature referred to as "Apocrypha," which means that the people who put the Bible catalogs together early on didn't like it. It's also a Gnostic text, which basically means that it is some kind of hidden, secret knowledge, revealed by Jesus to only one person or or a small group of people and nobody else. It's not nearly as controversial as the media made out, though it does suggest that Jesus wanted Judas to betray him because it needed to be done. That's not exactly a new idea, either. If you read it (and it's freely available to read off of the National Geographic site) you will see that it is pretty silly--it wasn't included in the canon because it differs wildly from anything else in the Bible. Also, Jesus laughs a lot in it. :)
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gaiagirl
There is a good article in the latest National Geographic, basically it states that during the 1st and 2nd centuries, there were numerous documents used by various Christian congregations, including the books which would later be chosen for inclusion in the Bible canon, and also including others. The gospel of Judas was one of these. Judas was portrayed as the disciple who understood most clearly why Jesus was there, and he carried out his part, in accord with Jesus will, in helping Jesus fulfill the prophecies, knowing that the other disciples would not understand and would turn against him. The National Geographic article is highly recommended for further details.
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Confucious
Cool... Thanks.
I was in the grocery store of all things and saw a book about it.
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Mary
The National Geographic article is highly recommended for further details
I read it----very fasinating stuff.......I really enjoyed the way the National Geographic summed the Gospel of Judas up:
"....After 2,000 years, the most hated man in history is back...."
I subscribe to Biblical Archaeology Review magazine which comes out quarterly, so I imagine they'll have a big article on it in their next release.
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