>...
> I've heard that as a story before, but I just chalked it up
> as a story. Is there really a Gospel of Judas with historical
> credentials, e.g., like the Gospel of Thomas?
"'Gospel of Judas' Surfaces After 1,700 Years"
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/science/06cnd-judas.html
The Gospel of Judas that has just been published
http://www.pesherofchrist.infinitesoulutions.com/index_Questions.html
"A. There is no doubt that there once was a document called the
Gospel of Judas, which was composed before 180 AD. The church
father Irenaeus, writing his treatise 'Against Heresies' at about that
date, refers to it, condemning it, without giving its text.
He states that it is Cainite, which means that it contains the
doctrines of a secret gnostic sect that was licentious and
antinomian in character. The Cainites, taking their name
from Cain the murderous son of Adam, believed that they
were the highest of human beings. They practiced sexual
rites which were said to enable their attainment of the
'perfect gnosis'. It is possible that the work contained a
Passion story saying that Judas by his treachery made
possible the salvation of mankind. By bringing about the
crucifixion of Jesus, he thwarted the designs of the evil
powers who wished to prevent the crucifixion , since they
knew that it would deprive them of their power and bring
salvation to men.
Amid massive media publicity designed to take advantage
of the present interest in hidden Christian history, a fragment
said to be part of the Gospel of Judas is now announced. It
was in a collection of Coptic documents that were said to
have been discovered at Muhafazat al Minya in Egypt during
the 1950's and 1960's. Other works in the 62 page leatherbound
codex were already known, being found in the Nag Hammadi
Coptic documents. This one was a small fragment ending with
the words 'Gospel of Judas'. It has been carbondated to about
300 AD, but if it is the same Gospel of Judas that Irenaeus
refers to it was composed in Greek before 180 AD and
translated into Coptic.
The few extracts that have been given to the media seem to accord
with Cainite content. Jesus says to Judas, 'You will exceed all of
them. For you will sacrifice the man who clothes me'. Jesus also
said, 'Step away from the others and I will tell you the mysteries
of the kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will
grieve
a great deal'. Judas is told 'You will be cursed by the other
generations and you will come to rule over them.'
The media naturally highlight the idea that it might contain real
history. But that is to show an absence of information about what
the gnostic Nag Hammadi documents have taught us. All of them
come from circles within which - as may be argued - the first
Christians worked. The gnostics were the members of the schools,
monasteries and abbeys, which had adopted many aspects of
hellenistic thought and were teaching them as religious truth.
Since it was rare to have such a standard of education, they held
themselves to be superior, above ordinary men, possessors of the
'divine spark' that gave them the ability to receive such knowledge
(Greek gnosis).
They put ideas far above facts, being more interested in speculative
philosophy than in history. An example of how they could re-interpret
the crucifixion of Jesus comes from one of the NHL works, The
Second Treatise of the Great Seth. It is asserting the opposite of
what the Gospel of Judas is alleged to be saying, that the crucifxion
did not happen to Jesus, because he was too superior to allow it.
'I (Jesus) did not die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to
shame by them because these are my kinsfolk. ...For my death
which they think happened, happened to them in their error and
blindness, since they nailed their man to their death....It was
another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was
not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who
bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they
placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height
above all the wealth of the archons and the offspring of their
error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their
ignorance.' (vii, 2, 55: 19- 56:19).
It has also become apparent, amid inevitable controversy, that
distinctions have to be made among the gnostic works. The earlier
they are, the more likely they are to reflect actual history,
especially if it accords with an objective reading of the New
Testament. Because some of this history is unwelcome to
conservatives, modern scholars have sometimes overridden
evidence in order to give a late date, thus allowing the history
to be thought fictitious. This is particularly the case with the NHL
Gospel of Philip, whose internal evidence shows it to have been
composed prior to 70 AD, when there were still 'Hebrews' who
were changing their doctrine and beginning to call themselves
'Christians'. This is the work that presents Mary Magdalene as
having a sexual relationship with Jesus. It has been given a 3rd
century AD date, erroneously in my opinion.
The gospel of Judas, if it has more of the content that the
published extracts illustrate, is likely to come from one of the
gnostic factions that gave free rein to speculation about the
crucifixion
to uphold their own philosophy, an opposite faction to the one that
produced The Second Treatise of the Great Seth. It would be an
interesting example of the great diversity of outlooks within which
the Christian party arose. There can no longer be an assumption
of a pure, original, unified Christianity which all these strange
ideas
subsequently corrupted.
B.T."
