The Judas Gospel 1B

Lindsey Eisenberg

History of Christianity

The Judas Gospel 1B

·      Judas as the ultimate symbol of treachery- traitor of Christianity

o   One of the twelve who sold Jesus out and later hanged himself

·      “Secret account” portrays Judas as a hero

o   Judas acting at Jesus’ request, making him a good man

o   Raises suspicions of fraud

o   Codex dated between 220-340 AD

o   Ink made of iron and soot

o   Translated from Greek

·      Irenaeus Bishop of Lyon wrote a book denouncing anyone who praised Judas

·      Gnostics

o   “Gnosis” means “knowledge” in Greek

o   Believed in an ultimate source of goodness “the divine mind”

o   Humans carry some of the power but are cut off by the material world

o   Believed in a flawed universe

o   Ordinary people could be connected to God

o   Christ acted as a teacher to help people discover their spark of the divine mind

§  Through this, anyone could become as divine as Christ

o   1945 Nag Hammadi Books

§  Found near Egypt

§  Over a dozen new versions of teachings found

·      Don’t know which gospels have the most truth to them

o   Canonical four may have come to be because they were known to be the most accurate even though others exist

·      Judas gospel reflects struggle between Gnostics and the hierarchical church

·      Meyer

o   Passage where Judas is going to kill Jesus is key

§  “You will sacrifice the man that clothes me”

o   By doing so it will liberate the real Christ

o   Shows special status of Judas

·      Two views

o   Gospel of Jesus tells us nothing of importance (Craig Evans)

o   Gospel as a window to the history of Christianity (Elaine Pagels)

·      Gospel unread until May 1983

o   Stephen Emmel in Geneva, Switzerland

·      Hanna

o   Cairo antiquities dealer had the original documents

o   No one knows where they were originally discovered

o   Sold April 2000 to Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos

§  Bruce Ferrini acquired the gospel

§  Reclaimed by Tchacos in February 2001 and she took it to Rodolphe Kasser (translated it)

Related Subject for Discussion: Differences between the writing of the canonical gospels and those not in the Bible and why or how their stories can be so different.