NationStates Jolt Archive

At the beginning of the 20th century the Gospel of Mary Magdalene was thought to be found, and now at the beginning of the 21st century the gospel of Judas has thought to be found. The manuscript, 26 pages long, from which the gospel has been translated is thought to have been written in some time between 220AD and 340AD. Though the gospel is mentioned by the Bishop of Lyon in 180AD.

The gospels describe Judas as being the most trusted of all the disciples and it was he who as trusted to help liberate Jesus from his earthly body, help him to wash the sins of mankind, and to be reunited with God in heaven. Far from the traitor that the current Bible makes him out to be.

But, already academics are refuting the accuaracy and usefulness of the gospel. Prof Geza Vermes of Oxford claims the gospel adds nothing to our understanding of the events that surrounded Jesus' death, but maybe be of interest for gnostics. Scholars in Britain have pointed out that it was written over century after the death of Judas and decades after the last of the other gospels were written. Rt Rev John Prittchard, the C of E Bishop of Jarrow has pointed out that it doesn't change anything about the Christian faith, and the person who wrote it didn't know what they were talking about about and it is not something we should put our faith in.

Are these people being overly critical and prematurely closing their mind to possible change. Are they so consumed by the dogma of their Church that they cannot contemplate that what they have believed to be true all this time could be wrong?

http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&q=judas&sa=N&tab=wn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1748970,00.html

Other thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=476389&highlight=Judas)

bah, that's what I get for suddenly not spending obscence amounts of time on this site and then forgetting to check if their our other threads. poo.

bah, that's what I get for suddenly not spending obscence amounts of time on this site and then forgetting to check if their our other threads. poo.

Don't ya hate it when that happens... ;)

As to your post though, unlike some of the other 'lost' gospels, this one is particularly 'suspect.' Even from the second century the Gospel of Judas was being called heretical. I do not think they are being overly dismissive, I think it is right on the money.

(Book I, Chapter 31)
Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103131.htm