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OFF the shelf Reading Judas: The
Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity
A gospel ascribed to Judas was made public by the National Geographic Society in April 2006. This original second-century Greek Gospel had been found in Middle Egypt, near Al-Minya. Some peasants came upon a burial cave containing a limestone box that had preserved the ancient writings for centuries. One of these was a papyrus book (the Tehacos codex) that dates approximately to the fourth century. Rodolphe Kasser, a philologist, and the conservator George Wurst have made serious efforts to restore the gospel to its original condition. The authors now offer a new translation and interpretation of the role of Judas. The object of the authors is not to trace the history of the gospel but to explain its meaning and significance in the historical context. It throws light on the controversies and conflicts raging in the shaping of Christianity in the early stages of its development. The gospel is fragmentary—some of the words in it are missing, and the idiom at times sounds antique. The gospel shows that what later historians depicted as an unbroken, linear procession of a uniform Christian faith is totally false. The early history of Christianity was tumultuous, full of strife, of reflections and experimentation. There was a ceaseless quest for understanding some of the fundamental problems of human existence. The gospel expresses the agonising passion and anguish that some followers of Christianity felt on the horrible violent death of their family who were killed to entertain Roman rulers. This work emphasises that the anger of the Christians was directed less against the Romans than at their own leaders lauding martyrdom. The gospel presents Judas not as a criminal who betrayed his master but as his closest and most trusted confidant whom Jesus revealed his deepest mysteries and initiated his passion to follow him. Thus, Judas was made to see the necessity of bringing about the fulfillment of the prosperity and the achievement of humanity. Judas' object was to oblige his Master for his miraculous powers to defeat his enemies and establish the new earthly kingdom of the Messiah in which Judas is expected to have a high place. The authors emphasise that whatever is stated in The Gospel of Judas was anticipated in the earlier four gospels, and there were several references to what is stated in the new gospel. Judas' betrayal is a matter of crucial importance, which is a theme of earlier gospels, but the new gospel provides details and brings the whole story of betrayal to its logical conclusions. The new gospel answers why Jesus was betrayed, and what his death means. Of all Jesus' disciples, Judas was the only one who had stood up, while others had faltered and stumbled. Jesus said to Judas, "I know what you are and what place you come from." Realising that Judas had stood the test required of him, Jesus told him that he would share with him the "mysteries of the Kingdom." The gospel of John had prevented Jesus directing all the events, even his own betrayal, but the gospel of Judas gives a new twist and meaning to the betrayal story and "turns the table on the 'twelve.'" The Gospel of Judas suggests the continuing persecution of the Christians at the hands of the Romans in the second century, and the becoming a Christian was dangerous. To expel fear from the minds of his followers, Jesus taught, as laid down in The Gospel of Judas, "The spirit gives life, but the flesh is useless." Here the message is of leading an inward spiritual life, free from any blemish. Jesus teaches Judas that there is a wider world of the spirit beyond the limited world people perceive, and unless they came to know it they will never know God or fulfill their own spiritual nature. He warns that as long as they are ignorant and complacent, they fall an easy prey to the worship of false gods. Nearly half of Jesus' teachings in the gospels deal with the existence and structure of the heavenly realm, and how the world and the gods originated, and what will happen to the world to the end of time. Jesus rebukes the "twelve" for believing falsely that their "god" required not only the death of Jesus but also the sacrificial death of their wives and children who represented the martyrs of the authors' own day. In the gospel, Jesus laughs at the mode of worship practiced by "the twelve" and reveals a different vision of God. The gospel shows how the "Church leaders" tried to mislead their followers and distort the teachings of Jesus. The gospel does not tell how "the twelve" reacted to Jesus's rebuke, but they must have been horrified. The authors think that The Gospel of Judas has a message to give by leading us to ask where we stand today in our world of polarised violence. The gospel raises the question about what Christianity might become and how it could heal the wounds of tortured humanity. The gospel offers a human account of the history of humanity. Of course, this gospel like others does not belong to the canon, nor is a trash, but it is an integral part of the history of Christianity. This illuminating work written with verse and passion is a model of neat and meticulous scholarship.
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