Judas gospel

The recently revealed discovery 30 years ago of an ancient book called the Gospel of Judas has created quite a stir.  Some folks like biblical writers Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels are attributing great authority to it.  Most of the biblical scholars I know, including myself, are asking, "What's the big deal?"  This book was written at least 80 if not more years after the 4 Biblical Gospels were written.  Why do we think it is more authoritative than the Biblical Gospels?  I think this book will help us to understand the times of when it was written in the 2nd Century, but we have to be careful we don't simply transpose it directly from the 2nd Century to the 21st Century.

 

This is one among many ancient books that are continuing to be discovered.  Why does this one receive such instant credibility as compared to the others and especially in light of the 4 Gospels in the Bible?  I find many folks being intrigued by the Judas gospel and now planning to study it.  Yet, I find in many cases they have not spent any or little time really studying personally the 4 Gospels of the Bible.  They react to those gospels more by hearsay from other folks (negative and positive). And some folks have said we shouldn't force an "orthodox" viewpoint of the Bible on folks.  I agree.  BUT, the definition of what is a Christian for close to 2000 years has meant a somewhat boundaried faith in who is Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the authority of the Bible (espcecially for we who claim to be Protestants), and a central understanding of the Trinitarian nature of God and the sacramental nature of baptism and eucharist (thanksgiving or communion).  NO ONE has to accept these boundaries.  BUT to be in the body of Christ, the Christian church, they are the norm.  but as I said, to live in our US society, you are not forced to accept them or to believe them.  But as I said () in the historic boundaries of the Christian church they have central meaning and identity for us...or else we aren't a Christian church.  We may good, ethical people seeking to help the world, but we are not the followers of the resurrected, living Christ whom we believe has saved humanity through continuing to work among us and with us in human history.

 

Judas like many of the other discovered gospels come from the Gnostic strain of the early church.  There are some today who are giving great veracity to the Gnostic gospels.  The Gnostics were only one of a variety of groups who were part of a movement called Christianity (rather than an organization as we have known it in modern times).  Some claim that the Gnostics were closer to what Jesus intended but patriarchal powers of the time sought to deny their message.  As I study the history, it looks to me less of power elites controlling which strain or Gospels became predominant.  Rather the general populace just didn't not find the Gnostic gospels to be compelling or "real" enough and they were discarded over time by not passing the test of speaking "truth" to the main part of the church...who were not powerful people.

 

I think the discussion about the meaning of the Gnostic gospels is more of an interfaith dialogue that I do feel comfortable in being a part of.  But it is not a strictly Christian community conversation.  Gnosticism is not about Jesus Christ.  It is about more finding correct human behavior through more mystical means.    It so happened that some Gnostics in the first few centuries since Jesus used Jesus as a way to communicate their faith.  That is gnosticism, not Christianity.  The Gospel of Judas fits more into that tradition than the Christian tradition.

 

Here is a definition of the Gnostic thought...which is receiveing a great revival among some Christians these days.

 

Here is a critical article which uses the thought of NT Wright, who I believe is one of the best New Testament scholars of our time.

David Loar
http://discipledavid.blogspot.com ...my blog
http://www.fairlawnwest.org ...church web site

http://www.loar.org ...family web site