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The Gospel of Judas: Introduction Marvin Meyer, Ph.D

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The Gospel of Judas: Introduction Marvin Meyer, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission from the book The Gospel of Judas, 2nd edition. Copyright © 2006, 2008 National Geographic Society. arvin Meyer (Ph.D., Claremont Judas is as ignominious as his actions. He University) is Griset Professor of takes blood money from the authorities for M Bible and Christian Studies at his betrayal of Jesus, and either he hangs Chapman University, Director of the Albert himself (as in Matthew) or he dies in a Schweitzer Institute, and Director of the ghastly fashion (as in Acts), falling headlong Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute and causing his body to rip open. for Antiquity and Christianity. In this article, Yet, even in the New Testament, there Professor Meyer introduces us to The Gospel of is something captivating about Judas Judas (which had been lost for 1,600 years) told Iscariot. The account of Judas betraying from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, history’s Jesus remains a story of great power and ultimate traitor. In this radical reinterpretation, poignancy: Jesus is handed over by one Jesus asks Judas to betray him. of his closest friends. Furthermore, in the New Testament gospels, there are hints of a more favorable figure of Judas Iscariot. Over the years the sands of Egypt Judas is part of the inner circle of disciples of have surrendered countless treasures and Jesus, and according to the Gospel of John, archaeological wonders, and now they Judas acts as the treasurer of the group and have yielded another spectacular find—the is entrusted with whatever funds Jesus and Gospel of Judas, recently discovered and the disciples might have had. At the Last published for the first time in 2006. Supper, Jesus himself tells Judas to do what The very title of the text, the Gospel he has to do and to do it quickly. Judas kisses of Judas—Judas Iscariot—is shocking. In Jesus in the garden, with a form of greeting the New Testament gospels and most of still used today between friends throughout the Christian tradition, Judas Iscariot is the Middle East. Wasn’t all this part of portrayed as the quintessential traitor, the the divine plan, according to the New betrayor of Jesus, who turns his master in to Testament—that Jesus should die for the the Roman authorities. According to these sins of people and rise from the dead on the accounts, there is little that is apparent in third day? Without Judas and his kiss, would his character that could connect him with the crucifixion and resurrection ever have the gospel, or “good news,” of Jesus. In the taken place? Gospel of Luke, it is said that Satan enters The enigma of Judas Iscariot has been into Judas and drives him to his despicable explored by many who have wondered about Rosicrucian deed, and in the Gospel of John, Jesus Judas’s character and motivation. Modern Digest addresses the twelve disciples and says that literature and academic scholarship are rich No. 2 2011 one of them, Judas, is a devil. The end of with discussions of Judas, including Jorge Page 28 Luis Borges’s Three Versions of Judas, Mikhail nor is it an evil necessary to bring about the Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Hans- forgiveness of sins. As a result, the act of Josef Klauck’s Judas: Ein Jünger des Herrn, Judas handing Jesus over to be crucified in William Klassen’s Judas: Betrayor or Friend the Gospel of Judas loses a great deal of the of Jesus?, Hyam Maccoby’s Judas Iscariot and negative meaning and significance ordinarily the Myth of Jewish Evil, and Marcel Pagnol’s associated with it. play, Judas. In the rock musical Jesus Christ Unlike the New Testament gospels, the Superstar, Judas Iscariot nearly steals the Jesus of the Gospel of Judas laughs a great show, and his presence and music probed a deal, and part of that laughter is directed more sympathetic view of the depth of his toward the foibles of the disciples and the devotion to Jesus. In the song “With God on absurdities in human life. Death, as the exit Our Side,” Bob Dylan sings of Judas: from the absurdity of physical existence, is You’ll have to decide not to be feared or dreaded. Far from being Whether Judas Iscariot an occasion of sadness, death is the means Had God on his side. by which Jesus is liberated from the flesh in The Judas Iscariot of the Gospel of order that he might return to his heavenly Judas is the one who betrays Jesus, but he is home. Jesus will be handed over by Judas, simultaneously the protagonist of the gospel. but this will provide the occasion for Jesus to He says to Jesus, “I know who you are and discard his body and free his inner self, the where you have come from. You have come divine self. No wonder Jesus laughs. from the immortal aeon of Barbelo. And I This perspective of the Gospel of Judas am not worthy to utter the name of the one is different in a number of respects from who has sent you.” In the spiritual world of that of the New Testament gospels. During the Gospel of Judas, to confess that Jesus the formative period of the Christian is from “the immortal aeon of Barbelo” is church, numerous gospels were composed to confess that he is a divine being, and to in addition to the canonical gospels of declare the ineffability of the name of the one Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Among who sent Jesus is to profess that the true God the other gospels that have survived, whole is the infinite Spirit of the universe. Unlike or in part, are the Gospel of Truth and the the other disciples, who misunderstand Jesus Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Philip, Mary, and cannot bear to stand before his face, the Ebionites, the Nazoreans, the Hebrews, Judas understands who Jesus is, takes his and the Egyptians, to name a few, and place before him, and learns from him. In these gospels demonstrate the rich diversity the end, Judas hands Jesus over in the Gospel of perspectives within early Christianity. of Judas, but he does so knowingly, after The Gospel of Judas is yet another of the being fully informed by Jesus. Jesus says to gospels written by early Christians as they Judas, with reference to the other disciples, attempted to articulate, in one way or “You will exceed all of them. For you will another, who Jesus is and how one should sacrifice the man who bears me.” According follow him. to the Gospel of Judas, Jesus is a savior not because of the mortal flesh that he wears but The Discovery because he can reveal the soul or spiritual The Gospel of Judas was discovered person who is within, and the true home of in the 1970s in Middle Egypt in a papyrus Jesus is not this imperfect world below but codex (or book), later designated Codex the divine world of light and life. For Jesus Tchacos. According to reports, the codex was in the Gospel of Judas, death is no tragedy, found, with other manuscripts, in a cave that Page 29 had been used for a burial. It was apparently than we might have imagined, and unless any displayed, stolen, and later recovered and remaining papyrus fragments have turned the collection of manuscripts was taken to to dust, it is conceivable that there may be Europe and presented to scholars with a more fragments, and even more pages, of the view to a sale, though the suggested purchase ancient collection still to be discovered. price proved prohibitively high. Eventually Although the Gospel of Judas and the the Gospel of Judas made its way to the other texts in the codex are written in Coptic, United States, where it was hidden away in a late form of the ancient Egyptian language, a safe-deposit box on Long Island for sixteen the Gospel of Judas was, without a doubt, years and then was placed in a freezer by a originally composed in Greek, probably potential buyer. By the time the codex was around the middle of the second century. acquired by the Maecenas Foundation for This date becomes more secure on the basis Ancient Art and the National Geographic of a statement of Irenaeus of Lyon, who Society, for conservation and publication, refers to a Gospel of Judas in his work Against this much-abused book consisted of a Heresies, written around 180. As Gregor mass of fragments in a box. Beginning in Wurst demonstrates in his essay, the Gospel 2001, Rodolphe Kasser undertook—with of Judas in the Codex Tchacos may now be conservator Florence Darbre and, since identified as a version of the Gospel of Judas 2004, Gregor Wurst—the Herculean task mentioned by Irenaeus and others after him. of assembling and arranging the papyrus The Coptic translation of the Gospel of Judas fragments, large and small. In time, mirabile is most likely somewhat older than the copy dictu, the box of fragments became an we find in Codex Tchacos, which probably ancient collection of books once again. dates to the early part of the fourth century, As preserved, Codex Tchacos is at least though the carbon-14 dating would also sixty-six pages long and contains at least allow for a slightly earlier date for the codex. four tractates: The Gnostic Context • a version of the Letter of Peter to Philip The Gospel of Judas may be classified as (pages 1–9), also known from Nag Hammadi what is often called a gnostic gospel.
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