The Gospel of Judas
Sven posts an extract from NT Weight’s Maundy Thursday sermon, about the document there’s been so much news about on the News – the “Gospel of Judas”. The point is that this “Gospel” is not a contemporary account of Jesus (whether by Judas or not). It’s very obviously a product of the Gnostic religion of the second and third centuries. This much was obvious from the most cursory report of what the Gospel says, and Wright agrees that, when studied in detail, exactly the same conclusion presents itself.
Wright sees exactly why this “Gospel” is so interesting to people at the moment:
First, then, this document is worthless historically. Second, it is opposed to the fundamental Jewish and Christian doctrine of the goodness of creation. And third, it cuts the nerve of working for Gods kingdom in the real world. Who cares about speaking the truth to power if the real task is to escape? Why bother feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, why worry about global debt or global warming or the madness of global warfare, if the main thing to do is to follow your own star and discover your true spiritual identity? Why bother following the real Jesus and standing defenceless before the powers of the world if you can invent a fake Jesus who panders to your inner desires? Lets be quite clear: despite the sneers of so many who say that the New Testament was written, edited and then chosen out of a much larger collection of books in order to sustain the churchs political power and prestige, the truth is that in the second and third century, long before anyone thought of the Constantinian settlement, it was the people who were reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Acts, Romans and the rest who were being thrown to the lions, burned at the stake, beaten and bullied and beheaded. Why would Caesar worry about Thomas, Judas and the other pseudo-gospels?
pax et bonum
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