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Renowned historian and author Paul L. Maier shares his thoughts on the controversy surrounding The Gospel of Judas.
Hello, Internet Friends!
In response to a deluge of requests for my “take” on The Gospel of Judas, the following:
When newspapers banner the story “AUTHENTIC!” (or variations thereof), please understand that this refers only to the early (c. A.D. 300) manuscript involved, NOT its content! The original The Gospel of Judas was written close to A.D. 180, because the church father Irenaeus refers to it when he says that the Cainites (cultic followers of Cain) declare that
Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things [Gnostic doctrines], 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 call The Gospel of Judas.The fact that this work was finally found beautifully corroborates Irenaeus! It is, however, nothing more or less than all the other Gnostic “gospels,” which are full of such terms as the “demiurge,” “Sophia,” “aeons,” “archons,” “stars,” “luminaries,” “the pleroma,” and, above all, “secrets” and “gnosis (knowledge).” For Gnostics, salvation is through secrets, not faith in the atoning Christ. All the Gnostic gospels are shot through with recondite esoterica and mystifying names, especially of angels and demons. They are late, derivative, and—above all—bizarre takeoffs from the four canonical Gospels.
Although sensationalist claims are made that the Gnostic gospels are fresh discoveries that the church doesn’t want you to know about, nothing is further from the truth. Early Christian writers, particularly Eusebius and Irenaeus, knew all about such fake epistles and gospels—falsely named for apostles, to give them credibility—and treated them with utter scorn. Read them for yourself, and you’ll immediately find the answer to why they never even came close to making the final cuts into the canon.
No two Gnostics ever thought alike! All of them invented weird universes populated with eerie beings. Their writings make the hardest passages in the Book of Revelation look like elementary nar-rative prose by comparison! Here, for example, are several prominent passages in the newly discovered The Gospel of Judas:
Fake place names: Judas says to Jesus: “I know who you are and where you came from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo.” Yes, that’s the spelling, and don’t try to find it on a map!
Astrology: Jesus says to them [the disciples?], “Each of you has his own star . . . Judas, your star has led you astray.”
Fake individuals speaking word salad: “Adamas made 72 luminaries appear . . . The 72 luminaries themselves made 360 luminaries appear. The twelve aeons of the twelve luminaries constitute their father, with six heavens for each aeon, so that there are 72 heavens for the 72 luminaries, and for each of them five firmaments.”
Invented angels and names: “And look, from the cloud there appeared an [angel] whose face flashed with fire and whose appearance was defiled with blood. His name was Nebro, which means ‘rebel’; others call him Yaldabaoth. Another angel, Saklas, also came from the cloud. So Nebro created six angels—as well as Saklas—to be assistants, and these produced twelve angels in the heavens, with each one receiving a portion of the heavens.”
“Saklas,” not God, created humanity! “Then Saklas said to his angels, ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.’ They fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who is called, in the cloud, Zoe.”
In fact, there is only one line of interest in the thirteen pages of the document that have survived. Jesus supposedly says to Judas: “But you will exceed all of them [the disciples]. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” From that line, of course, sensationalists are making a cottage industry out of redoing the Passion story, making of Jesus a Neo-Platonist, and turning Judas from villain into hero.
The account of how the The Gospel of Judas ever survived after being tucked into a Hicksville, Long Island, safety deposit box for some years is far more interesting than its weird, wacky, off-the-wall, bizarre, and even grotesque content!
As to the other recent “sensations” on Jesus, what about Michael Baigent’s The Jesus Papers—Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History? This, as was Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is total trash, worse—if that were possible—than The Da Vinci Code in its bombastic claims, patent distortions, and falsehoods. Good that Baigent lost the publicity-conceived lawsuit against Dan Brown’s publisher!
Now, too, there’s James Tabor’s new book, The Jesus Dynasty. Tabor deals with some ossuaries found at Talpiot (south of Jerusalem), with names like Yeshua (Joshua=Jesus), and Mary—very common names in first-century Palestine. Fresh information? Hardly! All this was well an-nounced in 1980, and proves nothing. The book is full of “conceivably,” “might have,” “possibly,” and the like.
And how about the explanation, recently given by some logically challenged “authority,” that Jesus was able to walk on water because the water was ice? In that biblical episode, when Peter saw the wind and waves he sank. Evidently, the Sea of Galilee managed to be half frozen and half open. One word: lunacy!
Paul L. Maier is the award-winning professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University. He is the author of numerous award-winning books ranging from children’s books to historical texts. A recognized expert in church history, Dr. Maier speaks to a variety of groups and media outlets around the world.
The paperback edition of Maier's Eusebius:The Church History includes the author's best-selling translation, historical commentary on each book of The Church History, and numerous maps and illustrations. It is set to release this later this month.
1 comments:
Very interesting! And helps me understand something I didn't quite grasp.
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