Did Judas Iscariot really betray Jesus? Or did Judas, as a favoreddisciple, turn Jesus over to the high priests at Jesus' request? Anewly translated ancient document, the "Gospel of Judas," made publicThursday, tells a far different tale from the four gospels of the NewTestament. Scientists date the document, discovered in the Egyptiandesert in the 1970s, to about A.D. 300, but believe the originalJudas gospel was written at least a century earlier. "Let a vigorousdebate on the significance of this fascinating ancient text begin,"said Donald Senior, president of the Catholic Theological Union.
THIS CHANGES NOTHING
I don't think it changes anything about the truth of the Christianfaith. There has long been a theory that Judas wanted to flush Jesusout, to declare a rebellion and drive the Romans out and killedhimself when he realized he had got it wrong, but we don't know thatand neither did whoever wrote this document decades after the event.This is not something to put your faith on.
The Rt Rev. John Pritchard, Church of England Bishop of Jarrow,
the Guardian
GOSPELS ARE INTERPRETATIONS
This is religious interpretation. That's what we have in everyChristian gospel. Gospels are texts with interpretation. Every NewTestament gospel has its own interpretation, and so here we have theinterpretation of the gospel of Judas. That is what is so rich andwhat is so lovely about the text, that we have here another kind ofinterpretation of the significance of Judas Iscariot.
Marvin Meyer, professor of bible and Christian studies at ChapmanUniversity in California
CNN
SPINNING FOR JUDAS
In the ancient world, plagiarism didn't exist. Using somebodyelse's name was a sign of great respect. If somebody wanted to makeJudas look good, what better way to do it than to tack on Judas'name?
Charles Lippy, professor of philosophy and religion at theUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga Times Free Press
LIKE CDS IN 1890
It is certainly an ancient text, but not ancient enough to tell usanything new. It contains themes which are alien to the first-century world of Jesus and Judas, but which became popular later. Ananalogy would be finding a speech said to have been written by QueenVictoria, in which she talked about her CDs.
Simon Gathercole, New Testament expert from Aberdeen University,Calgary Herald
BAD PLOT DEVICE
From a theological standpoint, I always feel suspicious when earlywritings have Jesus taking one person aside and giving them the "realstory" as many of the gnostic writings seem to represent. That seemsvery un-Jesuslike to me, to say one thing to the public and thensomething very different to a few selected honorees.
Laura at shipoffools.com
RINGS TRUE
I think Judas knew full well his role and accepted it. It strainscredulity that he would act without express knowledge bestowed by JC.To overcome personal emotional attachment with foreknowledge andallow himself to become a pariah makes him a hero to some.
Gort at Shipoffools.com
FICTION IS NOT NEW
Just because you can date a document to early Christian timesdoesn't make it theologically true. Do you decide everything you readon the Internet is true because it was written on April 6, 2006?Fiction has been around for as long as man.
The Rev. Rod Loy, First Assembly of God in North Little Rock,Ark.,
Gannett News Service
NO EYEWITNESS
Remember that Gnosticism arose in the middle of the secondcentury, and the "Gospel of Judas," if authentic, probably dates backto the mid- to late second century. To put a historical perspectiveon things, that would be like you or me writing a text now on theAmerican Civil War and having that text later used as a primaryhistorical source on the war. The text could not have been written byeyewitnesses, the way at least two of the canonical Gospels were.
The Rev. Thomas D. Williams, Regina Apostolorum University in Rome
Zenit
SHOCKER OF THE YEAR
Certainly no shock at all, rather I greeted it with a chuckle. Myfirst reaction was every year at Easter time we come up with some newbook, some new allegation some new article that shows that Jesusdidn't exist or he didn't die on the cross or he didn't rise from thedead.
Rev. John Flader, of the Catholic Adult Education Centre in theArchdiocese of Sydney, the World, Australia
HAPPILY NOT GNOSTIC
Scholars will doubtless devote whole careers to interpreting thistext, sketching out the ways the Gospel of Judas subtly refigures ourunderstanding of the theological disagreements between thoseeventually deemed orthodox and those branded heretics.
As for me -- an ordinary, churchgoing Episcopalian with anadmittedly obsessive interest in early Christian history -- readingthe Gospel of Judas makes me thankful that today we do not practiceGnosticism, an exclusive sacred tradition that privileged the soulover the body and derided, rather than honored, this world.
As we approach Easter, I am thankful to belong to a religiouscommunity that makes salvation open to all. I am thankful to belongto a religious community for whom Jesus' escape from the materialworld is not the end of the story.
Lauren F. Winner
Dallas Morning News
Editor's note: All items have been edited for space.
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