JUDAS was no villain, old document claims
I got this from philippine daily inquirer, I think its pretty interesting especially to the christians like me.
WASHINGTON, JUDAS ISCARIOT, vilified as Christ's betrayer, acted at Jeses request in turning him over to the authorities who crucified him, according to a 1,700-year-old copy of the "Gospel of Judas" unveiled on Thursday.
The Judas gospel was one of several ancient documents found in the Egyptian desert in 1970, was preserved and translated by a team of scholars and made public in an English translation by the National Geographic Society.
Its introduction says it is "the secred account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot."
"He's the good guy in this portrayal," said Bart Ehrman, a religion professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "He's the only apostle who understands Jesus."
Later, it quotes Jesus as saying to Judas, "You will exceed all of them (the other disciples) for you will sacrifice the man who clothes me."
"The idea in this gospel is that Jesus, like all of us, is a trapped spirit, who is trapped in a material body," Ehrman said. "And salvation comes when we escape the materiality of our existence, and Judas is the one who makes it possible for him to escape by allowing for his body to be killed."
Rev. Donal Senior, president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the document revealed the diversity and vitality in early Christianity.
"The question becomes..... does this tradition, this alternative story, if you like, in the gospel of Judas have a claim that in some sense is equal to the rival claim of the gospel tradition?" Seinor said.
It is known who wrote the Judas gospel. The copy unveiled on Thursday was a document mentioned critically in the year 180 in a treatise called "Against Heresies," written by Irenaetis, bishop of Lyon in what was then Roman Gaul and now France.
The bishop denounced the manuscript as heresy because it differed from mainstream Christianity. The actual text had been thought lost until this discovery.
Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, said, "The people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics."
LET THE DEBATES BEGIN
Added Senior: "Let a vigorous debate in the significance of this fascinating ancient text begin."
In the Bible's New Testament, Judas is portrayed as the quintessential traitor, acceptin 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus by identifying him to Roman soldiers. The bibilica Gospel of St. Matthew says Judas quickly regretted his treachery, returned the silver and hanged himself.
The New Testament contains four Gospels -- of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- but many more so -called apocryphal gospels were written in the first centuries after Christ's death, attributed to such disciples as Thomas and Philip and to his female follower Mary Magdalene.
WASHINGTON, JUDAS ISCARIOT, vilified as Christ's betrayer, acted at Jeses request in turning him over to the authorities who crucified him, according to a 1,700-year-old copy of the "Gospel of Judas" unveiled on Thursday.
The Judas gospel was one of several ancient documents found in the Egyptian desert in 1970, was preserved and translated by a team of scholars and made public in an English translation by the National Geographic Society.
Its introduction says it is "the secred account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot."
"He's the good guy in this portrayal," said Bart Ehrman, a religion professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "He's the only apostle who understands Jesus."
Later, it quotes Jesus as saying to Judas, "You will exceed all of them (the other disciples) for you will sacrifice the man who clothes me."
"The idea in this gospel is that Jesus, like all of us, is a trapped spirit, who is trapped in a material body," Ehrman said. "And salvation comes when we escape the materiality of our existence, and Judas is the one who makes it possible for him to escape by allowing for his body to be killed."
Rev. Donal Senior, president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the document revealed the diversity and vitality in early Christianity.
"The question becomes..... does this tradition, this alternative story, if you like, in the gospel of Judas have a claim that in some sense is equal to the rival claim of the gospel tradition?" Seinor said.
It is known who wrote the Judas gospel. The copy unveiled on Thursday was a document mentioned critically in the year 180 in a treatise called "Against Heresies," written by Irenaetis, bishop of Lyon in what was then Roman Gaul and now France.
The bishop denounced the manuscript as heresy because it differed from mainstream Christianity. The actual text had been thought lost until this discovery.
Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, said, "The people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics."
LET THE DEBATES BEGIN
Added Senior: "Let a vigorous debate in the significance of this fascinating ancient text begin."
In the Bible's New Testament, Judas is portrayed as the quintessential traitor, acceptin 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus by identifying him to Roman soldiers. The bibilica Gospel of St. Matthew says Judas quickly regretted his treachery, returned the silver and hanged himself.
The New Testament contains four Gospels -- of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- but many more so -called apocryphal gospels were written in the first centuries after Christ's death, attributed to such disciples as Thomas and Philip and to his female follower Mary Magdalene.
posted by CHICAY at 7:49 PM
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