Judas, Gospel of

Judas, Gospel of

      apocryphal Christian scripture from the 2nd century AD attributed to the apostle Judas Iscariot. The gospel advances a Gnostic cosmology and portrays Judas in a positive light as the only apostle who fully understands Jesus (Jesus Christ)' teachings.

      Although lost for centuries, the Gospel of Judas was known to have existed because it was mentioned by St. Irenaeus (Irenaeus, Saint) of Lyon, who condemned it as a fiction in AD 180. However, a Coptic (Coptic language) translation (c. 300) of the original Greek text was discovered in a codex found in Egypt in the 1970s. In 1978 the codex was acquired by an Egyptian antiquities dealer, who placed it in a safe-deposit box in New York state, U.S., after his attempts to sell it failed. It remained there until 2000, when it was purchased by the Swiss-based Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art. The reconstruction of the folios and a study of their contents were commissioned, and the text of the gospel and a translation were made public in 2006. Along with the Gospel of Judas, the codex contains the pseudepigraphal (noncanonical and unauthentic) First Apocalypse of James (James, Saint), a letter of the apostle Peter (Peter the Apostle, Saint), and a section of a badly fragmented work provisionally identified as the Book of Allogenes or Book of the Stranger, a Gnostic text that was also among the codices found at Najʿ Hammadi in 1945.

      The Gospel of Judas was likely compiled by an adherent of a Gnostic sect. (Gnostics emphasized the redemptive power of esoteric knowledge and taught that the material world is the creation of an inferior deity who is distinct from the transcendent God; see Gnosticism.) It is a unique depiction of Judas, traditionally denounced for his treachery and betrayal of Jesus. Portraying Judas as the favourite disciple of Jesus, the gospel records how Jesus revealed to him secret knowledge that was withheld from the other apostles; this special revelation concerns the nature of the cosmos and the transcendent God, the creation of angels and other celestial beings, and the creation of humankind. The gospel also includes an account of conversations between Jesus and Judas that took place, according to the opening passage, “during a week, three days before he celebrated Passover.” In these dialogues, Judas emerges as the close confidant of Jesus, who tells him: “You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” In this way, Jesus appears to ask Judas to help him liberate his spiritual self from his material body. Thus, the Judas of the gospel is not the betrayer of Jesus but his most important collaborator.

Additional Reading
Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst (eds.), The Gospel of Judas: From Codex Tchacos (2006), is a translation of the text; and Herbert Krosney, The Lost Gospel: The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot (2006), is an account of the discovery and editing of the gospel.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gospel of Judas — ] Over the decades, the manuscript had been handled with less than sympathetic care: some single pages may be loose on the antiquities market (one half page turned up in Feb. 2006, in New York City); the text is now in over a thousand pieces and… …   Wikipedia

  • Judas Iscariot — died с AD 30 Disciple who betrayed Jesus. He was one of the original 12 disciples. Judas made a deal with the Jewish authorities to betray Jesus into their custody; in return for 30 pieces of silver, he brought the armed guard to the Garden of… …   Universalium

  • Judas Iscariot — Judas Iscariot, , , , ), implying that it was not Judas, but his father, who came from here. [Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony , Eerdmans (2006), page 106.] Some speculate that Kerioth refers to a… …   Wikipedia

  • Gospel of St. Matthew —     Gospel of St. Matthew     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Gospel of St. Matthew     I. CANONICITY     The earliest Christian communities looked upon the books of the Old Testament as Sacred Scripture, and read them at their religious assemblies.… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Gospel of Judas (disambiguation) — Gospel of Judas may refer to:*The Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic gospel, the text of which was partially reconstructed in 2006 * The Gospel According to Judas , a 2007 novel by Jeffrey Archer and Frank Moloney * The Gospel of Judas , a novel by… …   Wikipedia

  • Judas Iscariote — Judas traiciona a Jesús con un beso, por Giotto di Bondone. Judas Iscariote (en hebreo יהודה איש־קריות Yəhûḏāh ʾΚ qəriyyôṯ , Ish Keryot: de Keriot) (* Keriot,? + Jerusalén, 27 33 d.C?), fue uno de los apóstoles de Jesús de Nazaret. Siguió a su… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Judas Iscariot — • The Apostle who betrayed Jesus Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Judas Iscariot     Judas Iscariot     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Judas — (Greek: Ιούδας) is the anglicized Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Yehudah (Hebrew: יְהוּדָה), also rendered in English as Judah. Contents 1 People 2 Arts 3 Other 4 See also …   Wikipedia

  • Judas Tadeo — El apóstol Judas Tadeo, por Anthonis van Dyck Apóstol y Mártir Nacimiento Aproximadamente en 1 en …   Wikipedia Español

  • Gospel and Gospels — • The word Gospel usually designates a written record of Christ s words and deeds Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Gospel and Gospels     Gospel and Gospels      …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”