DISCUSSION TOPIC: GOSPEL OF JUDAS

Some Questions

• What is the Gospel of Judas and what is its story?  Who is the Judas of this Gospel?

• How does the account told in the Gospel of Judas differ from the more familiar accounts?  How is Jesus portrayed and what is his apparent goal in the gospel?

• How important of a find is the Gospel of Judas?  What, in your opinion, is its significance?

• What is the historical relationship between Judas and anti-Judaism?

• How would you begin to place the Gospel of Judas against the backdrop of other "Lost Gospels?"

• Why do you think so much contemporary scholarship has focused upon these Gospels and how much attention should we pay to them?

• What does it matter whether early Christianity was diverse in orientation?  How would you respond to the scholar Elaine Pagels's claim that the Gospel of Judas and other Gnostic texts are "exploding the myth of a monolithic Christianity?"

• What are the reasons these Gospels were lost?

• What are the similarities and differences between these Lost Gospels and those which are included in the New Testament?  What seems to be the issues at stake?  What are the most important ideas included in the "Lost Gospels?"  How would you begin to make sense of the broader patterns here?  To what extent do such issues have contemporary significance in regards to matters of belief and to the structures of the Church?

• What was Gnosticism and to what extent does this movement provide a larger context for understanding the Gospel of Judas?

• How much attention should we pay to the non-canonical Gospels?

• Adam Gopnik: "Making Judas more human makes Jesus oddly less so, less a man with a divine and horrible burden than one more know-it-all with a nimbus."  Comment.

Required Reading

•   Andrew Cockburn, "The Gospel Of Judas," National Geographic (May 2006):  A feature article connected with the unveiling of the ancient document.

Other Starting Places

•   "Judas 'Helped Jesus Save Mankind,'" BBC News, April 7, 2006.

• John Noble Wilford and Laurie Goodstein, "In Ancient Document, Judas, Minus The Betrayal," New York Times, April 7, 2006.

• Elaine Pagels, "The Gospel Truth," New York Times, April 8, 2006.

• Adam Gopnik, "Jesus Laughed," New Yorker (April 17, 2006).

• Harold W. Attridge, "The Case For Judas, Continued," New York Review Of Books, 55 (May 1, 2008).

• Thomas Bartlett, "The Betrayal Of Judas," Chronicle Of Higher Education, 54 (May 30, 2008).

• Adam Kirsch, "Sealed With A Kiss," New York Times, April 3, 2009:  A review of Susan Gubar's Judas -- A Biography.

•   "The Lost Gospel Of Judas Iscariot," NPR Day To Day, April 6, 2006.

• The Gospel Of Judas:  A translation from the National Geographic Society.

Gospel Of Judas In The News

• Peter Steinfels, "A Debate Flares On Betrayal," New York Times, April 15, 2006.

• Barry Meier and John Noble Wilford, "How The Gospel Of Judas Emerged," New York Times, April 13, 2006.

• Julian Borger and Stephen Bates, "Judas: This Is What Really Happened," Guardian, April 7, 2006.

•   Stephen Tomkins, "Not So Secret Gospels," BBC News, April 7, 2006.

• Laurie Goodstein, "Document Is Genuine, But Is Its Story True," New York Times, April 7, 2006.

•   Stefan Lovgren, "Lost Gospel Revealed; Says Jesus Asked Judas To Betray Him," National Geographic News, April 6, 2006.

• Stefan Lovgren, "Judas Was 'Demon' After All, New Gospel Reading Claims," National Geographic News, December 21, 2007.

• Brian Handwerk, "Gospel Of Judas Pages Endured Long, Strange Journey," National Geographic News, April 6, 2006.

• John Noble Wilford and Laurie Goodstein, "'Gospel Of Judas' Surfaces After 1,700 Years," New York Times, April 6, 2006.

• G. Jeffrey MacDonald, "A Gospel's Rocky Path From Egypt's Desert to Print," Christian Science Monitor, March 7, 2006.

Articles

• "Judas: A Biography by Susan Gubar," Times Online, August 2, 2009.

• Brian Bethune, "The Apostle Who Haunts Us Still," Macleans (November 15, 2007).

• David Frankfurter, "An Historian's View Of The Gospel Of Judas," Near Eastern Archaeology, 70 (September 2007): 174-77.

•   Stephen Prothero, "Kiss And Make Up," New York Times, June 24, 2007.

• Eduard Iricinschi et al., "The Betrayer's Gospel," New York Review Of Books, 53 (June 8, 2006).

• Jack Miles, "Judas And Jesus," Commonweal, 133 (June 2, 2006): 7-8.

• David Van Biema, "A Kiss For Judas," Time (February 19, 2006).

Web-Sites

• Gospel Of Judas -- Wikipedia:  An entry from the on-line encyclopedia.

•   Lost Gospel Of Judas:  Information from National Geographic timed to coincide with the release of the document.

•   Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Gospel Of Judas Iscariot: A New Look At Betrayer And Betrayed: A Google Books preview of Ehrman's full-length study of the document.

Audio Sources

• "A Conversation About The Gospel Of Judas With Karen King And Elaine Pagels," Charlie Rose, PBS, April 6, 2007.

•   "Gospel Paints Judas In Not-So-New Light," All Things Considered, April 9, 2006.

•   "Ancient Text Shows Judas In A Different Light," NPR Morning Edition, April 7, 2006.

•   "'Gospel' Offers Radical New Perspective On Judas," All Things Considered, April 6, 2006.