Monakhos

I feel like everyone who’s anyone has posted at least once on The Gospel of Judas. I just finished reading the book myself, and thought I would write a little review. It is a little late for such posts, but I have been busy and actually wanted to finish the book (which is quite short) and the commentaries attached with it (each is longer than the gospel itself) and reflect a little bit on my reactions. However, I am sure that nearly everyone is tired of seeing the same posts over and over with a minor history lesson, quick blurb about Sethian Gnostics, and then some various quotes from the work; especially the verse where Jesus tells Judas that Judas that he will assist Jesus by letting his spirit out of his body. So this review will be a little different. I hope to point out some things that have not been emphasized quite as much.

I said that I would not post a history or anything, but I think I may have lied. The Gospel of Judas was written before 180 AD, as it was referenced in Iraneus’ Against Heresies written that year. Presumably, it must have been written about 20 years before this, so as to have been able to make an impact and pose a threat to the sect of Christianity that would become orthodox. The only known copy of The Gospel of Judas was found in Egypt in the late 1970s. While it was not believed to be too badly damaged at the time, the next twenty years proved to be a trial for the Coptic manuscript. When it was recovered, it took nearly five years to recover and translate the text. Still large portions are missing and the remains that are not missing are nearly impossible to read. That is it for the history lesson, if you want more, read somewhere else. I have more important topics to discuss.

After reading The Gospel of Judas, one can see why the book was deemed as heresy by those who became Orthodox Christianity. The contents attack nearly everything Orthdoxy believes. Only some have a spark of the divine. The gods in charge of this world are rebels and traitors who snatch souls from the supreme God’s dominion and trap them in human bodies. Some bodies on earth trap divine souls that will be released again after their tenure on earth; other bodies have lesser souls that do not survive. It is an interesting cosmology, but it seems more like a reaction against Orthodox Christianity than an innovative truth. Much of it the philosophy is reminiscent of the Pythagorean thought portrayed in Plato’s Phaedo.

Would I recommend the book? Not really. It is interesting to read a work that has been hidden for so long, and it would be good for someone who is into studying gnosticism. For everyone else, I would say the book’s worth is limited. It is just too damaged and too obscure to really be beneficial for casual study or to find practical application. The commentaries are great and very interesting for everyone, but I am not sure that they really are much better or extensive as Elaine Pagel’s The Gnostic Gospels. If you want the history, I would buy that book. If you want a good gnostic work, buy The Gospel of Thomas by Jean-Yves Leloup. Of course if you are a book geek like me, you will probably want to buy it just to pad your bookshelf. It does look really nice up there with my other apocryphal books. Basically, it is up to you. Just don’t expect a lot of revelation to come to you from reading it. It may happen to someone, but I can’t imagine it.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 8:46 and is filed under Book Discussion and Reviews, God, Jesus and Christianity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.