We should maintain that if an interpretation of any word in any religion leads to disharmony and does not positively further the welfare of the many, then such an interpretation is to be regarded as wrong; that is, against the will of God, or as the working of Satan or Mara.

Buddhadasa Bikkhu, a Thai Buddhist Monk


Friday, May 20, 2011

The Search for the Historical Judas

"The Judas Kiss" by Doré.
 In May 2006, the National Geographic did a feature story on the newly discovered and translated Gospel of Judas entitled appropriately enough "The Judas Gospel."  For a brief moment, some thought that this new "gospel" (it's not really a gospel), which dates back to within about 100 years of Jesus, might force us to reconsider the entire story of Jesus' last week and death on the cross. The Gospel of Judas, after all, presents a very different picture of  Judas.  There he is the only disciple who truly understands who Jesus was and received special secret instruction from Jesus.  In the end, however, the Gospel of Judas proved to be a tempest in a teapot.  The last week in the life of Jesus was not rewritten.  Christians were not forced to readjust their faith.  The world went on as before.  The Gospel of Judas doesn't even actually "shed new light on history's most hated man" in spite of the claims of the National Geographic.

In an article entitled,  "Why Did Judas Do it?", written at the time, James Martin observed that all we really know about Judas Iscariot historically is that he was one of Jesus' inner circle of disciples and that he handed Jesus over to the authorities.  We don't know what "Iscariot" means although there are a number of theories (speculations, really).  We don't know why Judas betrayed Jesus.  We don't even know how he died, since the New Testament gives two different versions.  Matthew writes that he hanged himself; the Book of the Acts says he fell and blew apart.

In its own time, the Gospel of Judas was rejected by most Christians as not being a true account of Jesus or Judas.  It may have been the product of a small sect or splinter group critical of the rest of the Christian movement and its leaders. The theology in the "gospel" is different, believing among other things that the God of the Hebrews is an inferior God and that Jesus is the Son of a the highest, true God, who did not create the spiritually inferior physical universe.

What the Gospel of Judas does reveal is that a century after Jesus Christians were already divided theologically.  Early Christians understood Christ in different ways and fought with each other about their views.  That is to say that the search for the historical Judas, like the quest for the historical Jesus brings us back to the early church.  It is through their writings and interpretations that we have access to the Jesus and Judas of history.  That is why the New Testament and especially the four gospels are so important to us: they are the only sources we have for our knowledge of  Christ.


Some Sources for the Gospel of Judas
Text of the The Gospel of Judas.
Eduard Iricinschi, Lance Jenott, and Philippa Townsend, "The Betrayer's Gospel".
Pheme Perkins, "Good News From Judas?"
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