gospel of judas
The publication of the “Gospel of Judas” was last year’s news, largely overshadowed by this year’s ‘discovery’ of Jesus’ tomb. Always a little slow in the pop-culture field, I finally got around to looking at poor Judas’ story this past month. Elaine Pagels and Karen King collaborated on “The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity” which was published this spring and offers not only the narrative of the Gospel of Judas but also an insightful probe into its relative importance.
Like the discovery of Thomas’ gospel, this work is important in part because it bears witness to the diversity of thought within the early Christian communities. The meaning of Jesus life and teachings have always enjoyed a certain amount of fluidity in interpretation, but pretty early on the church scene an orthodox position emerged (and was often enforced) regarding the interpretation of Jesus’ death. Essentially the institutional church has embraced Jesus’ death as sacrificial atonement (‘he died for my sins’) with varying amounts of emphasis. Historical scholars, like our own Steve Patterson, have been challenging the monophonic claim of that message but are largely swimming against the current of 1900 years of “tradition”.
The Gospel of Judas is provocative in that it is (most probably) a second century story which directly challenges the emerging orthodoxy of sacrificial atonement. This story wants to revisit the ‘necessity and sufficiency’ of the death of Jesus. At the very time when orthodoxy was being defined, this story was penned in an apparent attempt to offer an alternative view. This story was a direct affront to what the church leaders at the time were espousing, and was thusly thrust into the banned books pile and lost for centuries.
This Judas story has it’s own rendition of the reasons for Jesus’ death, and I can’t say that I am terribly persuaded by the particular thesis. I am, however, incredibly empowered by the presence and significance of this text. If from the very beginning there were active faithful followers of Jesus questioning the emerging orthodoxy, refusing to believe the prescribed teaching on the meaning of Jesus’ suffering and death, than I can more comfortably bring my heresies with me to the table.
Of course it helps that we no longer burn the heretics. At least not literally.