Thursday, April 06, 2006

Judas Priest!

Found in 1970, now made available in English -- The Gospel of Judas has been published.

The newly translated document's text begins: "The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot."

In a key passage Jesus tells Judas, "You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me."

This indicates that Judas would help liberate the spiritual self by helping Jesus get rid of his physical flesh, the scholars said.

I don't think this new information will change the faith of many people. There have been many apocryphal works circulating through the centuries, including other gospels. But I think most Christians dismiss these other works as unimportant, if not distracting from the main meaning of the Christ, the annointed one who was sent to redeem our sins. At least I do. And I think the Gospel of Judas will find a similar fate, despite its new availability in English.

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