The Gospel of Judas

The announcement of the discovery of the Gospel of Judas has generated a

flurry of interest over the past ten years. National Geographic sponsored a

major media event about this writing, complete with extensive publicity, a

television special, and books. However, the initial thrill has calmed down

rather significantly.

A number of people suggested that this was a “genuine” work, a genuine

gospel, and lots of people believed that the Judas is the one who wrote it.

Same name and all, right? Has to be him, right? Wrong.

The historical Judas did not write the Gospel of Judas. This document is actu-

ally a Gnostic writing from (probably) no earlier than the late second century

CE, and perhaps even later. As a Gnostic work, therefore, it has a great deal in

common with the Nag Hammadi manuscripts that are the subject of Chapter

12, but because it was found apart from the Nag Hammadi collection and

released only recently to public attention, we choose to briefly talk about it in

this chapter on early non-canonical traditions about Jesus.

This short work, the publication of which had all the intrigue of a modern

mystery novel, finally came to light in 2005 after a long series of secretive

negotiations and meetings. The actual contents of the book hardly justify

such excitement — the Gospel of Judas is a rather typical example of Gnostic

spirituality