The Gospel of Judas

[David Morris]

http://www.blizzpub.net/forums/topic/47233/

Manuscript Indicates Jesus Urged Judas' Betrayal
>From Associated Press

12:47 PM PDT, April 6, 2006

WASHINGTON — For 2,000 years Judas has been reviled for betraying
Jesus. Now a newly translated ancient document seeks to tell his side
of the story.

The "Gospel of Judas" tells a far different tale from the four gospels
in the New Testament. It portrays Judas as a favored disciple who was
given special knowledge by Jesus -- and who turned him in at Jesus'
request.

"You will be cursed by the other generations -- and you will come to
rule over them," Jesus tells Judas in the document made public today.

The text, one of several ancient documents found in the Egyptian
desert in 1970, was preserved and translated by a team of scholars. It
was made public in an English translation by the National Geographic
Society.

Religious and lay readers alike will debate the meaning and truth of
the manuscript.

But it does show the diversity of beliefs in early Christianity, said
Marvin Meyer, professor of Bible studies at Chapman University in
Orange, Calif.

The text, in the Coptic language, was dated to about the year 300 and
is a copy of an earlier Greek version.

A "Gospel of Judas" was first mentioned around A.D. 180 by Bishop
Irenaeus of Lyon, in what is now France. The bishop denounced the
manuscript as heresy because it differed from mainstream Christianity.
The actual text had been thought lost until this discovery.