RE: Judas' Gospel
**Sigh**
The really unfortunate and annoying part of all the sound and fury over The DaVinci Code will be the endless months of collateral nonsense to which we will be subjected by the agenda-driven media and Hollywood. Media types, and other unwashed will regurgitate every crackpot notion of the religious history conspiracy theorists as if it was something just discovered last week. The Priory of Sion and its odd ideas will suddenly be fresh and new as opposed to the reality that they have been around and repeatedly rejected for centuries.
If I recall correctly, The Gospel of Judas is one of the scroll fragments discovered in the 1970s at a dig in Egypt. It was unknown at one time whether the scroll they found was of the same content alluded to by Irenaeus in the second century. This article says the scroll is dated in the fourth century. If so, it is likely an even more corrupted copy if it is the same Gnostic text. There were no copies of Judas' gospel found at Nag Hammadi. It was the source document for one of the dozens of second and third century Gnostic heresies identified by Polycarp, Ireneaus, and later, Athanasius.
Like any of the other apocryphal or heretical texts, the veracity of Judas will be impossible to verify as well as to completely refute. A careful reading is likely to expose errors that identify it as a documentary poseur, but those who delight in the Aha! school of scriptural criticism will find it to be a treasure trove. Indeed, our author, young Stacy, has taken us on a veritable romp through leftist agenda, everything from moral relativism to the war on terror, without having the slightest idea what the gospel actually says.
According to leftists and other libertines, the time is always right for a new view on evil. That's because they would like to be able to impose a relativistic and dynamic definition of evil that can easily be applied to anything they dislike and easily rejected with regard to anything they support. But evil is as old as the universe and a new view on it doesn't change its nature, regardless of the wishful thinking of "progressives."
Furthermore, to apply whatever Judas might say as a refutation of a fairly narrow aspect of Catholic doctrine is not the same thing as refuting Christianity. That Satan misunderstood or miscalculated God's purpose in sending His son is certain, much to his eternal rage. That he has spent centuries attempting to pervert that purpose is also certain. Those who will herald the content of Judas as new evidence of whatever won't even have the poor excuse that the topic has long been asleep. The topic has been investigated at length by authors like Kazantzakis and others within the last 50 years.
The topic of apocryphal writings can be endlessly fascinating, don't get me wrong. I think there is value in an intelligent and careful examination of them, even if they are considered "heretical." What is not fascinating, and is simply tiresome, are the hordes of pop culturati who will shout and trumpet that they finally have proof with only the most meager of understanding.
The really unfortunate and annoying part of all the sound and fury over The DaVinci Code will be the endless months of collateral nonsense to which we will be subjected by the agenda-driven media and Hollywood. Media types, and other unwashed will regurgitate every crackpot notion of the religious history conspiracy theorists as if it was something just discovered last week. The Priory of Sion and its odd ideas will suddenly be fresh and new as opposed to the reality that they have been around and repeatedly rejected for centuries.
If I recall correctly, The Gospel of Judas is one of the scroll fragments discovered in the 1970s at a dig in Egypt. It was unknown at one time whether the scroll they found was of the same content alluded to by Irenaeus in the second century. This article says the scroll is dated in the fourth century. If so, it is likely an even more corrupted copy if it is the same Gnostic text. There were no copies of Judas' gospel found at Nag Hammadi. It was the source document for one of the dozens of second and third century Gnostic heresies identified by Polycarp, Ireneaus, and later, Athanasius.
Like any of the other apocryphal or heretical texts, the veracity of Judas will be impossible to verify as well as to completely refute. A careful reading is likely to expose errors that identify it as a documentary poseur, but those who delight in the Aha! school of scriptural criticism will find it to be a treasure trove. Indeed, our author, young Stacy, has taken us on a veritable romp through leftist agenda, everything from moral relativism to the war on terror, without having the slightest idea what the gospel actually says.
The timing is ripe for a new view on evil.
According to leftists and other libertines, the time is always right for a new view on evil. That's because they would like to be able to impose a relativistic and dynamic definition of evil that can easily be applied to anything they dislike and easily rejected with regard to anything they support. But evil is as old as the universe and a new view on it doesn't change its nature, regardless of the wishful thinking of "progressives."
Furthermore, to apply whatever Judas might say as a refutation of a fairly narrow aspect of Catholic doctrine is not the same thing as refuting Christianity. That Satan misunderstood or miscalculated God's purpose in sending His son is certain, much to his eternal rage. That he has spent centuries attempting to pervert that purpose is also certain. Those who will herald the content of Judas as new evidence of whatever won't even have the poor excuse that the topic has long been asleep. The topic has been investigated at length by authors like Kazantzakis and others within the last 50 years.
The topic of apocryphal writings can be endlessly fascinating, don't get me wrong. I think there is value in an intelligent and careful examination of them, even if they are considered "heretical." What is not fascinating, and is simply tiresome, are the hordes of pop culturati who will shout and trumpet that they finally have proof with only the most meager of understanding.
posted by Anonymous | 1:58 PM
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