harmoniously. there are dissenters. there were people who felt that things had gotten off on the wrong track. the gospel of judas suggests that church leadership is is mistaken, is more diabolic than divine. so controversial is the gospel of judas that in 1890 a.d., the bishop of leone declares it heresy. i can easily imagine the people throwing this text out as being heretical. if you were a member of the orthodoxy in the 2nd century, and you read this text, i can imagine you would be pretty upset. it s a pretty scathing indictment of your beliefs and what you re all about. suppressed by the church, the gospel of judas lies buried for nearly 2 millennia, but history does not forgive judas or forget his fate.
text, they don t like that kind of clericalism. they don t like that kind of religious service, and they are strongly discouraging people from participating in it. the gospel of judas is a polemic. it s a political smear against the people running the early church. the apostolic church was emerging. the institutional church was emerging. what we know as christianity was emerging. the gospel of judas was kind of a narrative against this institutional christianity. written decades after the new testament gospels, the gospel of judas is less a story about jesus than a condemnation of the leadership of the early church. it gives us an alternate picture of the formation of christianity. it doesn t show christianity as developing necessarily all
judas chose judas as the leading figure in the text because judas was a notorious figure. he was an attention-getter in antiquity as he is today. anyone who would choose to write a gospel of judas was certainly making a conscious decision to pick a figure who wasn t accepted by the orthodox church. the judas character in the gospel of judas is not a great deal different from judas as we see him on the pages of the new testament. judas has always been a complicated character. ambiguity around judas and the fascination has always been there. there s no way that the gospel writers would have made up a character in jesus inner circle who would have betrayed jesus. he s not just kind of a mythical person.
was a notorious figure. he was an attention-getter in antiquity as he is today. anyone who would choose to write a gospel of judas was certainly making a conscious decision to pick a figure whom wasn t accepted by the orthodox church. the judas character in the gospel of judas is not a great deal different from judas as we see him on the pages of the new testament. judas has always been a complicated character. ambiguity around judas and the fascination has always been there. there s no way that the gospel writers would have made up a character in jesus inner circle who would have betrayed jesus. he s not just kind of a mythical person. judas obviously is someone who is going through a lot of conflict.
religious service, and they are strongly discouraging people from participating in it. the gospel of judas is a polemic. it s a political smear against the people running the early church. the apostolic church was emerging. the institutional church was emerging. what we know as christianity was emerging. the gospel of judas was kind of a narrative against this institutional christianity. written decades after the new testament gospels, the gospel of judas is less a story about jesus than a condemnation of the leadership of the early church. it gives us an alternate picture of the formation of christianity. it doesn t show christianity as a developing necessarily all harmoniously. there are dissenters. there were people who felt that things had gotten off on the