St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Was the real story suppressed?

Can we trust the New Testament’s accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus, or is there really another story which the church censored?

During the last month, two different ideas have been floated about what really happened at the end of Jesus’ life. One is in the release of “The Gospel of Judas”, a papyrus dug up in Al Minya in Upper Egypt; and the other is the making of the movie of Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code” (see p4). They raise interesting questions for Christians. In fact, I’d far rather talk about these questions than about fluffy bunnies and chocolate eggs!

The 26-page papyrus Gospel of Judas (as reported in the Daily Mail, 7th April) has been carbon-14 dated to between AD 220 and AD 340, and is written in Sahidic (a dialect of Coptic which was used in Egypt). In it, Judas tells Jesus he has had a vision that he would be reviled and that he did not understand why. Jesus encourages him: “Your star’s brilliance will eclipse all of them. You will sacrifice the man that clothes me. You will lead the way.” The document paints Jesus as telling Judas to do what he did, as he was the only one who truly understood Jesus’ purpose and had access to “secret knowledge”.

It’s impossible to summarise it properly in a small article like this one - but there’s quite a good summary on Wikipedia*, the internet encyclopedia.

Should the discovery of an ancient manuscript make Christians re-examine their beliefs?

The Christian faith is based on historical events - the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, so the answer has to be yes. We should always be open to the possibility that we’ve got things wrong.

Does this document throw doubt on basic Christian beliefs?

No, it doesn’t. It hasn’t any account of the actual death and resurrection of Jesus. Some people have thought that it therefore casts doubt on whether they happened, but it clearly doesn’t do that. It’s really about Judas’ motives, not about the facts of what happened.

Does this document make us rethink Judas’ motives?

No, it doesn’t even do that. It only tells us about what some people believed a long while after the events. A belief in “secret knowledge” is called “Gnosticism”, but even in bible times St Paul was telling people there is no “superior hidden knowledge” behind the simple gospel of Christ’s death in our place and his resurrection as proof of victory over the grave. The document shows us Gnosticism persisted, but it doesn’t make it true.

John Hartley

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. May 2006, Page 1.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (May 2006) Gospel of Judas, Last Straw, Da Vinci Code, Beautiful earth. Wikipedia article Other letters from the vicar.	Was the real story suppressed? Can we trust the New Testament’s accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus, or is there really another story which the church censored? During the last month, two different ideas have been floated about what really happened at the end of Jesus’ life. One is in the release of “The Gospel of Judas”, a papyrus dug up in Al Minya in Upper Egypt; and the other is the making of the movie of Dan Brown’s novel “The Da Vinci Code” (see p4). They raise interesting questions for Christians. In fact, I’d far rather talk about these questions than about fluffy bunnies and chocolate eggs! The 26-page papyrus Gospel of Judas (as reported in the Daily Mail, 7th April) has been carbon-14 dated to between AD 220 and AD 340, and is written in Sahidic (a dialect of Coptic which was used in Egypt). In it, Judas tells Jesus he has had a vision that he would be reviled and that he did not understand why. Jesus encourages him: “Your star’s brilliance will eclipse all of them. You will sacrifice the man that clothes me. You will lead the way.” The document paints Jesus as telling Judas to do what he did, as he was the only one who truly understood Jesus’ purpose and had access to “secret knowledge”. It’s impossible to summarise it properly in a small article like this one - but there’s quite a good summary on Wikipedia, the internet encyclopedia. Should the discovery of an ancient manuscript make Christians re-examine their beliefs?* The Christian faith is based on historical events - the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, so the answer has to be yes. We should always be open to the possibility that we’ve got things wrong. Does this document throw doubt on basic Christian beliefs? No, it doesn’t. It hasn’t any account of the actual death and resurrection of Jesus. Some people have thought that it therefore casts doubt on whether they happened, but it clearly doesn’t do that. It’s really about Judas’ motives, not about the facts of what happened. Does this document make us rethink Judas’ motives? No, it doesn’t even do that. It only tells us about what some people believed a long while after the events. A belief in “secret knowledge” is called “Gnosticism”, but even in bible times St Paul was telling people there is no “superior hidden knowledge” behind the simple gospel of Christ’s death in our place and his resurrection as proof of victory over the grave. The document shows us Gnosticism persisted, but it doesn’t make it true. John Hartley * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas
Top of page.	This web page was last updated on 5th May 2006.