We thank gentle reader Chris of Auld Edinburgh for pointing us to the best thing we've seen on the Gospel of Judas so far, a delightfully thorough and informed piece on Slate from the always thorough and informed Larry Hurtado. We apologize for the delay in posting this for the benefit of our gentle readership.
Hurtado spares nothing in his scolding of the various parties involved for their pursuit of pecuniary gain over scholarship. It's a worthy reminder that not everyone who goes into religious stuff to make money looks like Elmer Gantry.
2 comments:
What's the estimated date of the Gospel of Judas. If it is early 2nd century or later, the most it will show is the diversity of 3rd or 4th generation Christianity (or 3rd or 4th generation heresy).
Since authority comes from 1st generation Christianity, the Gospel of Judas is only as valuable as the Gospel of Thomas or other 2nd century heretical stuff (Marcion, etc.).
1st century stuff is religious. 2nd century stuff is historical.
If nobody has dated the Gospel of Judas yet, well then, we have a book project for the preminent contempary N.T. scholar among us.
It's assuredly second century. If you've followed previous posts here, you'll want to note the significance of calling it "secondary," i.e. dependent on the earlier gospel narratives.
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