The Gospel of Judas
The idea that another Gospel may be surfacing excites me! Many Christians will position the discovery of the Gospel of Judas as a threat to the faith or heresy, but I find a great deal of comfort in it. Check out the story by clicking on the blog title.
At 20Something the subject of other Gospels comes up quite a bit. Were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the only ones who had anything to say about Jesus' time on earth? I doubt it. I heard at one point (don't know if it's true) that there were 84 Gospels written, but only 4 made it into the Bible.
Growing up I believed Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the magically gifted ones, chosen exclusively by God, and used as a vessel as God breathed the words of the Bible through them. I still believe they were chosen and that God used them as a vessel. But I no longer believe they were the only ones. I think it's more likely that they were four people of great faith whose observations about Jesus happened to coincide with what the early church wanted to project. That opinion may continue to develop. But for now I would argue that the exclusivity we see in the church today, or the Christian Right's attempt to claim ownership of the faith and strongarm other Christians into believing as they do, is nothing new.
If Jesus walked the earth today, can you imagine how many people would write about it? Millions. Jesus would be a headline in every newspaper, the subject of all of the New York Times bestsellers, and the number of Jesus bloggers would extend from here to infinity. The accounts would probably be as diverse as the population. But how many of those accounts would make it into a new millenium Bible? Probably four. The Gospels of Jerry, Pat, James, and perhaps Phyllis if the Bible-makers were feeling radical enough to include a woman. Phyllis Schlafly's thoughts do seem to fall right in line with other conservative extremists, so she may have a shot. I can guarantee there would not be a Gospel of Jen or the Gospel of any other Jane Doe who tends to approach spirituality from the left, even though those spiritual experiences may be just as heartfelt and valid.
What meaning will the Gospel of Judas have? Is it true? That remains to be seen. But there is no harm in remaining open to the possibilities.
At 20Something the subject of other Gospels comes up quite a bit. Were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John the only ones who had anything to say about Jesus' time on earth? I doubt it. I heard at one point (don't know if it's true) that there were 84 Gospels written, but only 4 made it into the Bible.
Growing up I believed Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the magically gifted ones, chosen exclusively by God, and used as a vessel as God breathed the words of the Bible through them. I still believe they were chosen and that God used them as a vessel. But I no longer believe they were the only ones. I think it's more likely that they were four people of great faith whose observations about Jesus happened to coincide with what the early church wanted to project. That opinion may continue to develop. But for now I would argue that the exclusivity we see in the church today, or the Christian Right's attempt to claim ownership of the faith and strongarm other Christians into believing as they do, is nothing new.
If Jesus walked the earth today, can you imagine how many people would write about it? Millions. Jesus would be a headline in every newspaper, the subject of all of the New York Times bestsellers, and the number of Jesus bloggers would extend from here to infinity. The accounts would probably be as diverse as the population. But how many of those accounts would make it into a new millenium Bible? Probably four. The Gospels of Jerry, Pat, James, and perhaps Phyllis if the Bible-makers were feeling radical enough to include a woman. Phyllis Schlafly's thoughts do seem to fall right in line with other conservative extremists, so she may have a shot. I can guarantee there would not be a Gospel of Jen or the Gospel of any other Jane Doe who tends to approach spirituality from the left, even though those spiritual experiences may be just as heartfelt and valid.
What meaning will the Gospel of Judas have? Is it true? That remains to be seen. But there is no harm in remaining open to the possibilities.
posted by Jen Austin at 8:28 AM
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