PROTIP
If you're planning to write a book titled The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction, you might want to not spend most of your concluding chapter bitching about Bart Ehrman's theory that "Orthodox" Christianity was a "lucky winner" out of a number of competing Christian sects. It makes you look like a) you have an axe to grind and b) you're biased beyond all reasoning.
This reading of the text is probably supported by the comment that "to misunderstand the distinction between historical research and the consequences (or hopes) of one's research is to make one susceptible to the very common error of interpreting the past with the aim of confirming one's present-day convictions." (104) This in response to a passage in Ehrman's Lost Christianities that says, in brief, that it's a pity these sects were lost because they provided different views on the religion and that "our own religious histories encompass not only the forms of belief and practice that emerged as victorious [...] but also those that were overcome, suppressed, and eventually lost." (LC 256, quoted in LGoJ)
You might also want to avoid, in your conclusion, talking about how awful anti-orthodox bias is in scholarship rather than the, you know, Gospel of Judas and what your interpretations of the supposed topic of your book might be.
Porter, S.E. and Gordon L. Heath. The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2007
This reading of the text is probably supported by the comment that "to misunderstand the distinction between historical research and the consequences (or hopes) of one's research is to make one susceptible to the very common error of interpreting the past with the aim of confirming one's present-day convictions." (104) This in response to a passage in Ehrman's Lost Christianities that says, in brief, that it's a pity these sects were lost because they provided different views on the religion and that "our own religious histories encompass not only the forms of belief and practice that emerged as victorious [...] but also those that were overcome, suppressed, and eventually lost." (LC 256, quoted in LGoJ)
You might also want to avoid, in your conclusion, talking about how awful anti-orthodox bias is in scholarship rather than the, you know, Gospel of Judas and what your interpretations of the supposed topic of your book might be.
Porter, S.E. and Gordon L. Heath. The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2007