(no subject)
I don't know if anybody but me has been following the furor over the Gospel of Judas, but I am looking forward to picking up the books on the subject.
Not much has been known about the Gospel of Judas until recently. It was mentioned by Ireneaus, stating that it was a document in heavy use by the Cainites. The Cainites were a gnostic sect that believed that there was a difference between the "Hebrew" God and the "God the Father" God (i.e. the "OT God" vs the "NT God") and held that the Hebrew God was essentially a lesser entity and, if not wicked, basically incompetent. In other words, one was held (God the father) to be the supreme god while the other (Hebrew) was at best an inferior bungling entity, at worst an entity that was wicked, selfish and cruel. Therefore, they felt that anyone who opposed the Hebrew god - the false God - ought to be eteemed. As the worshippers of the Hebrew god esteemed Abel, Seth, Moses, Joshua, etc. the Cainites esteemed Cain, Korah, Esau, etc. They felt that the Hebrew god had set down a false law, while Cain & co. followed the "true law of God."
They also, according to Ireneaus:
I have also made a collection of their writings in which they advocate the abolition of the doings of Hystera. Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of heaven and earth. They also hold, like Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone through all kinds of experience. An angel, they maintain, attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur pollution. Whatever may be the nature of the action, they declare that they do it in the name of the angel...
According to the Father, the Cainites also felt that the evil creator-god attacked any who opposed him, and since (in their mind) Christ opposed this entity, Christ was in his cross-hairs. Judas and Jesus orchestrated the entire betrayl plot so that Christ would die. Judas was the most advanced of the disciples and thoroughly understood the true state of the world - the ineptness of the god of the Hebrews, the reality of the true God - and his part in the mystery of the Crucifixion was not from greed or malice, as orthodoxy holds, but through wisdom and a desire to save mankind from the inferior god. Through the death of Christ - another offspring of the true God - man could then ascend to the highest regions of the heavens, and become aware of the true God, and the folly of the inferior one. In a sense, it was comparable to orthodox Christianity. While orthodox Christianity holds that death is punishment all mankind suffers for the sin of Adam and Eve, the Cainites believed that Christ was the offspring of God, and by dying and conquering death, he somehow triumphed over the inferior God's corrupt creation.
They were apparently a rather small sect.
The news of the new Gospel is, indeed, important, but people who hold that it is somehow going to rock our understandings of the origins of Christianity are in error. The document was first cited in 185 AD by Ireneaus, though the particular Coptic document that was rediscovered is from about the third century. It's too late to truly be of serious use in understanding what actually happened around 30 AD.
The document is translated here, by the by. I've started reading it, but as I am sweepy, the rest will have to wait til tomorrow.
with love!
Not much has been known about the Gospel of Judas until recently. It was mentioned by Ireneaus, stating that it was a document in heavy use by the Cainites. The Cainites were a gnostic sect that believed that there was a difference between the "Hebrew" God and the "God the Father" God (i.e. the "OT God" vs the "NT God") and held that the Hebrew God was essentially a lesser entity and, if not wicked, basically incompetent. In other words, one was held (God the father) to be the supreme god while the other (Hebrew) was at best an inferior bungling entity, at worst an entity that was wicked, selfish and cruel. Therefore, they felt that anyone who opposed the Hebrew god - the false God - ought to be eteemed. As the worshippers of the Hebrew god esteemed Abel, Seth, Moses, Joshua, etc. the Cainites esteemed Cain, Korah, Esau, etc. They felt that the Hebrew god had set down a false law, while Cain & co. followed the "true law of God."
They also, according to Ireneaus:
I have also made a collection of their writings in which they advocate the abolition of the doings of Hystera. Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of heaven and earth. They also hold, like Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone through all kinds of experience. An angel, they maintain, attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur pollution. Whatever may be the nature of the action, they declare that they do it in the name of the angel...
According to the Father, the Cainites also felt that the evil creator-god attacked any who opposed him, and since (in their mind) Christ opposed this entity, Christ was in his cross-hairs. Judas and Jesus orchestrated the entire betrayl plot so that Christ would die. Judas was the most advanced of the disciples and thoroughly understood the true state of the world - the ineptness of the god of the Hebrews, the reality of the true God - and his part in the mystery of the Crucifixion was not from greed or malice, as orthodoxy holds, but through wisdom and a desire to save mankind from the inferior god. Through the death of Christ - another offspring of the true God - man could then ascend to the highest regions of the heavens, and become aware of the true God, and the folly of the inferior one. In a sense, it was comparable to orthodox Christianity. While orthodox Christianity holds that death is punishment all mankind suffers for the sin of Adam and Eve, the Cainites believed that Christ was the offspring of God, and by dying and conquering death, he somehow triumphed over the inferior God's corrupt creation.
They were apparently a rather small sect.
The news of the new Gospel is, indeed, important, but people who hold that it is somehow going to rock our understandings of the origins of Christianity are in error. The document was first cited in 185 AD by Ireneaus, though the particular Coptic document that was rediscovered is from about the third century. It's too late to truly be of serious use in understanding what actually happened around 30 AD.
The document is translated here, by the by. I've started reading it, but as I am sweepy, the rest will have to wait til tomorrow.
with love!