Stop press: Judas still evil, say Sethians
Dec. 4th, 2007 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafFascinating blog entry by April DeConick, a religious studies scholar working on Gnostic texts. Remember the National Geographic article about the "Gospel of Judas", which they translated to suggest that Jesus asked Judas to betray him and he was rewarded for this with a place of honour in heaven?
Well... the problem is, apparently it didn't. The main mistake they seem to have made is to have translated daimon, used to refer to Judas, as if it meant 'spirit' (morally neutral/ positive). Now this would be fine in classical Greek, but if you examine the corpora of Gnostic texts, then you find that in this period/ genre daimon invariably means "demon" (morally negative). The other problem is that the passage where Jesus promises Judas heaven says the exact opposite - it's Gnostic! Jesus telling Judas that he's going to betray him, it's not going to work out how he thinks, and Judas will never go to heaven, so yah boo sucks, demonspawn, and go burn in the fires of Hell.† I imagine National Geographic is rather embarrassed, but it sounds as if they ought to be, as they apparently haven't behaved in a very scholarly manner thus far.
In other exciting news, I see that the Baptist Times web bookshop sells incense (including quick-lighting charcoal, and incense nails for your paschal candle related needs). While I think this is a great step forward forspikes who want to take over the world ecumenism, I do wonder how much of it they actually sell. Though they are undercutting the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham on Rosa Mystica, so you never know...
† I paraphrase, but you get the idea. The Gnostic God generally comes over as a bit of a git, I think.
Well... the problem is, apparently it didn't. The main mistake they seem to have made is to have translated daimon, used to refer to Judas, as if it meant 'spirit' (morally neutral/ positive). Now this would be fine in classical Greek, but if you examine the corpora of Gnostic texts, then you find that in this period/ genre daimon invariably means "demon" (morally negative). The other problem is that the passage where Jesus promises Judas heaven says the exact opposite - it's Gnostic! Jesus telling Judas that he's going to betray him, it's not going to work out how he thinks, and Judas will never go to heaven, so yah boo sucks, demonspawn, and go burn in the fires of Hell.† I imagine National Geographic is rather embarrassed, but it sounds as if they ought to be, as they apparently haven't behaved in a very scholarly manner thus far.
In other exciting news, I see that the Baptist Times web bookshop sells incense (including quick-lighting charcoal, and incense nails for your paschal candle related needs). While I think this is a great step forward for
† I paraphrase, but you get the idea. The Gnostic God generally comes over as a bit of a git, I think.
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Date: 2007-12-04 02:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-04 02:59 pm (UTC)Amusing, though...
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Date: 2007-12-04 05:13 pm (UTC)/Rebecca in Sweden
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DameBoudicca
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Date: 2007-12-04 09:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 07:37 am (UTC)