Bob Hyatt credited someone as “Internet Monk” (couldn’t find a link to the source material [Edited: Here's the original Internet Monk piece: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-stupids-do-new-testament-101/]) for this great comparison between the Gospel of Judas and a fictional piece on George Washington:
Dateline: Arlington Virginia.
Scientists and historians announced today the discovery of a Biography of George Washington, purportedly written by Washington’s mistress, Mrs. Wallace Vanderweaver. The text was discovered in the Library of Washington and Lee University, where researchers were going through recent scholarly articles about Washington.
The text, written in 1970, almost two hundred years from the time of Washington, tells us the story of Washington from the notes of a long-time mistress, Lavenia Vanderweaver, known to be a local widow and friend of the Washingtons. Washington died in 1799, and the Vanderweaver Biography claims to be based on notes made during Washington’s lifetime and passed down through Mrs. Vanderweaver’s relatives.
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While texts like the Gospel of Judas offer an interesting insight into Christian history, they do not redefine or shatter orthodox Christianity as is often suggested. Gnosticism was predominant and not hidden in the history of Christianity. It was openly debated and found to be heretical. The fact that gnostics have texts which are being discovered does not provide any new information except a deeper insight in to what gnostics of that time period believed.
I think a stronger comparison is Lincoln, as I’ve written on my blog:
Even the most enthuiastic proponents of the Gospel of Judas acknowledge that the earliest it could have been written was over 100 years later. Written in a different language. By someone from a very different culture. And bearing distinctive marks of that different culture.
So, let’s be clear. The Coptic Gospel of Judas is the historical equivalent of going to Japan and finding a document written last week in Japanese in which John Wilkes Booth has a conversation with President Lincoln who asks to be shot in order to join his honorable ancestors.
ConradGempf
May 6th, 2006