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Gnosticism: Ancient and modern

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Summary:

Gnosticism is a philosophical and religious movement which started in pre-Christiantimes. The name is derived from the Greek word "gnosis" which literally means

"knowledge." However, the English words "Insight " and "enlightenment " capture moreof the meaning of "gnosis." It is pronounced with a silent "G" (NO-sis). Gnosticism is notfactual, intellectual, rational knowledge, such as is involved in mathematics and physics;that would have been more accurately represented by the Greek world "episteme."Rather, Gnosticism involves the relational or experiential knowledge of God and of thedivine or spiritual nature within us. A visitor to this web site wrote: "...we believe that gnosis-knowledge requires ultimate transcendence of the merely intellectual to beactualized." 1 

Gnostics believe that they have secret knowledge about God, humanity and the rest of the universe of which the general population was unaware. It became one of the threemain belief systems within 1st century Christianity, and was noted for four factors by

which differed from the two other branches of Christianity:Novel beliefs about Gods, the Bible and the world which differed from those of other Christian groups.Tolerance of different religious beliefs within and outside of Gnosticism.

Lack of discrimination against women. Although Jesus treated women as equals, andPaul mostly did the same, the other Christian belief systems started to oppresswomen in later generations.

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A belief that salvation is achieved through relational and experiential knowledge. In thewords of The contemporary Gnostic Apostolic Church, humanity needs to beawakened and brought "to a realisation of his true nature. Mankind is moving towardsthe Omega Point, the Great day when all must graduate or fall. This day is also theDay of Judgment in that only those who have entered the Path of Transfiguration and are being reborn can return to the Treasury of Light." 2

The movement and its literature were essentially wiped out before the end of the 5thcentury CE by Catholic heresy hunters and the Roman Army. Its beliefs are currentlyexperiencing a rebirth throughout the world, triggered in part by the discovery of anancient Gnostic library at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in the 1940s, and the finding of theGospel of Judas at El Minya, Egypt, in the 1970s.

MENU:The role of Judas andThe Gospel of Judas

Was Judas a traitor or facilitator? All sides to the controversy

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Quotation:

[The finding] “...is transforming our understanding of early Christianity. Thesediscoveries are exploding the myth of a monolithic religion, and demonstrating how diverse and fascinating the early Christian movement really was.” Elaine Pagels, amajor religious author and professor of religion at Princeton University in Princeton,NJ.

Overview:

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The Gospel of Judas was revered by some ancient Gnostic Christian groups. Gnosticswere one of the three main movements within early Christianity. Gnostics believe thatthey have secret knowledge about God, humanity and the rest of the universe of whichthe general population is unaware. Like the other two branches of the early Christianmovement -- Jewish Christianity and Pauline Christianity -- they believed that they alonetruly understood Christ's message, and that other streams of thought within Christianityhad misinterpreted Jesus' mission and sayings. Gnostics were almost wiped out beforethe end of the 5th century CE by mainline Christianity heresy hunters and the RomanEmpire. They have survived to the present day and are now experiencing a period of rapid growth in the west

An anonymous follower of one of the Gnostic faith groups wrote the Gospel of Judascirca 150 CE. Its existence was mentioned in the writings of proto-orthodox Christianauthors where it was condemned as heretical. However, a manus cript, translated fromthe original Greek into Coptic, was only discovered in recent years. It was found in theEgyptian desert near El Minya.

The manuscript is now called the Codex Tchacos. It is 66 pages in length and contains:

The Gospel of Judas,

A text titled "James" also known as the "First Apocalypse of James,"

A Letter of Peter to Philip, and

A fragment of a fourth text provisionally called the "Book of Allogenes."

The Gospel of Judas is by far the most important component of the Codex. It containsan alternate explanation of the role that Judas played among Jesus' disciples. NewTestament scholar, Bart Ehrman, said that the Gospel teaches that Judas is: " ...thegood guy. He's the only apostle who understands Jesus. In this gospel it turns out that Judas does turn Jesus over to the authorities, but according to this gospel, this is what 

Jesus wanted." Some of the early Gnostic faith groups taught that Judas was the mostenlightened of all of Jesus' followers. This is in stark contrast to the message of the four Gospels that made it into the official canon of the New Testament. They assert thatJudas was a traitor, he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and that his mind waspossessed and controlled by Satan.

In a massive coordinated advertising campaign, news of the Gospel of Judas becamewidespread among the public in early 2006-April. At least three books on the Gospelwere officially released on APR-06 or 07. A National Geographic Channel TV specialwas aired on APR-09 and APR-27.

Evangelical Christians, and others who believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the

Bible will probably have little interest in this gospel. They may be aware that there weremany dozens of gospels circulating within the early Christian movement of which onlyfour were found to be legitimate, inspired by God and inerrant. These are the canonicalgospels: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. However, they might be faced with commentsabout this gospel when evangelizing. It might help them to be acquainted with its text.

Liberal Christians will probably have a great deal of interest in the gospel. Itdemonstrates the wide diversity of beliefs held by the various groups within the verydiverse early Christian movement.

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Topics covered in this section:

What the four canonic gospels say about JudasSpecific passages concerning Judas

 

About Judas: his name; was he a traitor? The Gospel of Judas: origin, content, positive and negative reactions

Books about the Gospel of Judas:

We recommend three books:

Radolphe Kasser, et al., "The Gospel of Judas," National GeographicSoc., (2006) Read reviews or order this book 

Herbert Krosney, The Lost Gospel : The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot ," National Geographic Soc., (2006) Read reviews or order this book

 

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James Robinson, "The Secrets of Judas : The Story of theMisunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel," HarperSanFrancisco (2006). Readreviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store.

A search of the Amazon.com data base returns links for these three books and others. If you see a generic Amazon ad here, please click on your browser's refresh icon.

Note: Simon Mawer's book "The Gospel of Judas" is a novel and is not directly relatedto the actual Gospel of Judas.

JUDAS: HIS ROLE AND GOSPEL

THE "GOSPEL OF JUDAS" 

Overview:

Many people assume that the Gospel of Judas states that it was written by Judas, oneof Jesus' disciples. In fact, it makes no such claim. It was apparently written by afollower of Gnostic Christianity sometime during the second century CE. 7 

A copy of the gospel which was recently found in Egypt is in the Coptic language anddates from the third or early fourth century CE. It was based on an earlier work,probably in Greek, written before 180 CE. It deals with the relationship betweenJesus and Judas.

The gospel teaches that Judas was not a traitor. He did not betray Jesus as describedin the four gospels Mark, Matthew, Luke and John which were accepted into theofficial canon of the Bible. Rather, according to this Gospel, Judas was the mostenlightened and knowledgeable of Jesus' disciples. Both Judas and Jesus realized thatfor Jesus to attain his purpose in life, his soul had to be liberated through the deathof his body. Both worked out a plan by which Judas would hand over Jesus to theJewish authorities in the expectation that he would be subsequently executed.

The Gospel has raised some interesting debates about the role of Judas, the diversityof belief in early Christianity, and the relationship between passages in the ChristianScriptures (a.k.a. New Testament) and anti-semitism. 1

Very early Christianity:

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By the middle of the second century CE, more than a century after Jesus' execution,there were three main movements within early Christianity:

Jewish Christianity They rejected the virgin b irth, and taught that Jesus was a man -- i.e.

a prophet, not a God or a son of God. This was the original Christian group and was

centered in Jerusalem and led by James, a brother of Jesus. Some members may have

moved to Pella about 70 CE; others were wiped out by the Roman Army's attack onJerusalem in 70 CE. The movement never recovered and eventually disappeared from

history.Pauline Christianity, which was founded by Paul and later became what has been referred

to as "proto-Christianity, " It eventually morphed into the Catholic Church. They taught that

Jesus was a man-god.Gnostic Christianity, which was, and remains today, a diverse movement. Some Gnostic

groups promoted Docetism, the belief that Christ was pure spirit and only had a phantom

body. Jesus merely appeared to be human to his followers. Some Gnostic groups teach that

Jesus had both male and female disciples. Gnostics were heavily oppressed by other

Christians and were almost wiped out. A small group remains in the Middle East. Gnostics in

the West are experiencing rapid growth.