Pop-Cultura Ex-Cathedra:
As a metaphor let us mention that Roman Catholicism is a particular culture that is centered around the temporal, human, leadership of the Pope. It is a Pope-Culture, if you will. Yet, there are competing cultures that claim equal status and authority, one such faith is Pop-Culture. Both, Pope-Culture and Pop-Culture claim infallibility when speaking out officially on matters of faith and morals (or lack thereof).
Granted that Pop-Culture is what it is-entertainment and trends. One very sad aspect of a pop-culture world-view is when people base their beliefs on pop-culture’s latest dogma. Some people see a movie or read a fictional book, such as The Da Vinci Code and think that they have accomplished a scholar’s task and have discerned the truth (see our essay Thank God for The Da Vinci Code!!!). In fact, Dan Brown made the following statement about The Gospel of Judas:
“But maybe, just maybe, that missing piece does belong here_and the picture of the puzzle will turn out differently than we originally thought.”1
Regarding the release date of the The Gospel of Judas:
“James M. Robinson, America’s leading expert on such ancient religious texts from Egypt” and “an emeritus professor at Claremont (Calif.) Graduate University, chief editor of religious documents found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, and an international leader among scholars of Coptic manuscripts_speculated the timing of the release is aimed at capitalizing on interest in the film version of The Da Vinci Code.”2
I can only imagine that he laments that fact that this text was published after The Da Vinci Code and too late for him to add this stinger to his novel.
A case in point appears to be that of David R. Hoffman who has enlightened us with regards to The True Judas. In seeking the true historical Judas Mr. Hoffman uncovers some long lost primary sources. He Writes:
“Questions about the motives of Judas are not new. They have been explored in many different forms and venues: Martin Scorsese’s movie The Last Temptation of Christ (based on the book by Nikos Kazantzakis); Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s theatrical musical Jesus Christ Superstar; and Taylor Caldwell and Jess Stearn’s novel I, Judas all provide alternative explanations for Judas’ action.”3
You may have thought that consulting writings from one, two or three hundred years AD was too far from the events of Jesus’ life to be considered in the least bit reliable history. Apparently, we are now going to two thousand years AD to seek reliable eyewitness accounts!?!? Two twentieth century novels and a musical!!!
Worst still, Mr. Hoffman does not even do a thorough job of seeking truth in fiction. Thus, we will play his game and point out that he overlooked the movie Jesus of Nazareth that while it is beloved by many Christians does portray Judas in a very different light than the writings of two thousand years earlier.
In this movie Judas agrees to turn Jesus over to the Sanhedrin so that they will see that He is the Messiah. The Sanhedrin agree to give Jesus a hearing but then they disclose to Judas that in reality they agreed to have Jesus turned over to them so that they can arrest Him. In this movie Judas does not betray Jesus but it is the Sanhedrin that betrayed Judas!
But let us give Mr. Hoffman some credit, he does make reference to the The Gospel of Judas that is about two thousand years before his other scholarly sources. Yet, this gospel, which is no gospel at all, comes to us from circa a century and a half later after the eyewitnesses are gone. This does not matter to the skeptic that will choose novels and musicals over the text of the Bible.
He then reads the story of the pseudo-Judas and the pseudo-Jesus back into the New Testament by making a connection between the claim of the The Gospel of Judas that, “has Jesus actually assigning Judas the responsibility of handing Him over to the authorities,”4 and the New Testament that he claims gives, “Some evidence of this prearrangement may have appeared during the Last Supper. Jesus dips His bread, hands it to Judas, then tells him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’ Yet none of the others at the table understand the significance of this exchange.”5
This is precisely the reason why people come along long after a text is written and attempt to add their two cents. They generally do this after the eyewitnesses are long dead and often assume the names, and authority, of the dead, in order to pass of their forgeries as authentic.
Many of these kinds of writings are based on attempt to fill in the gaps such as-what might Jesus have told the disciples when He taught them in private? What, precisely where the scrolls that Paul requested be brought to him? And in this case, why didn’t the apostles understand what Jesus told to Judas.
Mr. Hoffman continues his conspiratorial concoction of connections in stating:
“Also, upon returning with the authorities, Judas greets Jesus ‘with a kiss.’ While some have argued that this gesture was symptomatic of Judas’ evil nature, Professor Elaine Pagels of Princeton University, in the documentary Da Vinci’s Lost Code, provides another perspective: Greeting another with a kiss during the time of Christ symbolized spiritual rebirth_”6
If the good Professor provides one single citation to ancient history in order to back his assertion I would be tremendously shocked. This is because it has been, and is still, a custom in many cultures to greet people (male or female, family or friend) with a kiss-this kiss is described as phileo or philema descriptive of friend, fond of, having affection for. Jesus Himself interprets Judas’ kiss when Judas, “drew near Jesus to kiss Him. Jesus said to him, Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47-48 also see Matthew 26:48 and Mark 14:44).
He was betrayed in the midst of a sign of friendship. Furthermore, the church was urged to greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom 16:16; 1st Corinthians 16:20; 2nd Corinthians 13:12; 1st Thessalonians 5:26 and 1st Peter 5:14). This was the typical kiss of community, of familial affection, of brotherly love.
But Mr. Hoffman went further, and I suspect without realizing it, gleaned some truth as he states:
“_thus Judas, by kissing Jesus, may actually have been affirming his belief that the arrest of Jesus would somehow result in the rebirth of Jesus.”7
According to the New Testament this is simply erroneous but according to the late dated beliefs of the late dated Gnostic texts this is plausible. According to the Gnostics Jesus’ death would release Him from the evil of His material body and rebirth Him into the spirit world.
Now, back to the novel ideas as put forth in twentieth century novels as, Mr. Hoffman writes:
“_the tragedy that saddened Mary Magdalene in the closing paragraph of I, Judas. Having seen the resurrected Jesus, Mary now realizes that ‘she sorely misjudged the one who kissed Him in the garden. For [Judas] had more faith than the rest, since he believed in [Jesus] unto the death. Would that he had waited but a few more days.’”8
Judas is no longer a betrayer but had more faith than the rest, he is no villain he is a hero and the ultimate martyr. This is not only the opinion of Caldwell and Stearn (authors of I, Judas) but is even more strongly stated by Mr. Hoffman himself:
“Today’s world has produced an inordinate number of people who exploit religion to promote their hatreds, abuse their power, justify their wars, and exploit and slaughter their fellow human beings. It is they, not Judas, who are selling their souls. It is they, not Judas, who are the most contemptible betrayers of all.”9
The National Geographic Society states:
“In this version, he is a hero. Unlike the other disciples, he truly understands Christ’s message.”10
They also quote Bart Ehrman as stating:
“Judas is singled out by Jesus as the best of the disciples. The others didn’t get it.”11
Judas has thus been retrieved from the lowly place of ultimate betrayer in which the church put him. Now the truth is finally out, it was the other eleven apostles that were corrupt and this is something to celebrate!?!
Of course, Judas is not always seen in a more favorable light in these pseudo-gospels. For instance, in v. 35 of the 6th century The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour he is said to have been tormented and seized by satan from childhood.
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