In the run up to the May 2009 release of the movie “Angels and Demons” based on the book by the same title authored by Dan Brown (of The Da Vinci Code infamy) pop-culture is sure to revisit the very same historical myths that are so very popular with conspiracy theorists and those lacking in the knowledge of History 101.
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This run up seems to have begun by the televising, in January 2009, of the movie “The Last Templar” based on the book by Raymond Khoury. Whilst watching it I was very much reminded of the fervor over the gospel of Judas.
To state it very succinctly: “The Last Templar” centers around the search for a lost Templar treasure. The suspicion is that the treasure is a manuscript of the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, a document which will prove that Jesus was just a man and nothing more, that its discovery would discredit Christianity and that the Templars were hiding it from the Vatican which would surely destroy it.
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The similarities between the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth and the gospel of Judas are fascinating. I do not mean that similarities in content but in how they are perceived as documents and how their implications are expressed. Both are said to have to power to counter Christian claims or be enough to altogether simply discredit Christianity. Yet, in both cases we are confronted with the rather odd concept that one single apocryphal document could somehow counter the circa 25,000 manuscripts of the New Testament.
In other words, consider what historians, textual critics and skeptics of every sort demand of the New Testament manuscripts; that we know the who, when, why, where, how, the time of event vs. time of writing, time of writing vs. first manuscript, how many manuscripts, how do they compare, etc., etc., etc.
Take all of these, rightful, demands and throw them away when it comes to anything, anything at all, that contradicts Christianity. When it comes to contradicting Christianity one apocryphal document is enough for some people-this is a substandard double standard.
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Within the story the main protagonist ends up finding and destroying the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth without even reading it but based on the fact that she had seen that basically; faith makes people feel good and so why destroy a nice fairy tale with hard facts?
It is sad that this is the only thing that it comes down to for some believers, some skeptics, and some authors. Comparing the facts of the matter would have been much more interesting and realistic. Instead, with such stories old stereotypes are reiterated and reinforced.
Thus, for people whose idea of historical research amounts to reading “The Last Templar,” “Angels and Demons,” “The Da Vinci Code,” etc. (or just watching the movies) or doing an internet search for “conspiracy, Templar and Christianity is a fraud” and then believing the first thing they see (which is usually a Wikipeia article) these stories are not just fun fiction but the stuff of knowledge and wisdom.
As it turns out, within the story, the Templars had actually forget the gospel, made it up out of thin air, in order to have some weight to wield against the Vatican who were persecuting them.
As we get closer to the release of “Angels and Demons” I will be posting on the gospel of Judas in greater detail, will make the point about the substandard double standard clearer and will provide some information about the Gnostics.