Posted on 04/05/2006 5:28:14 PM PDT by NYer
Interview With Father Thomas Williams, Theology Dean
ROME, APRIL 5, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The National Geographic Society has announced its intentions to publish an English translation of an ancient text called "The Gospel of Judas" later this month.
The 31-page manuscript, written in Coptic, purportedly surfaced in Geneva in 1983 and has only been translated now.
ZENIT asked Legionary Father Thomas D. Williams, dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome, to comment on the relevance of the discovery.
Q: What is the "Gospel of Judas"?
Father Williams: Though the manuscript still must be authenticated, it likely represents a fourth- or fifth-century text, and is a copy of an earlier document produced by a Gnostic sect called the Cainites.
The document paints Judas Iscariot in a positive light, and describes him as obeying a divine ordinance in handing over Jesus to the authorities for the salvation of the world.
It may well be a copy of the "Gospel of Judas" referred to by St. Irenaeus of Lyons in his work "Against the Heresies," written around A.D. 180.
Q: If authentic, what challenge would this document pose to traditional Christian belief? Will it "shake Christianity to its foundations" as some press releases have suggested?
Father Williams: Certainly not. The Gnostic gospels, of which there are many besides this one, are not Christian documents per se, since they proceed from a syncretistic sect that incorporated elements from different religions, including Christianity.
From the moment of their appearance, the Christian community rejected these documents because of their incompatibility with the Christian faith.
The "Gospel of Judas" would be a document of this sort, which could have great historical value, since it contributes to our knowledge of the Gnostic movement, but it poses no direct challenge to Christianity.
Q: Is it true that the Church has tried to cover up this text and other apocryphal texts?
Father Williams: These are myths circulated by Dan Brown and other conspiracy theorists.
You can go to any Catholic bookstore and pick up a copy of the Gnostic gospels. Christians may not believe them to be true, but there is no attempt to hide them.
Q: But doesn't an early document of this sort rival orthodox Christian sources, such as the four canonical Gospels?
Father Williams: Remember that Gnosticism arose in the middle of the second century, and the "Gospel of Judas," if authentic, probably dates back to the mid- to late second century.
To put a historical perspective on things, that would be like you or me writing a text now on the American Civil War and having that text later used as a primary historical source on the war. The text could not have been written by eyewitnesses, the way at least two of the canonical Gospels were.
Q: Why would the leaders of the Gnostic movement have been interested in Judas?
Father Williams: One of the major differences between Gnostic belief and that of Christianity concerns the origins of evil in the universe.
Christians believe that a good God created a good world, and that through the abuse of free will, sin and corruption entered the world and produced disorder and suffering.
The Gnostics blamed God for the evil in the world and claimed that he created the world in a disordered and flawed way. Thus they champion the rehabilitation of Old Testament figures such as Cain, who killed his brother Abel, and Esau, the elder brother of Jacob, who sold his birthright for a plate of pottage.
Judas fits perfectly into the Gnostic agenda of showing that God intends evil for the world.
Q: But wasn't Judas' betrayal a necessary part of God's plan, as this text suggests?
Father Williams: Being omniscient, God knows full well what choices we will make and weaves even our bad decisions into his providential plan for the world.
In his last published book, Pope John Paul II eloquently reflected on how God continues to bring good out of even the worst evil that man can produce.
That doesn't mean, however, that God intends for us to do evil, or that he intended for Judas to betray Jesus. If it wasn't Judas, it would have been someone else. The authorities had already decided to put Jesus to death, and it was just a matter of time.
Q: What is the Church's position regarding Judas? Is it possible to "rehabilitate" him?
Father Williams: Though the Catholic Church has a canonization process by which it declares certain persons to be in heaven, as saints, it has no such process for declaring people to be condemned.
Historically, many have thought that Judas is probably in hell, because of Jesus' severe indictment of Judas: "It would be better for that man if he had never been born," as he says in Matthew 26:24. But even these words do not offer conclusive evidence regarding his fate.
In his 1994 book, "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," Pope John Paul II wrote that Jesus' words "do not allude for certain to eternal damnation."
Q: But if anyone deserves hell, wouldn't it be Judas?
Father Williams: Surely many people deserve hell, but we must remember that the mercy of God is infinitely greater than our wickedness.
Peter and Judas committed very similar faults: Peter denied Jesus three times, and Judas handed him over. And yet now Peter is remembered as a saint and Judas simply as the traitor.
The main difference between the two is not the nature or gravity of their sin, but rather their willingness to accept God's mercy. Peter wept for his sins, came back to Jesus, and was pardoned. The Gospel describes Judas as hanging himself in despair.
Q: Why is the "Gospel of Judas" arousing so much interest?
Father Williams: Such theories regarding Judas are certainly not new.
It's enough to remember the 1973 play "Jesus Christ Superstar," where Judas sings, "I have no thought at all about my own reward. I really didn't come here of my own accord," or Taylor Caldwell's 1977 novel "I, Judas."
The enormous economic success of "The Da Vinci Code" has undoubtedly stirred up the pot, and provided financial incentive for theories of this sort.
Michael Baigent, author of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," now has a book out called "The Jesus Papers," which recycles the old story that Jesus survived the crucifixion.
And a newly released "scientific" study asserts that meteorological conditions could have been such that Jesus really walked on ice, when the Gospels say he walked on water.
Basically, for those who reject outright the possibility of miracles, any theory, outlandish as it may be, trumps Christian claims.
Much like the scientist who is suggesting that Jesus walked on a rare formation of 'ice' when he crossed the Sea of Galilee.
A Drive to Clear Judas' Name? Hardly, Says Official - Msgr Calls Media Reports Baseless
;-) - Thanks for the post.
interesting
Iscariot killed himself, for betraying our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Any other hogwash, will only play in the hand of the doubting Thomas group.
Ops4
I just finished reading Anne Rice's new book, Christ the Lord... out of Egypt. Wonderful book. She's a born again Catholic... moved way beyond vampires.
The fate of Judas (not dogmatic of course)
“Lo!” he exclaim’d, “lo! Dis; and lo! the place,
Where thou hast need to arm thy heart with strength.”
How frozen and how faint I then became,
Ask me not, reader! for I write it not;
Since words would fail to tell thee of my state.
I was not dead nor living. Think thyself,
If quick conception work in thee at all,
How I did feel. That emperor, who sways
The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from the ice
Stood forth; and I in stature am more like
A giant, than the giants are his arms.
Mark now how great that whole must be, which suits
With such a part. If he were beautiful
As he is hideous now, and yet did dare
To scowl upon his Maker, well from him
May all our misery flow. Oh what a sight!
How passing strange it seem’d, when I did spy
Upon his head three faces: one in front
Of hue vermilion, the other two with this
Midway each shoulder join’d and at the crest;
The right ’twixt wan and yellow seem’d; the left
To look on, such as come from whence old Nile
Stoops to the lowlands. Under each shot forth
Two mighty wings, enormous as became
A bird so vast. Sails never such I saw
Outstretch’d on the wide sea. No plumes had they,
But were in texture like a bat; and these
He flapp’d i’ th’ air, that from him issued still
Three winds, wherewith Cocytus to its depth
Was frozen. At six eyes he wept: the tears
Adown three chins distill’d with bloody foam.
At every mouth his teeth a sinner champ’d,
Bruised as with ponderous engine; so that three
Were in this guise tormented. But far more
Than from that gnawing, was the foremost pang’d
By the fierce rending, whence oft-times the back
Was stript of all its skin. “That upper spirit,
Who hath worst punishment,” so spake my guide,
“Is Judas, he that hath his head within
And plies the feet without.
Dante Allegheri
Inferno
Canto XXXIV, 20-59
I am certainly interested to find out what it says. Whatever it says, it will undoubtedly add something to the discussion.
Out of the entire article, I found this statement the most interesting. While I disagree with the theology behind it, it goes a long way towards explaining some Papal actions & statements re other religions, esp. the Second Vatican Council.
Father Williams: Though the Catholic Church has a canonization process by which it declares certain persons to be in heaven, as saints, it has no such process for declaring people to be condemned.
Gnosticism pre-dates Christianity. Other than that the Father appears to be right on the money.
BoyHowdee, Father Williams is a straight shooter. Love the interview.
However nobody can say this for sure. The Church can officially recognize (canonize) some of the people who are in heaven, but the Church has never "demonized" anybody by name, as being definitely in hell.
This is because only God knows the inward heart of a man. If, like the "Good Thief" Dismas, a "damnable" sinner repented even in the last moments of his life, God would have the means to save him.
And I have often thought, that since a thousand years is like a day to God, and a day like a thousand years, a sinner might be given an hour (in the last few seconds) to review his sins and repent them, and cry out for mercy. I certainly hope so.
It sounds to me that Judas consulted with a good ACLU attorney before he wrote his gospel.
Were they around back then??
I'd be careful who you decide burns in hell and who doesn't.
God is the judge.
Is your SN a Thursday Next reference?
Have to be very careful in reading this...what is verified is the HISTORICAL accuracy of it, not the literal accuracy. In other words, this basically says that there is a document that says that Judas was asked by Christ to betray him...it does NOT say that the document is accurate. Just says it exists. That is sort of like me saying there is a National Enquirer that says there is a baby born with 9 heads. Doesn't mean it's true.
Uh, you might not know this, but I actually do not have the power to decide such things.
I'm am as free as anyone else to speculate theologically, and as for old Judas, my side has more evidence.
How did you get a pic of my ex-wife??
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