The Gospel of Judas
Apr. 9th, 2006 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserAs non-religious as I am, it probably would surprise folks how much I enjoy learning about the history and background of the Bible and such. Happily I caught The Gospel of Judas today -- it was the most interesting religious-ish thing I've seen in a long time.
I had had no idea that there were 30 or more gospels, and that one man picked which four would be in the Bible. (Four because there are four directions and four winds.) I'm sort of surprised that doesn't worry religious folks -- it very much would me. One person getting to pick what the One True Truth you believe?
Also, the various gospels were written 60-80 years after the actual events. Could you imagine a newspaper story written 60-80 years later? How accurate would it be?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ursulav (found through a link in juliansinger's journal) worded this idea well (and very amusingly):
In many ways, I've always thought the early gospels resemble Jesus fanfic. You all get one character who was cool, and some canonical events, but how it proceeds after that was up to the individual writer
One of the reasons that The Gospel of Judas appealed so much is that the story just hadn't worked for me as-is. Judas was Jesus' friend, a close and trusted fellow, and he betrayed him why? For some money? "Just because he was evil"? As a story, it makes more sense that either he'd betray for a good reason or that he wouldn't betray at all.
For a long time I liked the way Jesus Christ Superstar handled it (Judas betrayed Jesus to save him), but the Gospel of Judas works even better for me: Judas did it because Jesus ordered him to. (The reason why Jesus would do that is way too long and complex for me to fully explain why here, but basically it was that the body didn't matter.)
Ha ha, come back to the posting window an hour or so later... Need to wrap this up, so I'll end this by saying that it didn't hurt the show at all that their actor for Judas was seriously hot. Sorry for the small screenshots, I couldn't find his name online with a quick search:
One picture.
Two.
Three.
I had had no idea that there were 30 or more gospels, and that one man picked which four would be in the Bible. (Four because there are four directions and four winds.) I'm sort of surprised that doesn't worry religious folks -- it very much would me. One person getting to pick what the One True Truth you believe?
Also, the various gospels were written 60-80 years after the actual events. Could you imagine a newspaper story written 60-80 years later? How accurate would it be?
ursulav (found through a link in juliansinger's journal) worded this idea well (and very amusingly):In many ways, I've always thought the early gospels resemble Jesus fanfic. You all get one character who was cool, and some canonical events, but how it proceeds after that was up to the individual writer
One of the reasons that The Gospel of Judas appealed so much is that the story just hadn't worked for me as-is. Judas was Jesus' friend, a close and trusted fellow, and he betrayed him why? For some money? "Just because he was evil"? As a story, it makes more sense that either he'd betray for a good reason or that he wouldn't betray at all.
For a long time I liked the way Jesus Christ Superstar handled it (Judas betrayed Jesus to save him), but the Gospel of Judas works even better for me: Judas did it because Jesus ordered him to. (The reason why Jesus would do that is way too long and complex for me to fully explain why here, but basically it was that the body didn't matter.)
Ha ha, come back to the posting window an hour or so later... Need to wrap this up, so I'll end this by saying that it didn't hurt the show at all that their actor for Judas was seriously hot. Sorry for the small screenshots, I couldn't find his name online with a quick search:
One picture.
Two.
Three.
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 10:44 am (UTC)While The Gospel of Judas might be considered heretical, it does help me to understand the reasoning behind choosing Judas to be one of Christ's twelve disciples. If Jesus is all-knowing, why would he place Judas in his closest circle of friends, knowing he'd one day betray Him?
Someone was going to have to lead the Romans to him so that he could complete his mission on earth.
I also thought it interesting that the place where Judas killed himself is now a garbage dump and in Germany, you can't name your kid Judas.
Interesting...
no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 05:00 pm (UTC)I always wondered that, too.
I also thought it interesting that the place where Judas killed himself is now a garbage dump and in Germany, you can't name your kid Judas.
Yes! I was amazed at the German part. (But even without the law, could you imagine running into someone named Judas?) But maybe now that'll change. I was happy to hear that they were considering making him a saint, too. If his gospel is correct, he more than deserves it.