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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 229.8
EAN num: 9780801012945
ISBN number: 0801012945
Label: Baker Books
Manufacturer: Baker Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 160
Printing Date: October 01, 2006
Publishing house: Baker Books
Release Date: October 01, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 302251
Studio: Baker Books
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Joining many other recently found and publicized 'gospels,' the Gospel of Judas has found its way into the limelight as the subject of some recently published books and some recent television programming. The ancient manuscript is genuine-so what are Christians to make of the claims therein? Claims such as -Judas was doing what Jesus asked him to do when he betrayed Jesus -Jesus came to offer secret knowledge of how to escape this earthly world, rather than to usher in God's kingdom on earth -Jesus felt no pain on the cross -and more This timely and necessary response to the Gospel of Judas is the authoritative, orthodox word on what it really tells us--and does not tell us--about Jesus, Judas, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. Tom Wright, as both a bishop and an historian, is uniquely qualified to speak on the subject and answers the questions Christians have after encountering this 'new gospel.'
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Rated by buyers 
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N.T. Wright's Judas and the Gospel of Jesus (Baker Academic, 2006) pulls the rug out from under the most prominent "Gnostic preachers" in the academic world: namely, Bart Ehrman, Marvin Meyer and Elaine Pagels. These scholars claim that Gnostic Christianity was a "valid" version of the Christian faith in a time where different "Christianities" were competing for power.
Honestly, I am sick of all the exaggerated claims in the media regarding the discoveries of these Gnostic Gospels. Their existence comes as no surprise to anyone with any knowledge of ancient history. The early church fathers knew about these gospels and refuted their errors. What we are seeing is the regurgitation of ancient heresies, now labeled as "modern threats" to historic Christianity.
N.T. Wright blasts through the hype, by showing that the truly revolutionary gospel was the one for which Christians were suffering persecution and facing martyrdom. No one can argue with Wright's historical credentials in this area. He is as educated as any of the scholars arguing for a reevaluation of the Gnostic heresy.
Wright's tone is "serious business" throughout the book, though he betrays his sense of humour in the title of one chapter: "The Judas of Faith and the Iscariot of History" - a mild slap at the Jesus Seminar scholars who would pit a "Jesus of history" against the "Christ of faith."
There are several evangelical books refuting the claims of the Gnostic gospels and their ardent defenders. Why then is Wright's book necessary? Wright goes beyond the hype surrounding these gospels to the reasons why people find them so attractive today. And his conclusions may startle you.
The last chapter lays out ways in which Christians at both the right and the left of the theological spectrum have unconsciously adopted Gnostic overtones in their beliefs. Wright challenges us to return to the full unadulterated Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gospel preached in the very first century and the Gospel that is truly revolutionary today.
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The Bishop of Durham has nailed it yet again. In this revealing if short book, Dr. Tom Wright confronts the motives of those who support the "Gospel of Judas" and other Gnostic alternatives (from both the scholarly and the popular level) over against traditional Christianity, thus exposing the agenda lurking behind the sensationalism of "The Da Vinci Code" and its kind.
In the book's dust jacket, Dr. Wright summarizes his findings. First, the "Gospel of Judas" tells us nothing at all about either the real Judas or the real Jesus. Second, the sensationalism for the Judas Gospel find reveals the true agenda driving the scholarly quest for a non-traditional Jesus as well as the popular eagerness for theories expounded in Dan Brown's blockbuster fiction. And third, the Judas Gospel "serves to highlight" certain aspects of early Christianity that haven't been sufficiently explored.
A wealth of historical insight, "Judas and the Gospel of Jesus" argues powerfully and clearly through the scholarly and popular mess the Gnostic controversy has generated.
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This book was really helpful in giving me an insight into, not only the gospel of Judas, but also the topic of Gnosticism and the way in which it varies from what could be regarded as main stream Christian teaching. It was extremely readable and answered by questions on the topic. A valuable addition to my library.
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New Testament scholar and Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright admits that when very first hearing of the recently published Gospel of Judas his initial reaction was something on the lines of "Not another one of those gospels!" This was not to dispute the importance of the find for historical scholarship which Wright concedes is significant. It merely reflects his understanding that cranks, pseudo-scholars, and a gullible and willing press would turn the find into an attack on traditional Christian beleifs and use it to "prove" their were viable alternatives to the four gospels included in the New Testament. In this judgment, Wright has been unfortunately been proven correct.
Wright responds to the hysteria generated by the media coverage in Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth About Christianity? - a clear, concise exposition of what this new "gospel" is and what it is not. Those familiar with Wright's rebuttals of radical revisionist New Testament "scholarship" know that he does not suffer fools gladly and so it is the case he as he completely skewers the claims of those promoting this newly discovered text as challenging the preconceptions about the Christian faith. As Wright points out repeatedly, this text comes from a period nearly a century after the New Testament gospels and so while they can tell us much about what was going on in the gnostic movement, they can tell us nothing about the real Jesus and Judas.
Despite the fact that the various gnostic movements did not have the internal cohesion to put forward a unified doctrinal synthesis, Wright correctly points out that there were defining tenets that identified a movement as gnostic. The key among these were the following four points: the belief that the material world is inherently bad; the belief that the material world is the work of an inferior - and perhaps evil - god; the belief that salvation is achieved by escaping the material world for a higher plane of existence; the belief that the salvific escape from the evils of this world is gained through the knowledge provided by the group's leaders. Naturally, such an outlook would take a dim view of the Jewish emphasis on the redemption of the material world and thus would see the God of the Old Testament as the material world's capricious creator. Considering one of the claims against by contemporary apologists for the gnostics against traditional Christianity is its alleged anti-Semitism, Wright quite correctly replies that it was the gnostics who rejected any Jewish influence and the orthodox Christians who kept the link to Judaism alive and would identify the God of the Old Testament with the Triune God of the Christian faith.
It is in fact the anti-Jewish elements of gnosticism that make the Gospel of Judas possible. Given that they saw the Apostles' maintanence of the link to Judaism objectionable and their belief in a bodily ressurection as abhorent, there was an inherent desire to turn everything topsy-turvy. Figures such as Judas, Cain, and in some cases even Satan himself are turned into heroes while the Apostles, Moses, and the prophets become distorters of the true faith.
In analyzing the two possiblilties of Jesus founding a movement steeped in Jewish belief in the Kingdom of God or something akin to the gnostic view, Wright forcefully asserts the belief in a gnostic Jesus, when the evidence is weighed, as incredible and forced. The "spin" given to gnosticism is the creation of a new myth of Christian origins that gives pride of place to those outside orthodox Christianity despite the overwhelming evidence against it. It is in many ways a reflection a type of gnostic leaning that has infected American Protestantism for some time. It is an elitist view that places self-fulfillment over religious tradition and is manifested in both liberal revisionism and conservative individualism.
Wright makes a plea to avoid the errors in both ends of the theological spectrum. The trail blazed by modern neo-gnostics is one hewn of ignorance and merely repeats distortions of the message of Christ discarded cneturies ago. Yet those to whom these neo-gnostics oppose - the fundamentalist who cling to "prosperity theology" or "the rapture" - are no less distorters of the Gospel message. We must return to being the Church that "responds in gratitude and obedient faith to the powerful word that announces Jesus as the world's true Lord, and to discover in following Him and beloging to His sacramentally constituted family a new dimension of life in the world rather than to escape from the world."
N. T. Wright has proven again that he is the greatest debunker of revisionist movements within the Church. Much of this is no doubt due to the fact that among orthodox writers, he is among the most intellectually curious and willing to give unconventional ideas a fair hearing. Yet he is not one to suffer fools in silence and when faced ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Tom Wright, as few can, "quickly" responds in depth to the recently published, Gospel of Judas. He takes on the proposed "Alternative Jesus" and broadens our understanding of gnosticism, the gnostic gospels and their proponents. Another solid effort by Bishop Tom; very readable.
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