07.11.06
The Gospel of Judas
While the Gospel of Judas reveals some interesting insights into second century gnosticism, the conspiracy theorists are having a field day with it. The claim is that in the first through third centuries there were competing “christianities” and that one came to dominate over time. The forces which came together to cause this strain of belief to dominate were mostly political in nature. The result of this claim is the belief that Christianity as currently practiced is not necesarily descended from that preached by Jesus and his immediate disciples.
That anyone would equate gnosticism with Christianity is nothing new. The truth is summarized succinctly by Al Mohler in his article published recently in Australian Presbyterian magazine:
It’s short and worth the read.
adam said,
July 20, 2006 at 4:07 pm
What is unfortunate is that when the conspiracy theorists have a field day with it, the media has a field day with it resulting in these scholars selling millions of thier books (Pagels, Gnostic Gospels; Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus, et. al.) to unknowing readers. What is fortunate is that these conspiracies are nothing new and at best unlikely conjectures which continue to fail with respect to growing historical scholarship. Here is another article: http://www.denverseminary.edu/dj/articles2006/0200/0206.php