The Gospel of Judas from Codex Tchacos (review)

This small volume, written primarily for general audiences, constituted a centerpiece for the much anticipated and rather sensationalized Easter season 2006 "rollout" of the Gospel of Judas, including further general information about Codex Tchacos (a late 3rd or early 4th century C.E. Coptic book containing the Gospel and three other important tractates). The book includes an introduction by Meyer (1–16), an English translation with some notes by the editors and François Gaudard (19–45), and commentary chapters by Kasser on the story of Codex Tchacos (47–76), by Ehrman who characterizes the theology of the Gospel (77–120), by Wurst who compares the Gospel to what Irenaeus (Adv. haer. 1.31.1) says about a work of the same title, allegedly used by certain people whom later heresiologists will call "Cainites" (121–35), and by Meyer on the Gospel and Sethian tradition (137–69).

Given the exceedingly poor state of the manuscript one must be grateful for the extensive labor underlying the editors' translation of the text (for Coptic transcription, consult: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/). Space here allows only a few suggestions. The editors divide the text into three "scenes," but a new scene/day starts at 37, 20–21, and yet for reasons never explained no scene division is marked. At 40, 11–13 the translation is "those who sleep with men, and those who abstain," and a footnote says this is an example of a negative view of fasting. But the Coptic might be read differently as a criticism of "those who sleep with males and with those who are practicing abstinence," i.e., those who take advantage of weakness in the resolve of ascetics? The text of 53, 6–7 is rendered "you shall live long, with your children"; a note compares Genesis 5.3–5 and Adam's extraordinarily long lifespan. Yet the text has only "for a time" (nouoeish), not "long," and the point may actually be the limitation of lifespan (reduced from eternal life). If so, the hnoue\pe ("numerically" or "numerically limited") in 53, 13 might not be a dittography (as assumed in the editors' translation) but instead essential to the meaning: "Why do you marvel that Adam and his race received his time (lifespan) numerically, where he (also) received his kingdom numerically, with his archon?"

Discovered by villagers in Middle Egypt in the mid- to late 1970's, Codex Tchacos was held privately by dealers and marketed over a period of a quarter century, suffering during this period heartbreaking physical damage from improper handling. Kasser's brief version of this story of personalities and convoluted dealings makes some good use of the dramatic potential of these developments and is informative; one should also consult the fuller account in the companion volume by journalist Herbert Krosney, The Lost Gospel (National Geographic, 2006). A counterpoint to both is James M. Robinson's The Secrets of Judas (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006). Robinson and other scholars became aware of the existence of the codex in 1983 but at that time were unsuccessful in facilitating its purchase and thus its proper preservation and study. Robinson referred in print in 1984 to the existence of this codex and some of the very few facts known about it.

The theme of Ehrman's lengthy chapter is signaled with its title: "Christianity Turned on Its Head: The Alternative Vision of the Gospel of Judas." There are certainly significant differences in the Gospel's portrait of Judas and overall theology from what can be found in New Testament gospels or in proto-orthodox sources of the second or third centuries C.E. However, Ehrman's evident determination to make the Gospel the inverted image of Christianity results in many tired caricatures that avoid—and effectively misrepresent—the text itself in ways no longer excusable even in a volume intended for general readers. For example, Ehrman explains that among the central features which...