The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed

Bart Ehrman is a fine scholar gifted with the ability to write so a layperson can understand. His analysis of the Lost Gospel of Judas and the varying sects of early Christianity is both fascinating and accessible. Both this Gospel and Ehrman's book are fortunate finds.

So this was, for the most part, very interesting. Presented as a sort of detective story in the beginning, Ehrman provides a great deal of insight into how historians and others interested in the ancient past piece together bits of information from sources who might or might not be questionable, to arrive at conclusions. While the book is about the newly found gospel of Judas, it expands to cover all that is known about Jesus and his followers and how they have been seen and interpreted down through history to our present understanding, and what we can really know about anyone who lived that long ago. I have to say that all these books about subjects with very little source material seem to repeat themselves a great deal, and that really stands out in the audio format .... hearing the same phrases repeated again and again is different than reading them, and perhaps more annoying. Maybe that is just me. :D

Bart D. Erhman continues his journeys through early Christian & Gnostic writings. This book was an excellent overview of the origins of the "secret" gospel and that, contrary to the National Geographic hoopla, this book has been in circulation for some time. It's clearly a Gnostic text and the scholars, National Geographic, and museum curators play off of the general populations ignorance of ancient Christian sects. After the first part of the book (background information and all the 'what if's' of the text), Erhman gets down to business and argues quite convincingly that this is much newer than Mark, Luke, Acts, or the writings of Paul. It clearly defines the theological controversies of the time by what is discussed and what is *not* discussed in this text. A good overview of how 'historical' characters are constructed from scant writings. A must read for all biblical scholars and seminaries.

The Gospel of Judas has recently come to public light, and Ehrman tells the fascinating story of the gospel's journey toward publication. He details how National Geographic became involved, and he explains the significance of the text as a Gnostic text and as a newly found gospel. His writing clearly expresses the story and can be easily appreciated by the layman interested in early Christianity. Is it possible that Judas was asked by Jesus to betray him? Was Judas the most enlightened of the twelve? Find out what the gospel says about this.