Reading Judas

Reading Judas
Author: Elaine Pagels
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2007-03-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1101202130

The instant New York Times bestseller interpreting the controversial long-lost gospel The recently unearthed Gospel of Judas is a source of fascination for biblical scholars and lay Christians alike. Now two leading experts on the Gnostic gospels tackle the important questions posed by its discovery, including: How could any Christian imagine Judas to be Jesus' favorite? And what kind of vision of God does the author offer? Working from Karen L. King's brilliant new translation, Elaine Pagels and King provide the context necessary for considering its meaning. Reading Judas plunges into the heart of Christianity itself and will stand as the definitive look at the gospel for years to come.

The Codex Judas Papers

The Codex Judas Papers
Author: April D. DeConick
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2009-12-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004181407

This book contains the proceedings from the Codex Judas Congress, the first international conference held to discuss the newly-restored Tchacos Codex. Given that the Tchacos Codex is a newly-conserved ancient book of Christian manuscripts which had yet to be discussed collaboratively by a body of scholars, the research conducted and published within this book by the members of the Codex Judas Congress is nothing less than a landmark in Gnostic studies. Scholars address issues of identity and community, portraits of Judas, astrological lore, salvation and praxis, text and intertext, and manuscript matters. Although the contributions show a variety of interpretations of the Tchacos texts, several points of agreement emerge, including the assessment that the Codex belonged to early Christians in conflict with other Christians who belonged to the apostolic or conventional church. Contributors include: Grant Adamson, Johanna Brankaer, Fernando Bermejo Rubio, Serge Cazelais, April D. DeConick, Ismo Dunderberg, Niclas Förster, Wolf-Peter Funk, Simon Gathercole, Matteo Grosso, Lance Jenott, Karen King, Nicola Denzey Lewis, Alastair Logan, Antti Marjanen, Marvin Meyer, Elaine Pagels, Birger A. Pearson, Pierluigi Piovanelli, James M. Robinson, Gesine Schenke Robinson, Kevin Sullivan, Franklin Trammel, Johannes van Oort, Bas van Os, Louis Painchaud, Tage Petersen, John D. Turner, and Gregor Wurst.

Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot
Author: Richard Harvey
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2018-07-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532639554

The name Judas Iscariot usually provokes a negative response as the disciple who betrayed his Lord to death. It is difficult to think of another person, dead for so long, who is so closely associated with betrayal. In recent times, some commentators have urged a rethink on Judas, arguing that he has been unfairly treated. This book will show that the traditional picture of Judas as a traitor best fits the biblical evidence. It also establishes two other points. Firstly, although Judas was a human being, he had the literary features of an idol. Secondly, the earliest gospel, Mark, clearly establishes his guilt and Matthew and Luke show how uniquely guilty Judas was.

Judas and the Choice of Matthias

Judas and the Choice of Matthias
Author: Arie W. Zwiep
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161484520

In this volume Arie Zwiep examines the character and purpose of the Judas-Matthias pericope in Acts 1:15-26 in the wider context of Jewish, Graeco-Roman and early Christian traditions on the death of the wicked in terms of divine retribution. Through a comprehensive analysis of form and function of the pericope in its historical and literary context, this study seeks to discern the distinctly Lukan perspective in the light of first-century reflection on the figure of Judas Iscariot, the role of the Twelve in the earliest Christian communities, and current eschatological expectations that have coloured Luke's narrative presentation. Special consideration is given to the concurrent versions of Judas' death in Matthew 27:3-10 and the writings of Papias.

The Gospel of Judas

The Gospel of Judas
Author: Simon Gathercole
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2007-11-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019152753X

`Judas' is synonymous with `traitor'. But a newly-discovered ancient text of the Gospel of Judas offers a picture of Judas Iscariot radically different from the Church's traditional understanding of him, and maintains that far from being the infamous betrayer, Judas was actually Jesus' trusted friend and the recipient of secret revelation. Simon Gathercole's new book includes a translation of the ancient Egyptian text of the Gospel of Judas and a running commentary, and offers new translations of all the ancient evidence about Judas Iscariot and the Gospel attributed to him. It gets behind the hype which the Gospel of Judas has attracted, and looks at why the group which produced the work were in such bitter conflict with the mainstream Christian church, and shows how the document provides us with a window into the turbulent world of Christianity and Gnosticism in the century after Jesus.

The African Sermons

The African Sermons
Author: Albert Schweitzer
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2003-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780815629207

Every Sunday in Lambarene, Gabon, Albert Schweitzer delivered an outdoor sermon in French. Although never intended for publication, the sermons were transcribed by some of Schweitzer's listeners. Translated into English and in one volume for the first time, Steven E. G. Melamed, Sr., makes a great contribution to the field with works that characterize Schweitzer's simplicity of language, his emphasis on personal conduct, and his adaptation of biblical stories to the everyday realities of African life. Covering the period 1913-1935, his sermons evolved as Schweitzer matured and became more attuned to his surroundings. As it contains what is most likely the entire extant corpus of Schweitzer's sermons in Africa, this book fills a gap in Schweitzer scholarship. It affords a unique insight into his own beliefs and the prevailing European attitude toward Africans.

Unfinished Christians

Unfinished Christians
Author: Georgia Frank
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2023-02-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1512823961

What can we know about the everyday experiences of Christians during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries? How did non-elite men and women, enslaved, freed, and free persons, who did not renounce sex or choose voluntary poverty become Christian? They neither led a religious community nor did they live in entirely Christian settings. In this period, an age marked by "extraordinary" Christians--wonderworking saints, household ascetics, hermits, monks, nuns, pious aristocrats, pilgrims, and bishops--ordinary Christians went about their daily lives, in various occupations, raising families, sharing households, kitchens, and baths in religiously diverse cities. Occasionally they attended church liturgies, sought out local healers, and visited martyrs' shrines. Barely and rarely mentioned in ancient texts, common Christians remain nameless and undifferentiated. Unfinished Christians explores the sensory and affective dimensions of ordinary Christians who assembled for rituals. With precious few first-person accounts by common Christians, it relies on written sources not typically associated with lived religion: sermons, liturgical instruction books, and festal hymns. All three genres of writing are composed by clergy for use in ritual settings. Yet they may also provide glimpses of everyday Christians' lives and experiences. This book investigates the habits, objects, behaviors, and movements of ordinary Christians by mining festal preaching by John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, and Romanos the Melodist, among others. It also mines liturgical instructions to explore the psalms and other songs performed on various feast days. "Unfinished," then, connotes the creativity and agency of unremarkable Christians who engaged in making religious experiences: the "Christian-in-progress" who learns to work with material and bring something into being; the artisans who attended sermons; and, more widely, the bearers of embodied knowing.