08AR13-24

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Apologia Report 13:24

June 26, 2008

Subject: Criticism for Gospel of Judas becomes huge

In this issue:

GOSPEL OF JUDAS - hasty scholarship shames National Geographic (and, by association, Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels, and Karen King)

ISLAM - more evidence that terrorist Muslim teachings are experiencing opposition from within their radical movements

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GOSPEL OF JUDAS

It has taken quite a while, but it is no surprise when careful scholarship takes time. In this case, the lesson from "The Betrayal of Judas" by Thomas Bartlett is clear: media scoop temptations don't play well in the academy.

Who can forget the April 2006 media blitz by the National Geographic Society over their "amazing discovery" of The Gospel of Judas? Bartlett tells the controversial story behind this "new and improved" "Judas-as-hero."

Scholars familiar with the Gospel of Judas not privy to National Geographic's secret preparations "didn't see a good Judas at all. In fact, this Judas seemed more evil than ever. Those early voices of dissent have since grown into a chorus, some of whom argue that National Geographic's handling of the project amounts to scholarly malpractice. It's a perfect example, critics argue, of what can happen when commercial considerations are allowed to ride roughshod over careful research. What's more, the controversy has strained friendships in this small community of religion scholars - causing some on both sides of the argument to feel, in a word, betrayed."

The National Geographic referred to its own "dream team" of biblical scholars which included Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels. The publication of their work "all happened in record time. In the cases of other newly discovered ancient texts, the process of translation and interpretation has dragged on for years. But it was only about eight months from the time [lead scholar] Marvin Meyer was brought on that the gospel was announced to the public.

"Before that big announcement, some members of the team were sent to a one-day media-training seminar in Manhattan to prepare them for the coming onslaught of attention. They would have to explain to reporters, repeatedly, that the Gospel of Judas was probably written in the second century, long after the actual Judas was dead. There is no scholarly debate over whether the conversations in the gospel actually took place. Everyone agrees that it's fiction, but it's fiction that reveals how a certain sect of Christians viewed the meaning of the crucifixion and the role of Jesus' disciples.

"In the Gospel of Judas, the character of Judas is more prominent than he is in the New Testament. He and Jesus discuss theological matters, like the meaning of baptism and whether the human spirit dies. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the text is Jesus himself, who is often laughing, playful, and aggressive and who seems to enjoy mocking his disciples. For those familiar with the Jesus taught in Sunday school, that may come as a jolt."

Actually, the Gospel of Judas "is not a journalistic account of conversations between Jesus and his disciples, nor could it have been written by the historical Judas. That message didn't always come through: Some of the news reports read as if the gospel came straight from Judas' pen.

"The announcement was timed so that the documentary, a book containing the translation and critical essays [2], an accompanying Web site, and an exhibit at National Geographic's headquarters would all be unveiled more or less simultaneously. By keeping the translation under wraps, National Geographic had cornered the market on Judas, and now it intended to take full advantage of its position.

"In all of its materials, the view of Judas as good guy was front and center. ... In Ehrman's essay, Judas is 'Jesus' closest friend, the one who understood Jesus better than anyone else, who turned Jesus over to the authorities because Jesus wanted him to do so.' ...

"Reporters ate it up. Word of the discovery made the front pages of newspapers around the world. ...

"One of the seven million people who watched the National Geographic documentary was April D. DeConick. Admittedly, DeConick, a professor of biblical studies at Rice University, was not your average viewer. As a Coptologist, she had long been aware of the existence of the Gospel of Judas and was friends with several of those who had worked on the so-called dream team. It's fair to say she watched the documentary with special interest.

"As soon as the show ended, she went to her computer and downloaded the English translation from the National Geographic Web site. Almost immediately she began to have concerns." She found that the National Geographic translation rendered the "opposite meaning" of different key Coptic words.

"These discoveries filled her with dread. 'I was like, this is bad, and these are my friends,' she says. It's worth noting that it didn't take DeConick months of painstaking research to reach her conclusions. Within minutes, she thought something was wrong. Within a day, she was convinced that significant mistakes had been made. Why, if it was so obvious to her, had these other scholars missed it? ...

"If you come to the gospel free of preconceptions, she argues, then it's clear that Judas is evil and cursed, not holy and chosen. DeConick lays out this argument at length in The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says [4]. The book was written for a general audience, but it has driven the conversation among biblical scholars in recent months.

"This year DeConick held a conference on the Gospel of Judas at Rice. Many of the marquee names in biblical scholarship were there, including Meyer and Pagels. It was a cordial event, no thrown books or postlecture fistfights. Still, it was hard to miss the tension. When Meyer spoke, DeConick could be seen shaking her head and whispering to a colleague. One scholar referred to Meyer's defense of the original translation as 'desperate' - causing him to laugh good-naturedly, if a bit defensively, too.

"At one point, Pagels grabbed the microphone to say that she did not wish to be associated with Ehrman's positive take on Judas. She also, strangely, distanced herself from the book [5] she had written with King. ...

"The fiercest criticism of the National Geographic team came in the form of a New York Times opinion essay by DeConick [1], published in December. It is, like the professor herself, plain-spoken and blunt. She writes that 'a more careful reading' makes it clear that Judas is no hero, implying, none too subtly, that the National Geographic team was not careful. She accuses its members of making 'serious mistakes' and wonders aloud whether they are guilty of intentional mistranslation. 'Were they genuine errors, or was something more deliberate going on?' she writes. 'This is the question of the hour, and I do not have a satisfactory answer.' ...

"The criticism of National Geographic's handling of the project has come not only from scholars on the outside, but also from members of the dream team.

"The loudest and most frequent complaint has been about its secrecy. The members of the team weren't allowed to reveal what they were working on, much less to share information with fellow scholars. In 1991 the Society of Biblical Literature passed a resolution that said all scholars should be allowed access to a newly found manuscript or, barring that, a facsimile. If that resolution had been followed, critics argue, then the more egregious errors would never have made it to press or been broadcast to millions. ...

"Other scholars, including a member of the team, fault Meyer, not National Geographic. Craig A. Evans, a professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, in Nova Scotia, appears in the documentary and has written an essay for the second edition of the National Geographic book, to be published in June [7]. He was selected, everyone acknowledges, in order to have an evangelical Christian voice on the team. The society was concerned from the beginning that the title alone - the Gospel of Judas - would offend Christians. Hiring a practicing Christian, the thinking went, might mitigate the fallout.

"Evans and Meyer go way back. They both attended Claremont Graduate University and used to play pickup basketball together. It was Meyer who suggested that National Geographic contact him. But Evans sees 'glaring mistakes' in the translation and puts the blame squarely on his old friend. ...

"Some of the sharpest digs have been reserved for Ehrman, who was the first member of the National Geographic team to publish a book on Judas. Publicly Ehrman has been the most vocal in embracing Judas as hero, and he has been pilloried for it. Scholar after scholar at the Rice conference took shots at him." Chronicle of Higher Education, 54:38 - 2008, pB6. <http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i38/38b00601.htm>

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ISLAM

"The New Face of Islam: A critique of radicalism is building within the heart of the Muslim world" by Christopher Dickey and Owen Matthews -- begins by explaining that many Muslims are growing tired of Osama bin Laden's "spinning the revelations contained in the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, known as the Hadith [to say that] the Qur'an gave his followers license to kill." This "became the dominant vision of Islam for those with little understanding of the faith.... Even many religious scholars were intimidated.

"Now that's starting to change. Important Muslim thinkers, including some on whom bin Laden depended for support, have rejected his vision of jihad. Once sympathetic publics in the Middle East and South Asia are growing disillusioned. ... At the same time, and potentially much more important over the long run, a new vision of Islam, neither bin Laden's nor that of the traditionalists who preceded him, is taking shape. Momentum is building within the Muslim world to re-examine what had seemed immutable tenets of the faith, to challenge what had been taken as literal truths and to open wide the doors of interpretation (ijtihad) that some schools of Islam tried to close centuries ago.

"Intellectually and theologically, a lot of the most ambitious work is being done by a group of scholars based in Ankara, Turkey, who expect to publish new editions of the Hadith before the end of the year.

"Mehmet Aydin ... first conceived the Hadith project four years ago, when he was Turkey's minister of state for religious affairs....

"The Turkish project ... has the quiet backing of the ruling AK Party, the world's most successful, democratically elected party with Islamist roots. The professors involved are quick to deny that their work represents some sort of Islamic Reformation." Dickey and Matthews report that the professors' work "has far-reaching potential, given the credibility of the source.

"Many states, even those like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia that have tolerated radicalism in the past, have come to see that their own stability depends on encouraging greater moderation. ... The idea is to tone down the fire and brimstone, which has inspired young Saudis to sign up for jihad in Iraq and elsewhere.

"Across the Muslim world, people appear ready for this new message. Growing middle classes are no longer willing to accept the pieties of peasant life as guides for public and private conduct. 'The rules of religion stay the same, but people's attitudes toward religion have changed,' says Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government is working to bring Turkey into the European Union. ...

"Bin Laden's prescription for change, meanwhile, has led to nothing but death and destruction. Radicals have turned their anger and their bombs against other Muslims whom they deem apostates or simply inconsequential. As a result, they've found themselves isolated. ...

"The most ferocious attack on bin Laden's version of holy war has come from one of the few really respected religious thinkers within jihadist ranks, Sayyid Imam al-Sharif. Now imprisoned in Egypt, he has known Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's second in command, since they were in university. In a book his Egyptian jailers allowed him to publish last year, al-Sharif writes about the way the Sharia, Islamic law, has been tarnished by Al Qaeda's actions: 'There are those who kill hundreds, including women and children, Muslims and non-Muslims in the name of Jihad!' That, said al-Sharif, is unacceptable in the eyes of Allah, of his law and of his people. Once again bin Laden has a problem, and it is Islam." Newsweek, Jun 9 '08, pp30-32. <http://www.newsweek.com/id/139433>

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Sources, Digital:

1 - <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/opinion/01deconink.html>

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Sources, Monographs:

2 - The Gospel of Judas, Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, eds.; with commentary by Bart D. Ehrman (National Geographic, 2006, hardcover, 192 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1426200420/apologiareport>

3 - The Lost Gospel: The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot, by Herbert Krosney (National Geographic, 2006, hardcover, 352 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1426200412/apologiareport>

4 - The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, by April D. Deconick (Continuum, 2007, hardcover, 224 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0826499643/apologiareport>

5 - Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, by Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King (Viking, 2007, hardcover, 224 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670038458/apologiareport>

6 - The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed, by Bart d. Ehrman (Oxford Univ Prs, 2006, hardcover, 208 pages)

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195314603/apologiareport>

7 - The Gospel of Judas: Second Edition, Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, eds. (National Geographic, 2008, paperback, 224 pages

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/142620048X/apologiareport>

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