craig blomberg on the gospel of judas

Thus, although we now have one more heretofore untranslated “authentic” text from 1600 years ago, as the media have repeatedly reported, all that “authentic” means in this context is that it really is an ancient text, perhaps the very one Irenaeus condemned. There is not one chance in a thousand that it preserves any accurate historical information that would shed any new light on the historical Judas. Were this a canonical document, redaction critics would quickly point out its agreement in all essentials with mid-second century, full-blown Gnostic thought and dispense with any idea of it representing older Christian beliefs. But because it is unorthodox, some who never tire of attacking the canon apply a double standard and propose far more optimistic theories about the historical truth of the document. The essayists in this volume are for the most part more cautious than this, but one would never have guessed that just from the recently televised National Geographic program on this new Gospel.

NT Scholar Craig Blomberg reviews the Gospel of Judas

• suggested resources on the gospel of judas
  
  
• suggested resources on the da vinci code