Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity by Elaine Pagels (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The Gnostic Gospels, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award. Professor Pagels lives in Princeton, New Jersey.Karen L. King is an American academic specializing in Gnosticism and early Christianity. She was the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School from 1998 to 2008, and succeeded Harvey Cox in 2009 to become the first woman appointed to that school’s distinguished Hollis Chair, the oldest endowed chair in the United States.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The text is loosely written, quick and easy to read. The vocabulary is simple and dramatic, of them employing superlatives to make a point. Unfortunately the authoresses make many mistakes, whether due to sloppiness or sheer ignorance is difficult to say. Some of the errors are with facts which two professors of religion should know and not get wrong, like saying that Satan is portrayed eating Judas in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement. This is not just wrong. It shows that they fundamentally don’t understand the difference between 16th and 14th century painting. The same could be said for their muddled facts about the early church fathers: whether Irenaeus, Polycarp or Ignatius, they put them in the wrong places, but in such a way that shows they clearly don’t understand the context. For example, it’s a big deal whether Polycarp was in Syria or in Ionic Greece: he couldn’t have met the disciple John of he wasn’t in Ephesus. Did the authoresses not comprehend the gravity of their lack of knowledge? Their quotes are misleading, to say the least, for example Josephus doesn’t say what they say he does and they misattribute quotes to the wrong philosophers, like Celsus.Otherwise the book isn’t bad, their points are well made, if not ground breaking. The subject matter is definitely interesting It’s just difficult to trust anything which they say when they make so many mistakes that it cannot just be attributed to sloppiness. It’s bad scholarship due either to lack of diligence or poor academic abilities. They might be rock stars but they are untrustworthy sources.

⭐In Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, Pagels and King explore the “Gospel of Judas” and the context in which it was written, to create a framework for the translation of the gospel in the second half of the book. Rather than ignore the gospel as heresy, they ask readers to consider the political forces at work. They argue that the gospel presents Judas not as a betrayer of Jesus, but as his greatest disciple. This challenges readers to reconsider traditional views of Judas, Jesus and the Church, perhaps even to forgive Judas and open their eyes to a larger view of Christianity. Pagels and King explain that through the “Gospel of Judas” we can see that it is not the suffering of Jesus and the persecution of Christians that brings holiness. Rather, Christians must come to understand that Jesus did not die as a blood sacrifice but as a leader showing the way. The physical life is something to be overcome, not mourned. Essentially, Pagels and King strive to overcome the bias with which we may approach the “Gospel of Judas.” We must understand the context to see that the author is not simply trying to be inflammatory but reacting to the religious wars of his time. The book is very approachable, written for those who are not biblical scholars with a heavily annotated translation to help the reader in digestion of the gospel. Pagels and King offer a thorough explanation of the events leading to the gospel’s conception as they explore other Christian works which lend support to its radical statements in the second section.

⭐This book was a well written history about the different events and personages coincident with the Gospel of Judas. The translation of the Gospel text in the second half of the book was easy to follow and the supporting comments were very helpful. These two authors are top-notch.

⭐Taking off where she has left off in her other books about the origins of Christianity, Pagels, with co-author King, has written a terse 150-page analysis accompanied by Judas’ Gospel to argue that there are other books, gnostic included, that offer a diverse unorthodox view of the Christian faith. Her main point is that those in political power were motivated to assert control and unity over the land and that the Bible as we know it was formed by that motivation. Of course, this is not a traditional Christian view. Pagels asserts that Judas has a contrarian voice, that he is specifically, appalled by the apostles’ betrayal of Jesus’ teaching and that Judas, rejecting blood sacrifice, sees Christianity as based on spirit, not the body.Pagels does an excellent job of showing the tumult that existed during Christianity’s origins as splinter groups jockeyed for power and for their interpretation of Jesus to be the one true interpretation. A good companion to this book is Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman.

⭐This premise of this book is well argued, but it is immediately apparent that, as a Gnostic tract, that it could never have been acceptable within the confines of the canon.

⭐The book was shipped and received as promised. The book is new so was in good condition. I am halfway through the book and find it interesting and educational.

⭐Pagels does a very good job on a difficult topic. What I enjoy most about reading her work is the way she sets the historic stage and presents how people might have viewed it at the time it was written. Too often today we read historic documents though modern perception and this is especially true of sacred texts. Pagels demonstrates how far this is from the reality of the ancient texts.

⭐I wish it was more readable.

⭐Thsi was a very moving read. Elaine Pagels and Karen King have done a first class job of translating and interpreting this gospel which is both scholarly and compassionate in its treatment of the gnostic gospel of Judas. It shows the words of Judas in light of the background events of the first century of Christianity which most of us are inclined to view as a time of deep brotherhood and agreement within the early christian community. This book reveals the full extent of the divisions and traumas within this community which tore them apart in many ways. One feels a deep understanding and empathy with Judas as revealed within this gospel, whether or not Judas was the author of it( unlikely). If you value an open and developing mind and spirit, you will benefit greatly from the experience of reading this book.

⭐Unable to get my head round it as such being diyslexic, but bits & pieces are more than beneficial & life[-changing for me – can really recommend as a very worthwhile exposure!

⭐Came punctually. Quality as promised. Super

⭐An easy read and contains a lot of historical background, that gives the reader more insight into 2nd century Christianity. The interpretations presented here are though by no means “final” and are widely debated among scholars.

⭐For years, Judas Iscariot has been portrayed as the betrayer of Jesus. Supposedly for thirty pieces of silver he sold out the man he thought was Israel’s messiah. Now, the discovery of the Gospel of Judas presents him as the man who understood Jesus better than all others, was his devoted friend and confidant and did what he did at Jesus’ own request to make clear to those around him and to those in the future just who this man Jesus was.I found this book very hard going. I read all the preliminary material before attempting to read the gospel itself which has many lines missing from it. I am wondering if I might have gained more from the book if I had read the gospel itself first and then moved on to the introduction and the very careful and extensive footnotes.The authors have surely gone to great pains to make this material available to those who wonder how much the stories of Jesus have been co-opted to shore up an institution which often seems to be anything but what Jesus thought religion and religious persons were all about but it is hard going even for someone like myself who has been reading about and interested in such things for the past forty plus years. Kudos to the authors for having made the attempt. Perhaps a more popular version will appear in the not too distant future.

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