As national media are promoting the newly translated "Gospel of Judas," BYU professors are saying that claims that the ancient text will radically change Christianity are simply not true.
"We are sure about the texts in the New Testament," said BYU professor and New Testament scholar Richard Neitzel Holzapfel. "This text will not change that story."
In fact, the "Gospel of Judas" tells religious scholars today more about the people who authored the text in second- and third-century Christianity than it does about Jesus or His life in the first century, said Brother Holzapfel.
The "Gospel of Judas" text was discovered in the 1970s in Egypt. The National Geographic Society now has the rights to the document and, the week of Easter, released two books and a television special explaining where this latest discovery fits into the history of Christianity. The May issue of the magazine will also feature the document.
The Gnostic text was also discussed by a panel of religious scholars at BYU on April 15. Kent Brown, Frank F. Judd, Gaye Strathearn and Thomas A. Wayment spoke as part of the university's annual Easter Conference. Brother Holzapfel introduced his fellow professors, saying they are the school's premier New Testament and Gnostic experts.
Brother Holzapfel said there are three reasons the text should be of interest to Church members. First, he explained, anytime an ancient text is found it is good news because so few survived. Second, he said, it will help scholars learn more about 2nd- and 3rd- century Christianity. Finally, the text shows Church members the Apostasy in process, how Christian doctrine diverged radically from earlier traditions recorded in the New Testament.
However, he emphasized, that the information found in the texts is not new and is less credible than the New Testament. The text was written an estimated 250 years after the Savior's death. It has no connection to an eye witness to the Last Supper, the event it details. There is no mention of the Crucifixion or the Resurrection in the Gospel of Judas.
"What it can tell us about Jesus or Judas is simply unreliable," Brother Holzapfel said.
The New Testament, on the other hand, contains the earliest documents detailing the Savior's life. Those documents are also most reliable, he said, because they come from first-hand or from eye-witness accounts. Mark's gospel, for example, is really Peter's memoirs.
In addition, Brother Holzapfel said that the texts are not scripture. And that they are not unique; a treasure trove of Gnostic texts was discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945.
Brother Holzapfel also said that, in his entire academic life, he has never seen such interest in an ancient text.
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