The Gospel of Judas

Coptic Text, Translation, and Historical Interpretation of 'the Betrayer's Gospel'

by Lance Jenott

Book cover: The Gospel of Judas

Extent: 256 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity

Series volume number: 64

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(November 2011)

ISBN: 9783161509780

Price: $93.00

Out of stock

Lance Jenott presents a new critical edition, annotated translation, and interpretation of the Gospel of Judas which, for the first time, includes all extant fragments of the manuscript. Departing from the scholarly debate over how this second-century Gospel portrays the character of Judas Iscariot, he investigates the text’s preoccupation with Jesus’ Twelve Disciples, and why its author slanders them as immoral priests who unwittingly offer sacrifice to a false god. Jenott challenges previous interpretations of Judas as a Gnostic text that criticizes the sacrificial theology, Christology, and ritual practices of the orthodox church, including Eucharist and baptism. Instead, he emphasizes how its Christian author voices a political critique of the emerging clergy who established their ecclesiological authority through doctrines of apostolic succession and the exclusive right to administer the Eucharist.

  • By (author) Lance Jenott