As a child, I spent countless hours in the magazine room at my local library, thumbing through the pages of National Geographic. Why? Because the magazine offered glimpses into exotic locales far from my home base in rural Oklahoma. Today, however, I don’t encourage my school-age children to do the same, because the magazine of my youth has been compromised by a world view I don’t share.
Case in point: NatGeo’s much-publicized claim last year that Judas Iscariot was a “good guy.”
Today, in an op-ed piece published in The New York Times, April D. Deconick proves National Geographic was wrong. Under the headline, Gospel Truth, the Rice University professor of Biblical studies and author of The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, begins her piece this way:
AMID much publicity last year, the National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The shocker: Judas didn’t betray Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed. Judas’s reward? Ascent to heaven and exaltation above the other disciples.
It was a great story. Unfortunately, after re-translating the society’s transcription of the Coptic text, I have found that the actual meaning is vastly different. While National Geographic’s translation supported the provocative interpretation of Judas as a hero, a more careful reading makes clear that Judas is not only no hero, he is a demon.
Deconick continues, explaining that “Several of the translation choices made by the society’s scholars fall well outside the commonly accepted practices in the field.” And I believe her claims will hold up under expert scrutiny.
See what you think. Click here to read Gospel Truth.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Roy // Dec 1, 2007 at 2:11 pm
As with all things historically religious, they are simply stories told by ‘elders’ to guide the new generations. These are simply lessons in what is good and what is bad. Religion is all based on this.
We didn’t have TV’s in those days. People had no education, and were wide open mentally to what their ‘betters’ told them. Most of religious teachings do in fact show the way to a fulfilled life – the only one I feel is mis-directed is that of Islam – or should I say the interpretation by ‘some’ of Islam. Many Islamists preach peace and Harmony, as do Christians, others promote war. It is the less educated that suffer from the latter.
How we all go forward without war is the question – this is further complicated by resources that all the nations of the world need.
Good luck to all our children, of whatever creed..
2 View from Here // Dec 2, 2007 at 6:19 pm
April DeConick’s article on the Judas fiasco is excellent, but note what she says about the Dead Sea Scrolls:
“The situation reminds me of the deadlock that held scholarship back on the Dead Sea Scrolls decades ago. When manuscripts are hoarded by a few, it results in errors and monopoly interpretations that are very hard to overturn even after they are proved wrong.”
The consequences of the Scrolls monopoly are indeed still continuing today, in an outrageously biased and misleading exhibit taking place in a “natural history” museum San Diego. See this article for details:
http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/did-christian-agenda-lead-biased-dead-sea-scrolls-exhibit-san-diego
Thus, I would suggest that the real question confronting us today is whether Christian scholars like DeConick will frankly condemn what is going on with the Dead Sea Scrolls in one museum exhibit after another.
3 John Fr // Dec 3, 2007 at 8:45 am
Agree with “View from Here”. Religious scholarship obviously is biased by nature to put it charitably.
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