We knew it would happen.

The discovery and publication of an ancient text, authored by members of a heretical sext and rejected by Christianity some 17 or 18 centuries ago, would lead to calls by those outside of Christianity to reinterpret Christian teaching.

Thus the publication of the so-called Gospel of Judas, while interesting, presents a challenge and a threat to Christianity.

Over the past two millenniums, the figure of Judas in art and religious literature increasingly became a thinly disguised caricature for the Jewish people and a tool for generating anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe, where Passion plays re-enacting the crucifixion often provoked murderous riots called pogroms directed at Jewish neighborhoods. The hatred culminated in the Nazi-directed Holocaust during World War II.

It's fitting that National Geographic chose to broadcast a documentary at the start of this Holy Week detailing the discovery of an 1,700-year-old Christian text depicting Judas in an entirely different light. Found bound in leather in an Egyptian cave more than 30 years ago, the painstakingly restored papyrus sheets written in Coptic portray Judas as the disciple entrusted by Christ to carry out the steps necessary for his sacrifice and resurrection, a notion echoed in several passages of the four Gospels of the Bible.

The documentary bluntly confronts the shameful history of Christian anti-Semitism and details how the image of Judas has been employed to stir up hatred and intolerance over the centuries. By contrast, instead of a plot with a despised villain, the Gospel of Judas focuses entirely on Christ's love and willing sacrifice.

Houston Rabbi Amy Weiss describes the document as "an opportunity that has presented itself, and the question is, what will be done with it next?" If major Christian evangelical ministers were to confront the issue of the anti-Semitic characterization of Judas in public sermons, she believes it would have a very positive effect.

So here we have it -- the MSM and Jewish leaders demanding that Chrisstians reinterpret the teachings of Christianity in the light of an ancient heresy to create a more PC version of their faith.

And in the process ignoring decades of theological development on the vry issu that they want reconsidered -- the role of the Jews in the arrest, trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth.

Because you see, the twentieth century saw a major reevaluation of that very issue by Christians of all stripes. It saw the retranslation of Scripture in a manner that made it clear that it was certain religious and political factions, not the Jewish people as a whole, who played a culpable role in the judicial murder of the Lamb of God. Anti-Semitism was formally repudiated by the Second Vatican Council over four decades ago. Today, it is evangelical Christians who are the leading supporters of Israel and friends of the Jews among Christians. Indeed, it is the liberals in the mainline denominations who flirt with anti-Semitism -- but not based upon the Gspel, but upon their politically correct support for Palestinian terrorists and consequent attacks on Israel.

So the work that some claim needs to be done is a fait accompli -- without resort to the heretical writings of a Gnostic sect.

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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