The Gospel of Judas

2006
The Gospel of Judas
6.8| 1h30m| en| More Info
Released: 05 April 2006 Released
Producted By: National Geographic
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

It’s a revelation conjuring heated debate: According to a recently translated ancient text called the Gospel of Judas, the disciple infamous for betraying Jesus may well have been Christ’s most faithful servant and—because the Savior asked him to—accepted perpetual disgrace to bring about Jesus' death. Explore the mysticism of early Gnostic thought expressed in words written on a 1,700-year-old leather-bound papyrus. Hear the interpretations of four biblical scholars. Follow this fragile document from its discovery in Egypt to its translation and ultimate presentation to the world. And share your thoughts on the Gospel of Judas.

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Robert Wahler OK, buckle up. You are going to hear from the only one in the world who understands the Gospel of Judas. Not boasting, just stating a fact so we can set this explanation in the proper context. I am not just positing another opinion. I am, for one thing, a PRACTICING GNOSTIC, or as we are known today, a mystic. Gnostics were mystics. They, as mystics today, practiced a discipline of spiritual self-sacrifice. In a nutshell, the goal is the sacrifice of the individual person, or personality, if you will, in favor of assuming the being of the Master, or the one who holds the true Being of God. Sounds lofty. It is lofty. As some Eastern mystics have said, be prepared to offer your head on a platter (think John the B) and don't even think of crying about it. The Path isn't for everyone.I wrote two books on this subject, and you can find them by searching Amazon with my real name and key words "Judas" and "Saviors". In writing the first one on saviors in the Bible, I discovered what was in the Gospel of Judas. I knew about it before, sure, but not what it said. Only after an introduction to Dr. Robert Eisenman's work on other Apocryphal texts and especially the Dead Sea Scrolls did I get interested in Judas. Dr. Eisenman pointed out that the characters of Judas and Stephen covered the man, James the Just, in the canonical telling of the history of the Church, Acts 1 and 7 respectively. Acts 1 is the "replacement" of Judas as he dies, a cover for the succession of James to mastership, and Acts 7 is the death of Stephen as cover for the blasphemy stoning of James -- both events covered in sources other than the New Testament. Eisenman, being Jewish, didn't recognize the living Masters tradition, but I do (rssb.org). I decided to look into the character Judas in the one place he should really reveal himself, the so-called "Betrayal": Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and John 13/18. Yes, Judas is James in nearly every line. The proof is in the Nag Hammadi Apocalypses of James and Peter. This is what my second book is about, written as a sequel to the first, after learning what Eisenman taught me. There will be this, and much more than this, coming out in the near future. I am still learning. It is my life's work now to bring this realization to the public awareness. I am not a Christian-basher. I used to be one. SO,God bless all who want to learn the truth about this. Salvation awaits. Not salvation from death, but rebirth.... That's mysticism. :)
gavin6942 This film chronicles the discovery of an ancient text, known as the Gospel of Judas, that offers a different view of the disciple who betrayed Jesus.How do we go about rating something that was made for television as a National Geographic special? The commercial breaks should be cut a bit better (on Netflix you are left looking at a blank screen far too long), but all in all it transfers to a 90-minute documentary well.More or less, all you need is Elaine Pagels, the undisputed expert on the Gnostic Gospels and related books. And she was here, so that worked. Some of the "this is probably how it happened" probably was not necessary. And the order of events was a bit odd at times...But, for history buffs and religious scholars, this was a good look at an old document that may be greatly important. (Even if it changes Christianity in no way, it changes our way of looking at the early churches and sects that sprouted up.)
victoria4504 I found this documentary very interesting and eye-opening. While interesting, I was disappointed in what the documentary actually tells us. In trying to put together the ancient text of the Gospel of Judas, the experts tell us that they were able to recover 85% of the text, making it readable for the first time in thousands of years.Unfortunately, they only gave us a "glimpse" of what is written in the Gospel of Judas. The only written words confirmed were "Gospel of Judas." As far as I could tell, no other original quotes were mentioned. This seems unusual and I tend to question why? I'm going to the Internet to see if I can find more information on the actual words of this Gospel.
bob the moo A documentary film that looks at the alleged discovery of what appears to be the missing gospel written by Judas Iscariot. Starting with the history of the document and how it was passed around the black market as various attempted sales failed, this looks at the popular conception of Judas within the bible while the attempted restoration continues, threatening (if it is genuine) to challenge all that we know about the character.You can thank airport novels perhaps but it is certain that questioning the history of biblical times and the conventional religious teachings is certainly in vogue over the last few years. With many "secret" gospels doing the rounds and various other documents found, it is indeed an interesting subject. For Christians I am not sure how the impact is as there has never been a doubt that these documents exist but that they believe that a divine power guided the selection of the books in the bible and just because others exist doesn't mean they are correct, true or sacred.Of course this does not mean that the documents have no interest because to me personally they do. Judas in particular is an interesting character because of his role – to complete the fate of Jesus, someone had to betray him so was this a role he did because he was greedy, one he did as a sacrifice or one he was fated to do? It is interesting because if he had done the "right" thing then how would things have worked out? Sadly this film does not really get to the core of this revelation of a document. We spend most of our time hearing about the accepted history of Judas and also about the recent history of his document. In regards details of the gospel it is very light – to the point that it feels like a trailer for another film where we will learn this. It is a real shame because this is what we all came for and it doesn't actually deliver a great deal.Instead we get terrible re-enactments with stiff actors and the experts are not given enough time to discuss content so much as the challenge of getting to it. A disappointing film then that feels like it spends 90% of its time skirting around the issue and barely 10% discussing the content of this document we are told is a biblical revelation.