Customer Reviews

The Gospel of Judas, Critical Edition: Together with the Letter of Peter to Phillip, James, and a Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos

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We have just gone through this gospel in a graduate Coptic class, in which we have also consulted some of the scholarly literature that has been generated since National Geographic published its rather rushed initial translation in 2006. To say the least, the translation and interpretation of this work are very far from settled. The trend in the scholarly world is to look with considerable skepticism on the notion popularized by National Geographic, namely, that Judas is portrayed as good.

In order to arrive at an informed judgment about this work, one must understand both the Coptic language and a lot about Sethian Gnosticism. One must study the usage of many words, both Coptic and Greek, in other related Coptic texts. (Coptic liberally borrows Greek words, and often uses them in ways somewhat tangential to their usual Classical and even Koine uses.)

This so-called critical edition includes translations in both English and French. There are quite a few differences between the two, some of them quite significant. Rodolphe Kasser, the author of the French translation, has a number of translations that are closer to interpretations suggested by scholars in the two years since the initial publication of the English translation. He also includes many informative notes that are lacking in English. The English translation is but little changed from the original, and it thus retains some decidedly infelicitious renderings. However, any reader who wishes to be more fully informed must consult the scholarly literature. General readers, as well as scholars, can benefit from books such as April DeConick's The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says. It offers a very different perspective on the interpretation of the text, and also makes some important points about mistranslations in the original published version.

In spite of the cautions I am voicing here, if you are seriously interested in the Gospel of Judas, this "critical edition" is essential. It has photographs of the manuscript pages as will as transcriptions and translations. It is not the last word on the subject, but it is an indispensable part of the ongoing debate.

As would be expected with a literal translation it is dry reading and I think padded by having entire sections only in French, which unfortunately I don't understand, and I really don't understand if it's being sold in America why Nat Geo would make it that way, but no matter, the part that counts, the literal translation is interesting so thumbs up to that.

The Gospel of Judas confirmed my beliefs. The author explains everything in detail. I could not put the book down until I finished. It was inspiring and I enjoyed it tremendously.

Dorothy

This book is everything it's cracked up to be. It's good either for the scholar or the casual reader. Those who wish to read the entire extant manuscript will find it here. This is the best form of preservation for this rare manuscripts What is missing, however, is commentary about the contents of the text itself. The author apparently decided that all readers would be familiar with the meanings of obscure terms like aeons as they are used in the context this work. Whatever the reason for that presumption, I will need to look elsewhere for an explanation that should have been provided. However, otherwise this text is excellent.

I like how they presented the information with the actual pages being translated opposite the English language translation. They used modern English terms and grammar. Very readable!

I have read the second edition. You don't need to know Coptic to make sense of this, you need Sant Mat. [...]. A mystic practitioner such as myself will know that "apophasis Logos", from the incipit, is "Unspoken Word" or "Shabd" (Sanskrit/Hindi) of Sant Mat. Also "region never called by any name" at page 47, is "Anami Desh" in Sant Mat. But by far, most important is the fact that it is JUDAS who is sacrificed at 56, NOT Jesus. New fragments show that Jesus said "no hand of a mortal will sin against me", and the lines following "You will exceed them all. For you will sacrifice the man that bears me" are an ode to the dying, JUDAS:

"Your horn is now raised,
your wrath has been kindled,
your star has passed by,
and your heart is made strong"

This is the Gospel of Judas, not Jesus. There will be no final understanding of the sorry origins of antiSemitism until this simple misunderstood passage of something Jesus almost certainly did say to Judas about his coming MERGING into the spiritual form of his Master is acknowledged for what it truly is: Mysticism. Finally Christianity has met its match. A hand reaches out from the grave and sets things WRITE!
Saviors: Beyond Qumran, Nag Hammadi, and The New Testament Code

If you want to delve deeper into Christian history and belief, then this is the book for you. Written so that a layperson can read and understand, it is an amazing collection that adds depth and richness to Christian belief.

I got this book for someone that loves reading about history and, especially, biblical history. I had no intention of really reading it, but, after talking with the person I gave it to and seeing what all this book has to offer, I'm going to borrow it when she's done. I figured the book would be great, but what I didn't think would be so great was the customer service. I ordered it from this seller because they were the cheapest. Then, after I'd placed the order, I realized they were in the UK. I thought it'd take a month to ship, but I had the book well before their '18-day' shipping date. Nice experience all around.

high quality paper and binding at a reasonable price. the layout of the text is great--photo (albeit too small), transcription, translation--and the index is very useful.