Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says [Hardcover]

April D. DeConick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0826499643 | ISBN-13: 978-0826499646

The first book to challenge The National Geographic version of the Gospel of Judas, The Thirteenth Apostle is sure to inspire to fresh debate around this most infamous of biblical figures. In 2006 The National G eographic Society released the first English translation of the Gospel of Judas, a second-century text discovered in Egypt in the 1970s. The translation
caused a sensation because it seemed to overturn the popular image of Judas the betrayer and instead presented a benevolent Judas who was a friend of Jesus.
In The Thirteenth Apostle, April DeConick offers a new translation of the Gospel of Judas that seriously challenges The National Geographic interpretation. Inspired by The National Geographic Society's efforts to piece together this ancient
manuscript, DeConick sought out the original Coptic text and began her own translation: "I didn't find the sublime Judas, at least not in Coptic. What I found were a series of English translation choices made by the National Geographic team, choices that permitted a different Judas to emerge in the English translation than in the Coptic original. Judas was not only not sublime, he was far more demonic than any Judas
I know in any other piece of early Christian literature, Gnostic or otherwise." —April D. DeConick

Editorial Reviews

Review

"April DeConick makes a brilliant contribution to the conversation about this puzzling gospel, whose Sethian "bitter voice" she hears as a sophisticated, ironic parody of apostolic Christianity's atonement-by-sacrifice theology and cultic activity. Engagement with the gospel of Mark and with movie versions of Judas bring first and second century sectarian conflicts into contemporary focus. I highly recommend this work for all scholars and students of the apocryphal and canonical gospels."
Jane D. Schaberg, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Detroit, Mercy, USA. (Jane Schaberg )

"'Yet you will do worse than all of them. For the man that clothes me, you will sacrifice him.' Thus speaks Jesus to Judas Iscariot, according to April DeConick's new translation of the Gospel of Judas. But far from being a demand addressed by Jesus to his favorite disciple, as the first editors of the Gospel of Judas claimed, this sentence is both a prediction of Judas' betrayal of Jesus, and a condemnation of it. In her discussions of this passage and many others, April DeConick's new book provides solutions to major issues raised by this fascinating but frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted text."
Louis Painchaud, Ph.D., Université Laval, Canada (Louis Painchaud, Ph.D., Université Laval, Canada )

"Turning upside down the most accepted understanding of the Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos), April DeConick gives a radically new reading of this Coptic apocryphon, based on her fresh, personal translation. She unveils the techniques of an ancient author, a Sethian Gnostic of the 2nd century CE, who used mockery and sarcasm to define Judas' role in relation to Jesus on one side and the Apostles on the other. A deep original sight is offered on the intense and troubled story of early Christianity with its rival, opponent streams. Those who are interested in the Gnostic adventure cannot miss The Thirteenth Apostle."
Professor Madeleine Scopello, Director of Research at the National Centre of Scientific Research Sorbonne, Paris (Professor Madeleine Scopello )

Introductory article and Q&A session on www.thesheepdip.co.uk

Mention- Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2008

Review and Interview for National Geographic News, December 21st 2007

"This fascinating new book from April DeConick...takes issue with the recent translation and offers a wholly different interpretation, one that focuses on the various distinct sects of second and third century Christians but has much to say about our modern view of this infamous character." The Good Book Guide

"DeConick is not nearly so well known to the reading public as other Gospel of Judas scholars, such as Ehrman, King, and Pagels ... but DeConick's volume, offering as it does a substantial revision of the current consensus, deserves as much attention ... her book contains a vast amount of useful information, placing the Gospel in its historical and theological context in a manner that is very accessible to the general public. Additionally, many readers will appreciate her autobiographical sections, her analysis of contemporary Jesus films, and her annotated bibliography. As such, her book deserves a place in libraries along with other essential Judas publications." Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/ researchers; general readers. - L. J. Greenspoon, CHOICE, May 2008, Vol. 45 No. 09 (L. J. Greenspoon CHOICE )

"DeConick's exposition of Sethian Gnosticism is sympathetic and illuminating...her treatment of the Gospel of Judas is very helpful, and brings to a wide readership debates that are also taking place in academic conferences and the publications to which they will lead."

Reviewed by Andrew Gregory in Church of England Newspaper, 2008

"[DeConick's] treatment of the Gospel of Jusas is very helpful and brings to a wide readership debates that are also taking place in academic conferences and the publications to which they will lead." - The Church of England Newspaper

"She makes a very convincing case, in my view. Indeed, she is only one of a growing number of scholars who are dissenting from the interpretation of Judas Iscariot put forward by the National Geographic team of scholars, and we will be hearing from them in due course." - Birger A. Pearson, Religious Studies Review, June 2008 (Birger A. Pearson Religious Studies Review )

"NOT another book on the Gospel of Judas! That was my first reaction on seeing April DeConick's The Thirteenth Apostle ... Her book is different from the others that are on the market and offers an alternative translation of the text and a different view of Judas' fate." Methodist Recorder

"By the time I'd read it, I felt as if I had been given a privileged glimpse into discussions concerning early church literature, as well as the reasons behind the writing of the original gospel of Judas ... a fascinating book." - Christian Marketplace

"This monograph will no doubt continue to play a central and positive role in redefining the consensus on the gospel of Judas and on the ethics of scholarship ... DeConick has succeeded in presenting a scholarly argument in a form also accessible to a popular audience. Both audiences will appreciate the appendices which summarize and comment on related literature topics [...] and many will also find the online discussion questions helpful." Christian Askeland, European Journal of Theology, XVII 2008

(C. Askeland European Journal Of Theology )

Review in International Review of Biblical Studies, vol. 54:2007/08

"Fascinating...offers a wholly different interpretation, one that focuses on the various distinct sects of second and third century Christians but has much to say about our modern view of this infamous character"

Good Book Guide, 1 February 2008

"This is most readable and accessible book, but for all of that it does not lose its scholarly edge"

1 February, 2008

(Expository Times )

Reviewed in Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo, 2010

"April DeConick makes a brilliant contribution to the conversation about this puzzling gospel, whose Sethian "bitter voice" she hears as a sophisticated, ironic parody of apostolic Christianity's atonement-by-sacrifice theology and cultic activity. Engagement with the gospel of Mark and with movie versions of Judas bring first and second century sectarian conflicts into contemporary focus. I highly recommend this work for all scholars and students of the apocryphal and canonical gospels."
Jane D. Schaberg, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Detroit, Mercy, USA. (, )

"'Yet you will do worse than all of them. For the man that clothes me, you will sacrifice him.' Thus speaks Jesus to Judas Iscariot, according to April DeConick’s new translation of the Gospel of Judas. But far from being a demand addressed by Jesus to his favorite disciple, as the first editors of the Gospel of Judas claimed, this sentence is both a prediction of Judas' betrayal of Jesus, and a condemnation of it. In her discussions of this passage and many others, April DeConick’s new book provides solutions to major issues raised by this fascinating but frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted text."
Louis Painchaud, Ph.D., Université Laval, Canada (, )

“Turning upside down the most accepted understanding of the Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos), April DeConick gives a radically new reading of this Coptic apocryphon, based on her fresh, personal translation. She unveils the techniques of an ancient author, a Sethian Gnostic of the 2nd century CE, who used mockery and sarcasm to define Judas' role in relation to Jesus on one side and the Apostles on the other. A deep original sight is offered on the intense and troubled story of early Christianity with its rival, opponent streams. Those who are interested in the Gnostic adventure cannot miss The Thirteenth Apostle.”
Professor Madeleine Scopello, Director of Research at the National Centre of Scientific Research Sorbonne, Paris (, )

“DeConick is not nearly so well known to the reading public as other Gospel of Judas scholars, such as Ehrman, King, and Pagels … but DeConick’s volume, offering as it does a substantial revision of the current consensus, deserves as much attention … her book contains a vast amount of useful information, placing the Gospel in its historical and theological context in a manner that is very accessible to the general public. Additionally, many readers will appreciate her autobiographical sections, her analysis of contemporary Jesus films, and her annotated bibliography. As such, her book deserves a place in libraries along with other essential Judas publications." Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/ researchers; general readers. - L. J. Greenspoon, CHOICE, May 2008, Vol. 45 No. 09 (, CHOICE )

“She makes a very convincing case, in my view. Indeed, she is only one of a growing number of scholars who are dissenting from the interpretation of Judas Iscariot put forward by the National Geographic team of scholars, and we will be hearing from them in due course.” - Birger A. Pearson, Religious Studies Review, June 2008 (, Religious Studies Review )

"This monograph will no doubt continue to play a central and positive role in redefining the consensus on the gospel of Judas and on the ethics of scholarship ... DeConick has succeeded in presenting a scholarly argument in a form also accessible to a popular audience. Both audiences will appreciate the appendices which summarize and comment on related literature topics [...] and many will also find the online discussion questions helpful." Christian Askeland, European Journal of Theology, XVII 2008

(, European Journal Of Theology )

About the Author

April D. DeConick is the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University (Houston, Texas). She specializes in early Christian history and theology, noncanonical Gospels, and gnostic and mystical traditions. Her books include Seek to See Him: Ascent and Vision Mysticism in the Gospel of Thomas (1996); Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature (Sheffield Academic, 2001); Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas: A History of the Gospel and Its Growth (T. &T. Clark, 2005); and The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation, with Commentary and New English Translation of the Complete Gospel (T. &T. Clark, 2006) and The Thirteenth Apostle: what the Gospel of Judas really says (Continuum, 2007). She has also edited the collection of papers, Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism (SBL, 2006).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (October 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826499643
• ISBN-13: 978-0826499646
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,273,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in rural Michigan, in the northern city, Traverse. My family had a small farm on the Traverse peninsula where I spent my childhood riding horses, climbing pine trees, and swimming in the bay. When I went away to college, I went to the big city (at least I thought it was the big city at the time) Ann Arbor and graduated with a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies in 1993. From there I took an assistant professorship at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. I met and married Wade Allen Greiner, a legal aid attorney who was working in Decatur. Our son was born in 2003. In 2006, we moved to Houston, Texas, so that I could join the faculty of the Religious Studies Department at Rice University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Antidote to the National Geographic translation, November 9, 2007

By 

Neil Godfrey (Toowoomba, Qld. Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says (Hardcover)

I have just finished reading April DeConick's new book, The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says. So many comments need to be made directed at so many interests:

The following is from my blog where I have more posts discussing the contents and argument of this book. See http://vridar.wordpress.com

1. Firstly, the book is easily accessible to the lay reader even though it discusses technical translation issues of the Coptic, as well as some of the history of the scholarship relating to the Gospel of Judas and its broader context.

2. Secondly, for most of us who have read the National Geographic translation of the Gospel of Judas, be prepared for a radical re-think of what we have read there. The National Geographic translation depicts Judas as the only true saint; DeConick's, as the arch demon himself -- or at least destined to join with him in the end.

3. Which immediately raises the question: Why would a gospel make the central character a demon? DeConick shows how the apparent structure and thematic development of the gospel aligns it with an agenda opposing that Christianity that traced its genealogy back to the Twelve Apostles. Like the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Judas was a parody and attack on apostolic Christianity and its doctrine of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

4. Fourthly, April DeConick proposes several reasons to explain such oppositional translations:

i. She explains in easy to read terms the condition of the text and possible variations in how the original Coptic could be read;

ii. She suggests with Professor Louis Painchaud that since World War 2 and the Holocaust, and the widespread anti-Semitism preceding those years, there has been a powerful cultural need to absolve our collective guilt over the treatment of the Jews. And this compulsion has led us to reappraise our portrayals of the bad Jew/Judah/Judas embedded in our foundational Christian myth. So much for Maloney and Archer's collaboration on their fictional cum theological treatise of their Judas gospel!

iii. DeConick even has an interesting section that surveys the different films of Jesus before and since World War 2 and compares particularly the portrayal of Judas in those pre- and those post-Holocaust movies -- in the pre-war movies he was always an evil villain through and through; in the post-war movies he has been depicted with more understanding and compassion -- a well-meaning idealist who just happened not to think the same way as Jesus;

iv. DeConick gives enough information about the transmission of the text and the role of National Geographic in its initial public translation to alert the reader to possible motives and controls at work other than those normally associated with scholarly professionalism.

5. The book gives a clear overview of the nature of the Christian world in the second century, showing that Apostolic Christianity (claiming descent from the Twelve Apostles) was only one branch; others explained are Marcionites, Ebionites, the Church of the New Prophecy (Montanism) and those diverse others traditionally labeled Gnostics.

6. Sixthly, the book gives one of the most readable introductions to the intricacies of (Sethian) gnosticism I have ever read. Anyone who has started out cold and attempted to grasp the cosmology of the Sethian gnostics from the Nag Hammadi texts alone as they are presented in the most accessible translations will appreciate this the most.

7. For Gospel of Mark lovers such as myself I was especially interested in DeConick's comparisons with the theology and attitudes towards the Twelve Disciples in the Gospel of Mark. My mind cartwheeled as I read. What needs to be worked through, I was thinking, was not just the similarities between the Judas and Mark Gospels' dismissiveness of the Twelve, but the fact that both gospels are addressing in many ways the same theological (and church genealogical) issues. Could they really be separated by as much as 100 years as orthodox datings propose?

-- i. Also closely related to the Gospel of Mark is the way both that gospel and the Judas gospel demonstrate that it is the demons who have the superior understanding of who Jesus really was. (Even Peter's confession appears tainted with some form of demon-possession given that Jesus calls him Satan at the same moment as his confession.) Even the demons understand more than the apostles!

8. DeConick provides a clear and easy to read account of the "orthodox" reaction to the theology expressed in the Gospel of Judas. This culminated with Origen's formulation of the doctrine of Jesus' sacrifice as a ransom and atonement to trick the Devil and rescue humanity from his power.

9. The Thirteenth Gospel was one of the very few books where I was drawn to read all the appendices:

i. DeConick's annotated bibliography of the Gospel of Judas, second-century Christianity, the New Testament Apocrypha and Gnosis and the Gnostics;

ii. her annotated synopsis of Sethian Gospel literature;

iii. her annotated citations of the testimony from the Church Fathers on the Gospel of Judas;

iv. and finally a Q&A section with April DeConick. This summed up some of the common questions asked about the Gospel of Judas (why is it appearing only now, why such opposing translations, what is the position of other scholars given such opposing translations, early Christianity and the role of Judas. . . .)

I can see myself returning regularly to this book in future references on this blog. (Especially in relation to my special interest in studies relating to the Gospel of Mark and Christian origins.)

Almost forgot -- Yes, the book contains a complete and new translation -- with commentary -- of the Gospel of Judas.

And I have more posts with detailed accounts of this book's contents and argument on my Vridar blog [http://vridar.wordpress.com]. Check the DeConick link in the Book Reviews section there.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Questioning a Positive Judas, October 23, 2007

By 

James D. Tabor (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says (Hardcover)

Does the much publicized "Gospel of Judas," released in April, 2006 by the National Geographic, truly portray a positive view of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus? Dr. April DeConick of Rice University has questioned this interpretation of the newly released text. Speaking at the Biblical Archeology Society Seminar held this past weekend in San Antonio, Texas, Dr. DeConick, who holds a chair in Biblical Studies at Rice University, summarized her conclusions based on her translation and analysis of the original Coptic text. According to Dr. DeConick the idea of a positive Judas, friend and confident of Jesus, who receives a high heavenly reward for his betrayal of Jesus, is based on a series of faulty misreadings and mistranslations of the original text. Dr. DeConick argues that the "Gospel of Judas," turns out to portray a Judas that is far more demonic than in any other piece of early Christian literature, including the traditional accounts in the New Testament Gospels.

The book surveys the story of the Judas Gospel's discovery and release and includes Dr. DeConick's translation of the Coptic as well as her analysis of the translation issues upon which a positive or negative interpretation of Judas turn. It further relates the text to its historical setting, namely the thought world of an early Christian group of Gnostics known as the Sethians. Chapter 2, titled "A Gnostic Catechism," is one of the clearest expositions on Gnosticism written for the non-specialist that I have ever seen. The book also contains three invaluable appendices: A marvelously clear and complete annotated survey of "Further Reading," a synopsis of Sethian literature, and a Q&A with Dr. DeConick in which she relates her excitement at the initial publication of the text and how she reluctantly came to question its interpretation as represented in the books and documentary produced by the National Geographic Society.

I highly recommend this new book and I look forward to the continued discussion of this fascinating ancient text.

James D. Tabor, author, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important part of the puzzle, February 22, 2008

By 

Paul Stevenson "Linguist" (Duhok, Iraq) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says (Hardcover)

April DeConick's book is addressed to the general public, though it includes much information useful to scholars, such as her discussion of blatant misinterpretations of the Coptic by the original National Geographic team. (Some of these errors have been corrected in the more recently published The Gospel of Judas, Critical Edition; the French translation in that book is superior to the English one.)

Another reviewer has offered many details of the content of the book, so I need not repeat any of them. What I would like to offer is a caveat. My care in approaching this book is the result of having just finished studying the Gospel of Judas in a graduate Coptic class, in which we not only read the book in Coptic but also read some of the scholarly literature that has come out since the rather rushed initial translation published by National Geographic. April DeConick's views are an important part of the mix. Scholars have expressed a range of views on this gospel. A majority seem to reject the National Geographic view. Other views are coming out, and Dr. DeConick's view is an important alternative view, but not the only one. Read her book but also read other literature. Articles published in scholarly journals are particularly helpful, if you have access to them.

But regardless of what you read now, be aware that the study of this gospel is only two years old, and it is still in a state of rapid ferment and development. Perhaps in five years a more considered consensus may emerge, so keep your eye on it. Come back in ten or twenty years, if you can. You will see a considerable body of literature and more fully developed views. Many detailed studies of many aspects of this gospel will be needed in order to interpret it thoroughly. This just takes time, as scholars work on them in the time they have between teaching classes, which is how most of them make their living. But they are working on this gospel and will continue to do so, as the issues it raises are compelling.