Judas is back! And this time it's global news...

All this talk of The Gospel of Judas has got me thinking about the hyperreal nature of the Bible. Unlike other holy books, such as the Qur'an, the Bible was in a state of evolutionary flux for hundreds of years before it came to resemble the dusty hotel desk-drawer companion we know today. Through multiple translations, overt editing of its contents and popular cultural diversions the Bible (and the new testament in particular) resembles a copy of a simulation of a narrative which itself has very little historically verifiable content. Judas ain't so special:

Alternative histories of Christianity were about as popular 1,800 years ago as they are now. A new gospel is exciting for scholars, but it is hardly the first.

There are four gospels in the New Testament. But by the time Irenaus attacked [The Gospel of Judas], there were according to some estimates, more than 20 known Christian gospels doing the rounds.

This means there is nothing very revolutionary or scandalous in itself about another new gospel turning up. We have the Gospel of Peter, for example, in which Jesus is not hurt by his crucifixion, and the Gospel of the Ebionites in which he is a vegetarian.

There is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas where the child Jesus makes birds out of mud and they come alive, and then a boy bumps into him and he kills him.

- link to BBC News
- link to National Geographic overview

From Hebrew through Greek, Latin and Middle English the four infamous Gospels had time to fester, to spread their memes through the corruptible filters of language, culture and political manipulation. I henceforth submit that the less well known Gospels, including Judas', be submitted to The Huge Entity for a bout of Simulated Bible Evolution. Hyperreal religion got some adapting to do before it gets to sit atop any theological food chain.


UPDATE: The New York Time uncovers: 'How the Gospel of Judas Emerged' and Slate Magazine outlines 'Why the Gospel of Judas Makes Sense'...

Categories: Religion, Jesus, Christianity, Evolution, Humour, News, Links, Culture, History, Simulacrum