Judas and the Gospel of Jesus

by N. T. Wright

Publisher:

Baker

, 2006

Overview

What does the Gospel of Judas really tell us?

Joining other recently found and publicized “gospels,” the Gospel of Judas has found its way into the limelight. The ancient manuscript appears to be genuine—so what are we to make of the claims therein? Claims such as:

• Judas was doing what Jesus asked him to do when he betrayed Jesus
• Jesus came to offer secret knowledge of how to escape this earthly world, rather than to usher in God’s kingdom on earth
• Jesus felt no pain on the cross
• and more

This timely response to the Gospel of Judas is the authoritative, orthodox word on what the Gospel of Judas really tells us—and does not tell us—about Jesus, Judas, early Christianity, and Gnosticism. N. T. Wright, as both a bishop and a historian, is uniquely qualified to speak on the subject. In Judas and the Gospel of Jesus, he clearly and fairly answers your questions about this “new gospel.”

Product Details

• Title: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus
• Author: N.T. Wright
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 160

About N.T. Wright

N. T. Wright is the bishop of Durham in the Church of England. Recently named by Christianity Today as one of the top five theologians in the world, Wright has taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, Oxford, and McGill universities. He is the author of The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God, and numerous other books.

Contents

Top Highlights

“First, this new ‘Gospel of Judas,’ while a spectacularly interesting archaeological find, tells us nothing about the real Jesus, or for that matter the real Judas.” (Page 13)

“No, it doesn’t disprove Christian faith. But yes, it does tell us quite a lot about how some people in the second century were reinterpreting that faith.” (Pages 22–23)

“Whatever the ‘Jesus’ of these gnostic ‘gospels’ has done, the main thing about him is that he has come, not to rescue the world, or to heal or change it, but to give secret teaching about how to escape it.” (Page 68)

“The ‘Gospel of Judas’ has no sense of a salvation that is for this world, but only of one that is from this world.” (Pages 51–52)

“the comi-tragic vagaries of the antiquities market” (Page 21)

Product Details

• Title: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have we Missed the Truth about Christianity?
• Author: N. T. Wright
• Publisher: Baker
• Print Publication Date: 2006
• Logos Release Date: 2009
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Jesus Christ › Biography--Sources; Jesus Christ › Biography--Apocryphal and legendary literature; Gospel of Judas › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780801012945, 9780801068348, 0801012945, 0801068347
• Resource ID: LLS:JUDASGSPJESUS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:59:27Z

About N. T. Wright

Nicholas Thomas “Tom” Wright (1948–) is a New Testament scholar, Pauline theologian, and Anglican bishop and currently Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's College in the University of St Andrews and Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Christianity Today named him one of today's top theologians. 

Wright was born in Morpeth, Northumberland, and recounts an awareness of God's presence from a young age—and that relationship with God ever since is reflected in his life and work. He's a prolific author; one of his most popular books, Surprised by Hope, frames the resurrection of the dead as the appropriate hope for all believers rather than an overemphasis on just "going to heaven when you die." He's among the leading theologians in the New Perspective on Paul debate. Wright has several honorary doctoral degrees, and in 2014, the British Academy awarded him the Burkitt Medal "in recognition of special service to biblical studies." In 2015, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Wright served as chaplain at Cambridge from 1978 to 1981, then as assistant professor of New Testament language and literature at McGill University in Montreal. Before becoming a chaplain, tutor, lecturer, and fellow at Oxford in 1986, Wright served as dean of Lichfield Cathedral, canon theologian of Westminster Abbey, and the bishop of Durham from 2003–10. In addition to the entire New Testament for Everyone Series, some of N. T. Wright's books include The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, Who Was Jesus, The New Testament and the People of God, God and the Pandemic, Evil and the Justice of God, Surprised by Hope, and Simply Christian. He coauthored Jesus the Final Days with Craig A. Evans.