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January 31st, 2010 
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- What if an ancient gospel was rediscovered that offered a radically different perspective on a man that history has painted as the ultimate villain? What if this account turned Jesus’ betrayal on its head, and in it the villain became a hero? National Geographic provides exclusive access to the documents and evidence that traces the incredible story of what has happened to the Gospel of Judas sinc
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What if an ancient gospel was rediscovered that offered a radically different perspective on a man that history has painted as the ultimate villain? What if this account turned Jesus’ betrayal on its head, and in it the villain became a hero? National Geographic provides exclusive access to the documents and evidence that traces the incredible story of what has happened to the Gospel of Judas since it was found. Combining dramatic recreations and insightful analysis by the … More >>
The National Geographic: The Gospel of Judas
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GENERAL ANALYSIS: This DVD gives clear information on how the codex was discovered, restored, translated, and dated with the radiocarbon method. Some of the content is dramatized, which makes it more interesting to see. It confirms the ancient date of the codex and suggests that it is highly probable that the content of this gospel is not historically reliable. Yet, the video finishes with a very postmodern note: that religious belief has little to do with historical facts as it has to do with blind faith.
MAJOR MISLEADING NOTIONS: (1)The NT gospels have different accounts, therefore they contradict each other. (2) The NT portrait of Judas as a villain has led to Anti-semitism (3) Gnosticism was not heresy but a different legitimate face of early Christianity.
CONCLUSION: It is a good video to use for background information as well as to discuss the false postmodern assumption that Christian faith has little to do with historicity.
Rating: 4 / 5
This National Geographic special appears to provide a very limited amount of definitive answers to questions about the Gospel of Judas. Their team established conclusively through scientific dating that it is indeed a document from antiquity, around 280 A.D., and not a modern fake. Scholars are agreed that it is a Gnostic document, the Gnostics having been early Christians who believed in salvation through inner revelation rather than through the atonement of the crucifixion. Beyond this point, it seems, we begin to run into some rather strong controversy. The Geographic special presents a picture of Judas as being more enlightened than the other apostles, and actually being favored over them by Christ for this reason. According to their team of experts, The Gospel of Judas tells of Christ actually bidding Judas to betray him to the Romans in order that his spirit might be freed from “the man who clothes me”, or, his body. Because of this betrayal, Judas will be greater than the other apostles. So we are given a picture of Judas which flatly contradicts his portrayal in the canonical gospels as an agent of the devil. A circumstance which was probably unknown to previous reviewers of this DVD is that a credible opposition to this interpretation has been raised, primarily but not solely, by Professor April DeConick of Rice University in Texas. Professor DeConick, an expert in ancient biblical languages as well as Gnostic Christianity, has made her own translation of the text of the Gospel of Judas. According to her version, Judas was not a faithful disciple misunderstood by later generations, but was, if anything, even more evil than he is represented in the orthodox gospels. This vast difference in interpretation hinges on the way in which some key words are translated. A word that is applied to Judas in the text is translated as “spirit” by the Geographic team, but DeConick says that given the context of other similar writings, it should have been rendered as “demon”. If you would like to see a brief summary of what Professor DeConick has to say about this controversy, you can Google-search an article she wrote for the New York Times. Search: Gospel Truth-New York Times. She has also written a book called “The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says”, sold by Amazon. The reviews and comments offered by Amazon reviewers on the book are also very informative. When I watched the DVD, I was taken aback by the insertion into the program of material about Hitler and the holocaust which suggested that the portrayal of Judas in the four orthodox gospels as the evil betrayer of Christ has been a contributing factor behind anti-semitism through the ages. Some of the scholars on the Geographic team, particularly Meyer, seemed to welcome this revisionist alternative to the conventional picture of an evil Judas. The message appears to be that if Judas was actually a good guy, then that would remove the motive for anti-semitism on the part of Christians. Regardless of who has the truer translation, it struck me as being out of place for National Geographic to editorialize on fundamental Christian beliefs in this manner. In the first place, there is nothing in any of the canonical gospels that advocates anti-semitism. This is, to me, a strange idea since Jesus himself, as well as most of his original followers were Jewish. In the second place, it would not be well-tolerated if a criticism by a national publication were leveled at some fundamental aspect of any other religion, such as Islam or Judaism. At any rate, even the basic premise on which this editorial perspective was based, is open to question. My personal take is that the desire for a scoop may have caused some haste in putting this program together. Careful, objective research, uncompromised by political correctness, no matter how well-intentioned, is what I would like to see in documentaries. This support of Judas as a hero, and the linking of the Holocaust to the orthodox view of Judas makes me think that this project was compromised somewhat by the desire to shape public opinion.
Rating: 3 / 5
I have always considered Judas to have been demonised down the centuries, but I have a warm feeling about him. Somebody had to do what he did, and the result was his being branded a villain through circumstances of which he was not the sole creator.
I recommend this film to any Christian, to give a fresh slant on the Judas story. I recommend it to any non-Christian for its sheer power.
Rating: 5 / 5
Being that the scriptures have been written by men and from ancient time, it’s good to know that there were other gospels written and to learn that maybe not everything we read is true. New items should be available to read and to discuss and not hidden just because they are not the status quo.
Rating: 5 / 5
Judas Iscariot has always fascinated me, even as a child. I never believed that he was possessed by Satan and betrayed Jesus. In my own innocent way, I believed that Judas was meant to betray Jesus as part of His divine plan. The scriptures, centuries before Christ was born, told that the messiah would be betrayed. Then this leads us to two ideas, either we are predetermined in what we do and have no say in the matter (even though we think we know what we are doing), or Judas was told to do this by Jesus so the crucifiction and the resurrection could occur. The most chilling of all Bible quotes is when Jesus says “Lo that the man would be better that he were never born, than to betray the Son of Man.”
In the Book of John it is said that Judas was possessed by Satan and betrayed Jesus, later hanging himself, and is now in the lowest pits of hell. If this is so, then doesn’t it make sense that Judas has indeed paid the ultimate price for human redemption? Yes Jesus was crucified and was raised on the thrid day, but if Judas has been burning in hell for over 2000 years and will burn for eternity, didn’t he suffer more for mankind?
It is this line of thinking that makes this subject so fascinating to me. If Judas was possessed by Satan and betrayed Jesus, Jesus would have already known this thrre years prior and allowed it to happen by letting Judas become a disciple.
This DVD does not tell as much about the contents of The Gospel of Judas as it does the history and restoration of the document itself. The document dates plus of minus 50 years from the year 280 AD and is 85% intact. The document was found be a fortune seeking farmer. It was sold in Egypt and then stolen. After the owner got it back he tried to sell it, but could not get the price he asked for. It then sat in a safety deposit box in New York for 16 years, causing much more damage to the document.
The DVD also talks about the Gnostics and how the early church did away with over 30 Gospels and decided that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the only Books worthy of being in the Bible.
There are some very good re-enactments of Jesus and his disciples speaking in their native tongue. Also there is a bit on the Romans torturing and killing Christians. I had never heard of the ‘hot seat’ before as a torture device, but it looked very unpleasant.
If you want to read or know the actual contents of the Gospel of Judas, I suggest buying it and reading it yourself. This DVD concentrates most on the actual history of the document itself.
Rating: 4 / 5