Was it virtue or betrayal?

That's the headline of this morning's LA Times Column One, written by Louis Sahagun. The column details the "feud" between mentor and student, James Robinson and Marvin Meyer, over the publication of the Gospel of Judas. It's an interesting piece that details the politics of scholarship. Robinson has been an advocate of opening documents to all scholars, and feels betrayed by Meyers who agreed to a confidentiality statement in order to study and translate the Coptic/Gnostic gospel that hails Judas as hero rather than goat.

Part of the issue has to do with transparency, and apparently there are mistakes in the translation that could have been caught had National Geographic opened things up to greater scrutiny. Apparently Meyers, of Chapman University and a leading expert on Gnosticism bought into the idea that this would enable a quicker release to the general public.

In the end, while Robinson remains a relentless critic of Meyers decision, they remain friends. All in all it is quite an interesting piece.

Of course there is the whole question of the reliability and relevance of the Gospel of Judas. Many believe that the Gnostic voice was a suppressed voice and represents a tradition that should be treated equally with the gospel tradition found in the New Testament. Nothing I've seen or heard yet has led me to abandon the mainstream texts for a gnostic perspective. Still, the debate is an interesting one.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the paper to give me the last 2 pages of the column--wouldn't let me register--but I'd sure like to find out more about the "Gospel of Judas".
Kitty Wenk

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