Also, Its kind of interesting that the one gnostic sect to survive until today, the Mandeans, lived in the salt marshes of southern Iraq (tho many have immigrated to the US since 1991).
jim
Paul <paul_ at igc.org> wrote:
Yes, I agree with Jim that the gnostics certainly thought of themselves as Christian, just as the rest of the Christian community of the time ruled that they were not. I was trying not to assume anything one way or the other (apologies to Jim if that didn't come through) - I think it gets into an irresolvable "What is a Christian?" debate.
My concern was that the media coverage was blurring the historical truth - that this Gospel was being presented as far closer to the canon and its compilers than it really was.
I think that the historical insights being blurred away are valuable. And, of course, we get some insight (for better or worse) into our own times by observing the "spin" put on history. I am thinking of the way the (far more important) Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi Library have been handled over the years (neglect and taboo, new age mystical hit, today's empty hype and spin, etc) or to a lesser extent the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Paul
Jim (Shak El), quoting me, writes:
>The main problem with this text (tho right on the money on most of its
>points) is the assumption that the Gnostics were not Christian. The
>gnostics themselves certainly thought so.
>
>Paul
wrote:
>Sorry to come to this late, but it does fit 'talk of the day'.
>
>The media coverage of the 'Gospel of Judas' have left me perplexed. I am
>no expert but there are points that seem obviously newsworthy and relevant
>to both theological meaning of the find and even to current political .....
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