AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Byline: Yonat Shimron
Apr. 7--Two years ago, Bart Ehrman, a professor of religion at UNC-Chapel Hill, got a call from the National Geographic Society asking if he'd like to fly to Geneva to examine an ancient book, purporting to contain the Gospel of Judas.
As one of the leading historians of early Christianity, Ehrman wasted no time answering.
He knew that the Gospel of Judas had been suppressed by early church leaders. Irenaeus, a bishop who lived from A.D. 130 to 200 in Lyons, France, had called it heretical. Little more was known.
Wouldn't it be great to actually read what so infuriated Irenaeus?
In December 2004, Ehrman examined the book, joining an expert on radio carbon dating and another expert on the Coptic language who had been invited by National Geographic. He immediately felt that it belonged to a larger body of Gnostic writings.
"It confirms what we thought -- that Christianity was extremely diverse," said Ehrman, who attended the news ...