Judas betrayed

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 08, 2006

When the Dallas Morning News dove headlong into the publicity pool to tout "The Gospel of Judas," old friend Tom Pauken did some homework, and uncovered the dismissive comments that have already been made by serious scholars.

"It is a rewriting of history by a heretical group," said one professor. And "completely fiction," observed another. There's plenty more in Pauken's critique.

What's even more interesting about this thorough debunking is that it occurred a while ago-- before the National Geographic Society unveiled the "Gospel of Judas." How could scholars form an opinion before the document was made public?

There's another interesting note. This "Gospel" is not a new discovery. It's been around since the 1970s. Serious scholars took note, shrugged, and moved on. But others, with a better knack for publicity, realized that just before Holy Week you can always get a rise from some media outlets-- apparently like the Dallas Morning News...