Scholarly gripes about The Da Vinci Code, by Larry Hurtado

Larry Hurtado chimes in on the DaVinci Code, at Slate:

" . . . the historic Gnostics and the gospels often linked with their circles did not emphasize Jesus' human nature at all - quite the opposite. Typically, Gnostic Christians portrayed Christ as a heavenly being who came down to earth to awaken them from their spiritual slumber by disclosing their own divine inner nature. Regarding the physical world as a source of delusion and place of confinement, Gnostics were deeply negative about bodily existence, including their own. So, they tended to treat Jesus' body as simply the temporary vehicle for his revelatory mission, believing that he discarded it before returning to his heavenly status in the realm of pure light. It was actually the Orthodox Christians who made much of Jesus' full human nature and the reality of his death as the essential redemptive act."

Read this and more.

Larry Hurtado on The Gospel of Judas

From Larry Hurtado's article on the Gospel of Judas:

"The Gospel of Judas has genuine historical value-as one of several bits of evidence showing the diversity of early Christianity, like the writings of such figures as Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons in about 180 A.D. The text's depiction of Judas as the disciple to whom Jesus gave unique mystical revelations is not itself really unique. It somewhat resembles the portrayal of Thomas in the Gospel of Thomas. Nor is there evidence that the Gospel of Judas ever enjoyed much popularity as an alternative to the canon of the New Testament or was considered for inclusion in that canon. This text reflects a profoundly elitist viewpoint, claiming a specially conveyed revelation of religious truths withheld from ordinary Christians and their leaders."

As always, Prof. Hurtado comes across balanced and quite sane. If only we could say that of all the hype surrounding the Gospel of Judas.

Read the rest at Slate.