Kino Institute offers Catholic perspective on ‘Gospel of Judas’

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

Catholics throughout the diocese will have the chance to look deeper into the Gospel of Judas and Gnosticism through a class offered this month by the Kino Institute.

“The Gospel of Judas in Context: The Catholic Response to Gnosticism” will be a day-long workshop on second century Gnosticism and its present-day application held at the Diocesan Pastoral Center May 20.

“It’s not like suddenly we found a new Gospel we’re going to place as a fifth,” said Larry Fraher, a Kino faculty member and the presenter of the workshop.

“We need to place it in its context and say, OK, what was going on during the time that this was written and why would we uphold Judas Iscariot as a hero who releases Jesus from the flesh,” he said.

Gnosticism was a second century fringe movement that maintained that the spirit is good and the flesh is evil, Fraher said. The workshop will focus on the writings of St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who was the chief defender of the faith against Gnosticism and dealt with the Gospel of Judas in his writings.

The Gospel of Judas has received attention recently after the National Geographic Society displayed a Coptic translation of the document in Washington last month. Scholars believe the text was written around A.D. 180.

St. Irenaeus, after studying the Gnostics systems and structures, gave a systematic Catholic Christian response, Fraher said.

“In some of the Gnostic Gospels you actually have the spirit of Jesus flying away from the body of Jesus on the cross and turning around and mocking the flesh of Jesus as He’s dying on the cross,” he said.

“One of the things that Irenaeus says is that you can’t separate the spirit from the flesh,” Fraher added. “The doctrine of the Incarnation is so intensely who we are that you can’t have the spirit of Jesus flying away from the flesh of Jesus and somehow abandoning that the spirit and flesh are one.”

Barry Sargent, director of the Kino Institute, echoed Fraher’s sentiments.

“The Judeo-Christian tradition really looked at creation and the world and human beings not as something evil or wicked, but as something positive and a vehicle for the spiritual,” he said.

“Gnosticism really diminishes human dignity. It doesn’t elevate it at all. It really distrusts anything that is material,” Sargent added.

The term “Gnostic” comes from the Greek word gnosis, or knowledge, Fraher said.

“If you had the knowledge of the spirit being good and the flesh being evil, you could somehow live above other people without the knowledge and elevate yourself to a higher level,” he said, explaining the Gnostic beliefs.

Many Gnostic Gospels were rediscovered in the 1940s and the Gospel of Judas was found in the 1970s, Fraher said.

“People get fascinated with this and wonder why they haven’t heard of this. And it’s because it was a second century phenomenon that the Church hasn’t dealt with since,” he said.

“The temptation is to view this as a new revelation or a revelation we didn’t know about or maybe the Church powers knew about it but didn’t tell us,” Fraher said. “Well, go to any theological library and you can find the writings of St. Irenaeus. No one’s tried to hide them from us. They’re all there, right in front of us.”

He also noted Gnostic trends in contemporary Christianity. Putting the Gospel of Judas in context helps Catholics see it and Gnosticism for what they are, he said.

In addition to St. Irenaeus, Fraher said the Gospel of John also counteracted Gnostic teachings.

“The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is John’s way of saying it wasn’t just the spiritual Word, it actually became flesh and dwelt among us,” he said. “The good news is that the spirit is redeemed with the flesh.”