I found the National Geographic program on the Gospel of

Judas completely fascinating. I had no idea that Judas was at least in part the reason for Anti-Semitism (not least because his name in Hebrew, Judah, was the same as the name of the Jewish people) but also because it was convenient that the expansion of Christianity, which had begun as a sect of Judaism, had found more fertile ground, and had been proselytized by Paul primarily to Gentiles. The demonization of Judas was therefore convenient to exculpate the Romans who really executed Jesus, and persecuted and executed so many other apostles.

The denial of 26 of the at least 30 Gospels available and their whittling down to 4 was mostly the work of Irinaeas of Lyon in France, whose reasoning was thus: There are four corners to the world, there are four prime directions for the wind, therefore there are no more than 4 Gospels.

The program also discussed the difference in nature between the 4 Gospels, which are narrative, and the other Gospels which are philosophical inquiries. In other words, it was easier to explain Jesus using a Bible constructed not for educated contemplative scholars, but with a simple narrative story with an obvious villain.

Additionally I didn't know that there was a conflict in the Canonical Bible over how Judas died. 2 (or is it 3) Gospels say he hanged himself, but one says he fell down a hill.

Elaine Pagels, translator of the Gnostic Gospels in the late 60's was very interesting in her discussion of the varieties of Christian worship that were cut back ruthlessly to leave only the Orthodox Church (incorporating the later Roman Catholic faith).

It always puzzles me that the staunchest opponents of looking at the other Christian traditions are Protestants who had their origin in rejecting the "Orthodox" Christianity in favor of a lot of things that sound a lot like elements of the Gnostic tradition. There was no church hierarchy for example in Gnosticism, it was just the person and God with no intermediary, though there were teachers who assisted the faithful to learn the Gnostic Gospels and the general drift of the faith.

Fabulous program, very thought provoking, I highly reccommend it.

Rob