Discovering the Gospel of Judas

From The New York Times: "An early Christian manuscript, including the only known text of what is known as the Gospel of Judas, has surfaced after 1,700 years. The text gives new insights into the relationship of Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him... In this version, Jesus asked Judas, as a close friend, to sell him out to the authorities, telling Judas he will "exceed" the other disciples by doing so."

The manuscript was discovered in Egypt. "The 26-page Judas text is said to be a copy in Coptic, made around A. D. 300, of the original Gospel of Judas, written in Greek the century before." It may be "the most significant ancient, nonbiblical text to be found in the past 60 years".

An incredible discovery. As one scholar put it, referring to the Gospel of Judas and other major Gnostic texts: "These discoveries are exploding the myth of a monolithic religion, and demonstrating how diverse -- and fascinating -- the early Christian movement really was."