Thirteenth Apostle

The first book to challenge The National Geographic version of the Gospel of Judas <em>The Thirteenth Apostle</em> is sure to inspire to fresh debate around this most infamous of biblical figures. In 2006 The National G eographic Society released the first English translation of the Gospel of Judas a second-century text discovered in Egypt in the 1970s. The translation<br/>caused a sensation because it seemed to overturn the popular image of Judas the betrayer and instead presented a benevolent Judas who was a friend of Jesus.<br/>In <em>The Thirteenth Apostle</em> April DeConick offers a new translation of the Gospel of Judas that seriously challenges The National Geographic interpretation. Inspired by The National Geographic Society's efforts to piece together this ancient<br/>manuscript DeConick sought out the original Coptic text and began her own translation: I didn't find the sublime Judas at least not in Coptic. What I found were a series of English translation choices made by the National Geographic team choices that permitted a different Judas to emerge in the English translation than in the Coptic original. Judas was not only not sublime he was far more demonic than any Judas<br/>I know in any other piece of early Christian literature Gnostic or otherwise. -April D. DeConick