ARA Review by aparrish of Misreading Judas

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aparrish
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ARA Review by aparrish of Misreading Judas

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[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Misreading Judas.]
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3 out of 5 stars
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Misreading Judas: How Biblical Scholars Missed the Biggest Story of All Time by Robert Wahler Book Review
3 out of 5

Misreading Judas: How Biblical Scholars Missed the Biggest Story of All Time by Robert Wahler is an attempt to argue for the Gospel of Judas that was first translated by the National Geographic Society in 2006.

Those raised in a Coptic Christian traditional belief that Christ is the Messiah and Paul is the head of the church will find the assertion that Judas, or James the Just, supplanted (or is) Jesus as Master (or Sat Guru) far-fetched. However, those who are learnèd gnostics and/or followers of Ordo Templi Orientis (or even South Park?) might find the assertions to be something they are willing to entertain, and these are the type of readers the author was expecting to have, as he wasted no time at all on the former.

This was written for gnostics, by a gnostic, and there is an expectation that the reader is also privy to gnostic vocabulary and names, such as Yaldaboath, the blind God of the Old Testament, and Saklas. He is well aware of this for he says, “Bear in mind that the terminology of modern mystics will be different and just as novel to the non-initiate.”

The book is not self-contained, which is a good thing. He draws from the latest translation of the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocalypses and Apocryphon of James, and the New Testament Gospels and Acts, which means the reader can peruse these too on his (or her) time. Through links and resources that he provides, the reader may continue his path to find the truth and come to his (or her) own conclusions. He also references Die to Live by Maharaj Charan Singh and Sar Bachan and Sant Mat by Swami Ji Maharaj, specifically choosing Indian sources because of the assertion that Jesus spent time in India.

The idea that Jesus spent time in India might come as a shock to those raised without apocryphal texts and sources about Jesus’s life other than the Bible. However, this is nothing new to scholars that have studied Jesus’s life and those who read (and believe) in the more recently channeled books. It might be as well-known among scholars as the idea that Jesus was not born on the Winter Solstice.

As an adoptee, I understand the desire to know things we may not possibly ever know and to piece together disparate information in the search for truth. However, the only ones who really knew what happened lived during the time of Jesus (Yeshua), not a couple of centuries later, as is the case with a particular Gospel accepted into the canonical texts and with the Gospel of Judas. Two centuries is still 200 years and spans multiple generations and multiple iterations of mythology, created as if from the game of telephone. As we know in America, even generations that are one generation apart can have huge divides in how they see reality. Mark and Luke were not apostles, Matthias might not have been a contemporary of the apostles, and one of the gospels is suspected to have been ghostwritten. I, myself, used to think that Gnosticism holds the truth because it was the first organized version of Christianity, but then I learned that even Gnosticism was late to the game, and that only through Hermeticism could I better understand the lifestyle and beliefs of Jesus’ contemporaries.

The author, in wanting so badly to be recognized as a genius, allows his own ego to get in the way of truth at times, asserting that people either believe in him or be judged as imbeciles.

If the reader happens to be part of the unintended (but majority) audience of traditional Christians, I would not be surprised if they put down this book in disgust at the assertions that Paul was a “murdering liar.” However, if the person who comes to this book is part of the author’s intended (and esoteric) audience, then the reader may have enough critical thinking skills at his (or her) disposal to be able to turn these ideas over in his mind and make his (or her) own conclusion despite the author’s bias against modern Christianity.

Other Resources:
https://scienceofthesoul.org
https://www.scribd.com/doc/30633238/The ... raj#scribd

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