April DeConick's Forbidden Gospels Blog

I'd like to join others who have welcomed April DeConick to the blogosphere:

The Forbidden Gospels Blog

Prof. DeConick begins with a kind of prospectus focusing on canonical bias in the academy, Beyond the New Testament Canon, and continues with an interesting post on What does the Gospel of Judas REALLY say? in which she joins with those who are voicing their concerns about the National Geographic team's translation and interpretation of the Gospel:

. . . My examination of the Coptic transcription has led me to think that certain translational errors and one mistaken reconstruction of a Coptic line led the team to the erroneous conclusion that Judas is a saint destined to join the holy generation of the Gnostics. The result is that certain claims have been made by National Geographic that the Gospel of Judas says things it just does NOT say: Judas is the perfect enlightened Gnostic; Judas ascends to the holy generation; Jesus wants Judas to betray him; Jesus wants to escape the material world; Judas performs a righteous act, serving Jesus by “betraying” him; Judas will be able to enter the divine realm as symbolized by his vision of the great house; as the thirteenth, Judas surpasses the twelve disciple, and is lucky and blessed by this number.

I have been speaking to audiences about this situation in a public lecture series I started this semester, The Forbidden Gospels, and I am writing a book for general audiences (What Does the Gospel of Judas REALLY Say?) as quickly as I can. It will include a corrected translation and interpretation, one in which Judas is as evil as ever.

Well, I am looking forward to both the blog and the book. I have April DeConick's recent books on the Gospel of Thomas in front of me (it was published in the series I edit) and they are important contributions to Thomas studies.