The controversy surrounding the “Gospel of Judas” raises significant and important questions for intelligent Christians.  How are we to understand this document?  What does this text suggest in terms of theology?  How do we put the entire question into context?

When the National Geographic Society and a team of designated scholars announced the “discovery” and release of the document known as the “Gospel of Judas” the international media went after the story with a frenzy. Headlines around the world claimed that the discovery would force a complete reconstruction of Christianity.

The history of African-American theology raises one key question — What happened? Thabiti M. Anyabwile, now senior pastor of the First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman Islands, answers this question in The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity [InterVarsity Press]. Anyabwile traces a road from biblical orthodoxy to theological liberalism in the mainstream of African-American theology.

Can a true Christian deny the virgin birth? This question would perplex
the vast majority of Christians throughout the centuries, but modern
denials of biblical truth make the question tragically significant. Of
all biblical doctrines, the doctrine of Christ’s virginal conception
has often been the specific target of modern denial and attack.

Just last year, the National Geographic Society announced the discovery of a third-century Gnostic text called “The Gospel of Judas.” The Society timed its announcement to support the commercial success and maximize the media impact of a book and television program dedicated to the text.

Mary Zeiss Stange is a professor of women’s studies and religion at Skidmore College in New York and a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors. In an article published in the paper’s July 9, 2007 edition, Stange suggests that mainline Protestant churches should ask, “What would Luther do?,” on the issue of homosexuality.