Product Description

What if an ancient gospel was rediscovered that offered a radically different perspective on a man that history has painted as the ultimate villain? What if this account turned Jesus' betrayal on its head, and in it the villain became a hero? National Geographic provides exclusive access to the documents and evidence that traces the incredible story of what has happened to the Gospel of Judas since it was found. Combining dramatic recreations and insightful analysis by the world's foremost experts, they ask and answer the question: Is the Gospel of Judas real?

DVD Features:
Featurette
Interviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52254 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-06-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 87 minutes

Customer Reviews

The Amazing Story of a Lost Gospel
National Geographic's "The Gospel of Judas" is the documentary companion to the books the Society has recently published concerning this recently rediscovered ancient text that purports to tell the story of Judas Iscariot, traditionally the Great Betrayer of the New Testament, from a decidedly different view. The story of the discovery of the text, its appearance and disappearance on the antiquities market, and its ultimate restoration and translation is itself quite fascinating.

The Gospel of Judas is believed to be a late 3rd century Coptic manuscript copy of an earlier Greek original that probably dates to around the middle of the 2nd century. The documentary chronicles the story of the text from its suppression by orthodox Christians to its rediscovery in the 1970s by grave robbers in southern Egypt. The papyrus manuscript, literally falling to pieces during years of poor handling and lack of preservation, finds its way into the hands of a Swiss antiquities dealer who, after several failed attempts to sell it for big bucks, made a deal with National Geographic to preserve, restore, and translate the codex.

The film also makes extensive and effective use of dramatizations that highlight some of the rather controversial subject matter contained in the Judas Gospel that suggests that Judas, far from being the evil betrayer depicted in the canonical gospels, was actually the greatest of Jesus' disciples. Here, Judas is told by Jesus himself to turn him over to the Romans for execution so as to fulfill his ultimate destiny as Messiah and savior. It is important to keep in mind that the Gospel of Judas was deliberately excluded from the orthodox Bible because of its Gnostic teachings, something that connects it to the Nag Hammadi texts discovered in Egypt in 1945. Many of these texts, like the Judas Gospel, were hidden away so that they would not be destroyed by fanatical rival Christian factions that sought to obliterate Gnostic texts that they considered heretical. Though most scholars reject the idea that the Judas Gospel contains genuine historical revelations about Jesus or Judas, it does clearly show that there were many competing gospels that were used by different sects and factions of Christians vying for power and influence in the ancient world.

This documentary is a good introduction to this material and would be especially recommended to anyone interested in the history of religion and early Christianity.

Great dramatizations
I don't know where National Geographic gets these actors who do the dramatizations but they are really top notch. It brings a realism to the subject matter that you don't see with other documentaries.

Overall, I thought it was a great video. They focused on the facts, didn't stray too much from the actual research & background of the codex.

Good stuff.

Judas isn't very controversial... it's those Gnostics....
This is the usual well done, a little slow, Nat. Geog. piece about an arcane piece of antiquity which may or may not be relevant to modern Christians depending on their current beliefs.
Those who believe the current published Bible is the infallible, complete word of God will be understandably upset by the way this program basically sets the Gnostic gospels up as "missing parts" or edited parts. Controversy sells.
There was an obvious, missed opportunity to discuss some of Peter's letters where he tells early churches to stop doing many of the practices that the Gnostics continued. Practices which are referred to here as collateral information on different sects in the early church. These sects DID exist, but they were fringe groups even at that time, and Peter's letters said those practices were not of God. A missed opportunity for full information.
As with most Nat. Geog. specials, the focus here is on the scientific testing of the papyrus, the "ink"... all fascinating forensic stuff, if you like that. I do.
Where this fits or not into your religious viewpoint is what becomes contentious. There ARE multiple views expressed here, most of which think this "Judas Gospel" is irrelevant, except for the one woman who speaks in almost every "bible history" special because what she says is very fringe theology, and she makes people angry, which ramps up viewership.
If you believe Jesus was/is the omnipotent Lord, then it isn't a stretch to believe that he allready knew what Judas would do, and died for Judas' sins just as he did for everyone. So Judas alone is not that controversial (which is why they had to drop in the other Gnostic stuff).
IF you watch this DVD, be SURE to watch ALL the special feature interviews: each historians and biblical scholars gets his full (edited) say. MUCH more informative than just what was broadcasted.
If you are not interested in forensic sciences, this will be a bore, or extremely vexing. View it only as something to augment your "comparative religion" studies.