Expert doubts 'Gospel of Judas' revelation
By Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press
NEW YORK - An expert on ancient Egyptian texts is predicting that the
Gospel of Judas- a manuscript from early Christian times that's nearing
release amid widespread interest from scholars - will be a dud in terms
of learning anything new about Judas.

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>A scene from The Da Vinci Code. An expert on ancient texts thinks the
> Gospel of Judas is capitalizing on the movie's release.
>

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By Simon Mein, Columbia Pictures

James M. Robinson, America's leading expert on such ancient religious
texts from Egypt, predicts in a new book that the text won't offer any
insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. His reason: While it's
old, it's not old enough.

"Does it go back to Judas? No," Robinson told The Associated Press on
Thursday.

The text, in Egypt's Coptic language, dates from the third or fourth
century and is a copy of an earlier document. The National Geographic
Society, along with other groups, has been studying the Judas text.

The society said Thursday it will release its report on the document
"within the next few weeks" but didn't specify whether that would come
via a book, magazine article or telecast.

Robinson has not seen the text that National Geographic is working on,
but assumes it is the same work assailed by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons
around A.D. 180.

Irenaeus said the writings came from a "Cainite" Gnostic sect that
jousted against orthodox Christianity. He also accused the Cainites of
lauding the biblical murderer Cain, the Sodomites and Judas, whom they
regarded as the keeper of secret mysteries.

National Geographic's collaborators on the translation and
interpretation of the text include its current owner - Mario Roberti's
Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Basel, Switzerland - and the
Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery in La Jolla, Calif. Rodolphe
Kasser, formerly of the University of Geneva, is the editor.

Robinson writes that the journey of the text to Switzerland was
"replete with smugglers, black-market antiquities dealers, religious
scholars, backstabbing partners and greedy entrepreneurs." In the
process, Robinson fears, the fragile text may have been mishandled and
parts of it lost forever.

Robinson is an emeritus professor at Claremont (Calif.) Graduate
University, chief editor of religious documents found in 1945 at Nag
Hammadi, Egypt, and an international leader among scholars of Coptic
manuscripts.

He says the text is valuable to scholars of the second century but
dismissed the notion that it'll reveal unknown biblical secrets. He
speculated the timing of the release is aimed at capitalizing on
interest in the film version of The Da Vinci Code- a fictional tale
that centers on a Christian conspiracy to cover up a marriage between
Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

"There are a lot of second-, third- and fourth-century gospels
attributed to various apostles," Robinson said. "We don't really assume
they give us any first century information."

A National Geographic response said "it's ironic" for Robinson to raise
such questions since for years "he tried unsuccessfully to acquire this
codex himself, and is publishing his own book in April, despite having
no direct access to the materials."

National Geographic said it practiced "due diligence" with scholars "to
save the manuscript before it turns to dust and is lost forever" and
that everyone involved is committed to returning the materials to
Egypt.

In The Secrets of Judas, a HarperSanFrancisco book on sale April 1,
Robinson will describe secretive maneuvers in the United States,
Switzerland, Greece and elsewhere over two decades to sell the "Judas"
manuscript.

He writes that he was approached about purchasing a group of
manuscripts in 1983 and arranged for colleague Stephen Emmel, now at
the University of Muenster, Germany, to meet in Geneva with go-betweens
for the owner.

Emmel got a glimpse of the text but didn't know it was the Gospel of
Judas till years later. He was told the original asking price was $10
million but it could be obtained for $3 million, an impossibly high
figure for the interested Americans.

 From there, Robinson traces a twisted sales trail through years and
continents to this year's impending release.

Emmel is now a member of the National Geographic team along with other
former students of Robinson, who hopes his colleagues will be providing
solid information about the text's history and location.