Acts of Pilate Workshop

Public Lecture by Prof. Jean-Daniel Dubois

On Reading the Forgotten Gospels:
What We Can Learn from Ancient Apocryphal Literature

The recent discovery of the Gospel of Judas, an apocryphal gospel preserved in Coptic, has once again brought a spotlight on ancient Christian literature and aroused intense curiosity of Church historians and general readers alike. The text raised questions about the exact role of Judas in the events leading to the Passion of Jesus and about his portrayal in the canonical gospels, and it also reopened some age-old debates and controversies.    

The Gospel of Judas is just one among many apocryphal, non-canonical texts that have survived from antiquity in various Christian languages. Some, like the Gospel of Thomas or the Acts of Pilate, transmit non-canonical words of or details about Jesus; others, like the acts of various apostles, focus on first disseminators of the new faith; still others, like the many apocalypses, concern the revelation of what is still to come. What they all have in common is that they preserve – and are ready to reveal to a discerning reader – aspects of ancient Christianity that have been largely forgotten and yet, perhaps, worth remembering. They offer glimpses of Christianity from a time before it became fully institutionalized.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010
7:30 PM
Convocation Hall, University of Winnipeg