Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

Elaine Pagels and Karen King

A good time was had by my friend and I. Unfortunately, Pagels had the flu and had to cancel.

King seems less prone to make sweeping statement like Pagels, alhtough I'm not sure how much their beliefs differ.

I asked King why the advertising of the Discovery channel advertised the Gospel of Judas as overthrowing our understanding of Christianity when the author had no connection to the apostles and those who did liberally quote the New Testament. She said they weren't involved in the advertising.

King was arguing that the writer of the Gospel of Judas had a problem with the glorification of martyrdom. Now, King didn't come out and say it, but she came close to equating Christian views about martyrdom with Islamic violence.

My friend pointed out to her that this is just a continuation of the Old Testament. Abel testifies by his sacrifice and is killed by Cain. The prophets were killed and harassed. The Christian martyrs were no different.

Labels: gnostic

Preparing for Elaine Pagels

I'm going to see Elaine Pagels (of Gnostic gospels fame) Thursday at the Philadelphia Free Library, so I'm currently doing research.

One interesting thing I read concerning the authorship of the traditional Gospels. Why would anyone attribute the gospels of Mark (an associate of Peter) and Luke (an associate of Paul) if it weren't true? If you making things up, wouldn't you attribute the gospels to more important people, like apostles themselves?

Labels: elaine pagels, gnostic