Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Sex and salvation in the Gospel of Philip(Philip A. Harland)

Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean » Sex and salvation in the Gospel of Philip(Philip A. Harland)

A blog article on the metaphorical use of sex within the Gospel of Philip.

The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas

Apocryphicity » Blog Archive » The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas: "The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas,"

A translation (from a French translation of an Armenian version of the Jesus-Abgar letters) by Dr. Tony Chartrand-Burke who teaches Biblical Studies at the Atkinson School of Arts and Letters (a part of York University in Toronto, Canada).

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do you know where this money that Abgar sent us as a gift comes from?” And they said: “We do not know.” And Jesus said: “The father of Abraham, Thara, made this money and with this money he bought the cave with the son of Amor. The Edessenians took the money and bought Joseph from his brothers. And the brothers of Joseph brought it as a gift to Joseph in Egypt. The Egyptians brought it as a gift to King Solomon, and King Solomon made the door of the Temple with it. When Nebuchadnezar deported Jerusalem, he broke the door and carried it to Babylon. The Babylonians gave it to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans gave it to the merchants, and the merchants gave it to the shepherds. And Abgar, having received it from the shepherds gave it to us. Now, take this money and carry it to the priests and say: “Jesus the Nazarean sent it to you.” And the priests, having taken the money, gave it to venal Judas, for which he handed over Christ. And Judas turned over the money and hung himself. And the priests gave it to the soldiers who guarded the tomb of Christ. And they gave it back to the priests and the priests said: “This money should not be kept, because it is the price of blood.” Then they gave the money and bought the potter’s field and made it a cemetery for foreigners.

I'm revising an article for The Gnostic #1, The Alternative Judas, which explores unusual variations on the story of Judas. To my surprise I began to find the material on Judas hilarious, and so the tone of the essay is rather cheeky. I hope that it won't come over as offensive. Anyway, I'm very pleased to have discovered this excerpt on r. Tony Chartrand-Burke's Apocryphicity blog. This midrash on the thirty pieces of silver reminds me of the legend of the cross in The Golden Legend, in which the piece of wood that is eventually made into the cross has a similarly long history of involvement with biblical events. Initially, Adam's son Seth took a branch from the tree of life and planted it on Adam's tomb. I wonder if there is some Sethian Gnostic influence behind that story somewhere along the line.
The Gospel of Philip plays with a similar idea in section 80, in which Joseph the Carpenter planted the tree and made the cross on which his seed, Jesus, was crucified. I write more on this in The Gospel of Philip Annotated & Explained, but it has just occurred to me that there may be a possible connection between Joseph and the demiurge.

The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas

Apocryphicity » Blog Archive » The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas: "The History of The Thirty Pieces of Silver Given to Judas,"

A translation (from a French translation of an Armenian version of the Jesus-Abgar letters) by Dr. Tony Chartrand-Burke who teaches Biblical Studies at the Atkinson School of Arts and Letters (a part of York University in Toronto, Canada).

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do you know where this money that Abgar sent us as a gift comes from?” And they said: “We do not know.” And Jesus said: “The father of Abraham, Thara, made this money and with this money he bought the cave with the son of Amor. The Edessenians took the money and bought Joseph from his brothers. And the brothers of Joseph brought it as a gift to Joseph in Egypt. The Egyptians brought it as a gift to King Solomon, and King Solomon made the door of the Temple with it. When Nebuchadnezar deported Jerusalem, he broke the door and carried it to Babylon. The Babylonians gave it to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans gave it to the merchants, and the merchants gave it to the shepherds. And Abgar, having received it from the shepherds gave it to us. Now, take this money and carry it to the priests and say: “Jesus the Nazarean sent it to you.” And the priests, having taken the money, gave it to venal Judas, for which he handed over Christ. And Judas turned over the money and hung himself. And the priests gave it to the soldiers who guarded the tomb of Christ. And they gave it back to the priests and the priests said: “This money should not be kept, because it is the price of blood.” Then they gave the money and bought the potter’s field and made it a cemetery for foreigners.

I'm revising an article for The Gnostic #1, The Alternative Judas, which explores unusual variations on the story of Judas. To my surprise I began to find the material on Judas hilarious, and so the tone of the essay is rather cheeky. I hope that it won't come over as offensive. Anyway, I'm very pleased to have discovered this excerpt on r. Tony Chartrand-Burke's Apocryphicity blog. This midrash on the thirty pieces of silver reminds me of the legend of the cross in The Golden Legend, in which the wood that eventually forms the cross has a similarly long history of involvement with biblical events.

The Secret Gospel of Mark in Al-Ahram Weekly

Al-Ahram Weekly | Heritage | The Gospel Hoax

This is an interesting and well-informed article by Jill Kamil about Morton Smith's Secret Gospel of Mark as a hoax--a position that I find quite convincing. Academia seems to be agreeing, and the Annual Meeting of the Society of biblical Literature will be featyring a Secret Mark section this November, with paper titles such as,

Birger A. Pearson, University of California, Santa Barbara

The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Twentieth-Century Fake (20 min)

Stephen C. Carlson, Duke University

Can the Academy Protect Itself from One of Its Own? The Case of Secret Mark (20 min)

Allan J. Pantuck, UCLA

Can Morton Smith's Archival Writings and Correspondence Shine Any Light on the Authenticity of Secret Mark? (20 min)

Scott G. Brown, University of Toronto

Fifty Years of Befuddlement: Ten Enduring Misconceptions about the “Secret” Gospel of Mark (20 min).

A Donkey Turning a Millstone

A donkey turning a millstone walked a hundred miles. When it was released it was found to still be in the same place. There are many who make journeys and do not get anywhere. When evening came they saw neither city nor village, neither a created thing nor a natural one, neither power nor angel. The wretches toiled in vain.

Gospel of Philip 45

When I recently visited the Origins exhibition at the National Museum of Wales, I saw a donkey mill from the Roman period from Clyro in Wales--apparently, these mills were relatively rare in Roman Britain but used widely in Mediterranean areas. Somehow I had never actually realized that the Gospel of Philip was referring to this kind of mil, even after reading it so many times. I will try to bring this image to mind when I find myself in the sort of situation referred to above. lI couldn't take a photograph of the stone mill because of the museum's policies, but here's a more recent example from La Alcogida Ecomuseum, Tefia in Puerto del Rosario municipality of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.