Reading Judas - by Elaine Pagels & Karen L King (Paperback)

About the Book

This author team, writing in an engaging, accessible style, is the first to reflect on the recent discovery of the "Gospel of Judas" and how that text provides insight into explaining how Jesus' followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus, and why God allowed it.

Book Synopsis

The instant New York Times bestseller interpreting the controversial long-lost gospel

The recently unearthed Gospel of Judas is a source of fascination for biblical scholars and lay Christians alike. Now two leading experts on the Gnostic gospels tackle the important questions posed by its discovery, including: How could any Christian imagine Judas to be Jesus' favorite? And what kind of vision of God does the author offer? Working from Karen L. King's brilliant new translation, Elaine Pagels and King provide the context necessary for considering its meaning. Reading Judas plunges into the heart of Christianity itself and will stand as the definitive look at the gospel for years to come.

About the Author

Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is the author of several books, including Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity and Miracles and Wonder, the New York Times bestseller Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, and The Gnostic Gospels, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award. Professor Pagels lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Karen L. King is an American academic specializing in Gnosticism and early Christianity. She was the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School from 1998 to 2008, and succeeded Harvey Cox in 2009 to become the first woman appointed to that school's distinguished Hollis Chair, the oldest endowed chair in the United States.