Continued from post 157. Same colour-coding as indicated in that post applies.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle1490111.ece
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From The Times
March 9, 2007
<b>Pope gives blessing to gospel of Jeffrey Archer</b>
<b>Judas</b>, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, is <b>to undergo a change of image</b> at the hands of a man who knows more about makeovers than most.
Jeffrey Archer, whose best-sellers include Kane and Abel, The Eleventh Commandment and prison diaries entitled Heaven, Purgatory and Hell, will launch a new book next week with an endorsement from the Vatican.The Gospel of Judas by Benjamin Iscariot, is to be presented at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome by its Rector, Father Stephen Pisano.
The following day, it will be launched at Westminster Cathedral, flagship of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster, by Dr Dermot Power, spiritual director of the Allen Hall seminary and himself a top theologian.
Even for a man who has sold more than 125 million books, been raised to the peerage and jailed for perjury, it is an extraordinary coup.
The Catholic Church is taking Lord Archerâs book seriously because it is <b>co-authored by Professor Francis J. Moloney, a scholar who is head of the Salesian religious order in Australia and who has been a member of the Vaticanâs International Theological Commission since 1984. Professor Moloney, a friend of the Pope, is considered by Roman prelates to be a leading authority on the Christian scriptures.</b>
The book is an account and justification of Judasâs life and his betrayal of Christ written in the style of one of the three synoptic gospels by his supposed son, Benjamin. A senior Catholic source in England told The Times: âIt is a wonderful story of forgiveness and mercy through the eyes of someone who never believed Jesus was God. Moloney has brought the four Gospels together into one. <b>Even if only half of Jeffrey Archerâs readers buy the book, millions of people will read the Gospel for the first time.â</b>
<b>Some Vatican scholars have suggested that Judas should be ârehabilitatedâ, on the grounds that in pointing out Jesus to arresting soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was merely fulfilling Godâs plan.</b>
This coincided with the publication last year of The Gospel of Judas, a second century <b>Gnostic</b> text that also supported the contention that Judas was the instrument of a divine plan and not therefore personally culpable.
In an interview in January Lord Archer said the book was âa gospel, not a novel and not a short storyâ. He said that in his version Judas did not hang himself, and had betrayed Jesus not for money but out of disappointment with Jesus for not overthrowing the Romans.
Father Pisano said the pontifical institute had no commercial interest in the book and Father Moloneyâs contribution was historical and theological.
âThe book is a novel, there is no ancient document as there was for the recently published Gospel of Judas.â
<b>Heretic history</b>
A BBC documentary shown over Christmas 2005 made the case that Mary was not a virgin when Jesus was conceived. Some scholars contend that the original text was ambiguous as to whether Mary was a virgin or just a young girl
In his book <i>The Man Jesus Loved: Homoerotic Narratives From the New Testament</i>, US bible scholar Theodore W. Jennings Jr. argues that there is biblical evidence to support the view that Jesus was homosexual, citing accounts of disciples âlying close to the breast of Jesus â
James Cameron, director of the film <i>Titanic</i>, last month announced a film arguing that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene â and he claims to have the bones to prove it <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hear that sound? It's the humans-turned-sheep. They're crying that it was all a lie. Poor sheep. It's not too late to say No to drugs/christianism.
In the second to last paragraph of the Times news report above, it talks about a gay jeebus as gleaned from the NT. Well, I don't know about the NT as evidence for a gay jeebus, but there is definitely an apocryphal gospel where jeebus was made an overtly homo-sexual character. It's a good thing they hid that gospel, else the Roman church would turn out to be hypocrites today for being anti-gay, wouldn't it? (Actually, they have long been hypocrites about everything.)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle1490111.ece
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->From The Times
March 9, 2007
<b>Pope gives blessing to gospel of Jeffrey Archer</b>
<b>Judas</b>, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver, is <b>to undergo a change of image</b> at the hands of a man who knows more about makeovers than most.
Jeffrey Archer, whose best-sellers include Kane and Abel, The Eleventh Commandment and prison diaries entitled Heaven, Purgatory and Hell, will launch a new book next week with an endorsement from the Vatican.The Gospel of Judas by Benjamin Iscariot, is to be presented at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome by its Rector, Father Stephen Pisano.
The following day, it will be launched at Westminster Cathedral, flagship of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster, by Dr Dermot Power, spiritual director of the Allen Hall seminary and himself a top theologian.
Even for a man who has sold more than 125 million books, been raised to the peerage and jailed for perjury, it is an extraordinary coup.
The Catholic Church is taking Lord Archerâs book seriously because it is <b>co-authored by Professor Francis J. Moloney, a scholar who is head of the Salesian religious order in Australia and who has been a member of the Vaticanâs International Theological Commission since 1984. Professor Moloney, a friend of the Pope, is considered by Roman prelates to be a leading authority on the Christian scriptures.</b>
The book is an account and justification of Judasâs life and his betrayal of Christ written in the style of one of the three synoptic gospels by his supposed son, Benjamin. A senior Catholic source in England told The Times: âIt is a wonderful story of forgiveness and mercy through the eyes of someone who never believed Jesus was God. Moloney has brought the four Gospels together into one. <b>Even if only half of Jeffrey Archerâs readers buy the book, millions of people will read the Gospel for the first time.â</b>
<b>Some Vatican scholars have suggested that Judas should be ârehabilitatedâ, on the grounds that in pointing out Jesus to arresting soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was merely fulfilling Godâs plan.</b>
This coincided with the publication last year of The Gospel of Judas, a second century <b>Gnostic</b> text that also supported the contention that Judas was the instrument of a divine plan and not therefore personally culpable.
In an interview in January Lord Archer said the book was âa gospel, not a novel and not a short storyâ. He said that in his version Judas did not hang himself, and had betrayed Jesus not for money but out of disappointment with Jesus for not overthrowing the Romans.
Father Pisano said the pontifical institute had no commercial interest in the book and Father Moloneyâs contribution was historical and theological.
âThe book is a novel, there is no ancient document as there was for the recently published Gospel of Judas.â
<b>Heretic history</b>
A BBC documentary shown over Christmas 2005 made the case that Mary was not a virgin when Jesus was conceived. Some scholars contend that the original text was ambiguous as to whether Mary was a virgin or just a young girl
In his book <i>The Man Jesus Loved: Homoerotic Narratives From the New Testament</i>, US bible scholar Theodore W. Jennings Jr. argues that there is biblical evidence to support the view that Jesus was homosexual, citing accounts of disciples âlying close to the breast of Jesus â
James Cameron, director of the film <i>Titanic</i>, last month announced a film arguing that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene â and he claims to have the bones to prove it <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hear that sound? It's the humans-turned-sheep. They're crying that it was all a lie. Poor sheep. It's not too late to say No to drugs/christianism.
In the second to last paragraph of the Times news report above, it talks about a gay jeebus as gleaned from the NT. Well, I don't know about the NT as evidence for a gay jeebus, but there is definitely an apocryphal gospel where jeebus was made an overtly homo-sexual character. It's a good thing they hid that gospel, else the Roman church would turn out to be hypocrites today for being anti-gay, wouldn't it? (Actually, they have long been hypocrites about everything.)