The gospel of Judas Iscariot was an interesting read, and while similarly grouped with the controversy of the gospel of Mary Magdalene, it is wildly different in it’s message and tone, as well as overall content in general.
One of the major differences that I believe is noteworthy is that in gospels such as the one orated by Mary Magdalene, the one associated with Judas Iscariot is not primarily focused on Judas Iscariot’s words themselves, but his mere involvement and conversation with the savior. Mary Magdalene speaks (Whether you believe legitimately or not) of conversations with the savior, though does so herself. This gospel tells of Judas’ conversation with the savior, a conversation which is mostly a one-sided explanation of circumstances on his part, with Judas struggling to understand and keep up.
The major theme of the text is about Jesus (The savior) pulling Judas aside from the other disciples to talk with him personally, after a confrontation among all of them. In a disagreement, Jesus asks all of the disciples if they were willing to stand against him, and look him in the eyes. None were but Judas Iscariot (Though notably he was unable to meet the gaze of the savior), who was then told several harrowing truths by the savior in private conversation. Truths about his fate in this mortal world, about heaven, and of god and his angels.
This calls into question the providence of this text. While it is more than possible that a conversation between a meeting of all disciples would be recorded by someone, it is explicitly stated that the meat of this text was a private conversation between Judas Iscariot and the savior. Very promptly thereafter, the savior was given up to the guard by Judas, and shortly thereafter that Judas took his own life. While some may see a very narrow window in which Judas could have written this down, or have told someone, that seems unlikely since other writings by Judas have not been found or identified. This is similar to the journalistic habits of the savior, which were nonexistent. This leaves a much smaller gap in which to imagine this gospel was written down, implying that a sneaky bystander (That either was literate, or happened to know someone who was and just had impeccable memory) saw the entire conversation, or that it was simply made up by someone later down the line for an unknown motive. While it’s a question that will never be answered properly, it certainly is an interesting one to ponder over. Who wrote this oddly specific, esoteric lore filled article of Christianity, and why?