Growing up in Catholic school, I thought I had read the fullest extent of the Bible and knew the most important stories that were told to us when we were young (with the help of Veggie Tales of course). But when the Gospel of Judas and Gospel of Mary were assigned, it was eye opening to know that there were other recounts of the life of Jesus. In the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, the three synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John were chosen to be in the Bible because they followed the Scriptural Canon and aligned with the prophets’ teachings in the Old Testament. There were other works written about Jesus’ life but what set the Four Gospels apart from the others was that the authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit and wrote God’s truth. Other writings, such as the Gospel of Judas, did not follow the Scriptural Canon and wrote of Jesus’ passion from a very controversial standpoint, Judas Iscariot. It was extremely interesting to see such one of the most hated figures in the Bible play the role of Jesus’ closest disciple and be depicted as the protagonist. Additionally, the passages about other ethereal deities seemed almost pagan, with other “gods” being responsible for Creation.
