The Gospel According to Judas - A Handbook on Life

> From this.

So as far as books and their titles go, we may reasonably claim that this one is a gospel, the word meaning, literally, “good news”. It was applied to the now normally termed Gospels because they proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ. If you haven’t noticed, this is one of those types of books. Now, the “according to Judas”. Well, if we take the most positive interpretation about the names of the four canonical Gospels, their “according to XXX” means according to what the author believes XXX would have us see things, there we have it. Because it is well known that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did not, in fact, write their gospels. In a cynical interpretation about their names and their claims, their authors believed that using the names belonging to the “in group” would lend authority to the books that they were writing, apart from those in that group.

Perhaps not totally separate, though, if one can be a little kind. They who wrote the canonical Gospels obviously were members of the faith; these were definitely not written by atheists or non-Christian Jews, certainly not by the Essenes. Most likely, they believed that the writing of those Gospels was their mission, and perhaps their choosing of specific people to fill out their “according to” had special meaning to them. And so it is with me. A believer on a mission, who is telling the Good News of Jesus Christ, because perhaps the old Gospels need a little more help, these days, to be as enlightening as they used to be. And Judas? I certainly do have a special reason for using his name to fill out my “according to”. Judas is a friend of mine. And I know the truth of his name: no evil lies there.