The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at California State University, Bakersfield will host a panel discussion on the newly released and controversial "Gospel of Judas" on Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m., in the Albertson Room adjacent to the Doré Theatre on the CSUB campus. Admission is free.

In the New Testament, Judas betrays Jesus for money, but in this text, Jesus considers Judas to be the only disciple who understands the true meaning of his mystical teaching.

The so-called "Gospel of Judas," discovered in Egypt in 1970, was brought to public attention this month by the National Geographic Society. The manuscript, written on papyrus in the Coptic language of Egypt, was locked in a safe deposit box for 16 years, where it suffered considerable deterioration. Now, it has been carefully restored and translated.

It is believed to be a translation, in Coptic, of a document originally written in Greek sometime before A.D. 180, when Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, France, condemned it as heretical. This Coptic translation is the only known text of the document.

Panel members will be Stephen Campagna-Pinto, a professor of religious studies at CSUB; and Tim Vivian, who also teaches at CSUB and who has written extensively on other ancient Coptic texts. The panel will be moderated by Bruce Jones, retired CSUB professor of religious studies.

For more information, please call Vivian at (661) 654-2214.

###