Judas vs. Luke

A very well-done review of the latest book on the Gospel of Judas by Elaine Pagels and Karen King: Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity. I find these scholars' work interesting but unbalanced in general, preferring to focus on the Gnostic heresies against the Christian orthdoxy. (The reviewer cites NT Wright's book on Judas as the "conservative" response.) I like the quote with which the reviewer ends the article:

The Gospel of Judas will have its champions, not least Pagels and King, who laud its hero for inspiring a text that makes early Christianity look like contemporary American religion — more pluralistic, more wild and more contested than most imagine. But this gospel is not long for the world, or at least the American corner of it. Most Americans will rightly prefer Luke’s Jesus, whose heart breaks over the oppression of women and the poor, to a smart-aleck Jesus who guffaws at the stupidity of his listeners. America is supposed to be a happy place. Americans want their Jesus to channel Paula Abdul rather than Simon Cowell, Dorothy rather than the Wicked Witch of the West.

Judas, NT Wright, Paula Abdul, and Judy Garland all mentioned in the same short review. I don't think that's ever occurred in the history of the universe.

So it's patriotic to prefer Luke to Judas, or orthodoxy to gnosticism. Hey, that sounds happy. I'll take it.

I'm curious as to where the reviewer thinks the Gospel of Judas would actually "sell" well: the country where everyone likes to be sad all the time?

And of course I am not one to speak, as a person headed for the "Happiest Place on Earth" within the next week or two!