Byrd & Lomax

I think that being mentally knocked on your ass can be a good thing.  In theory.  It causes you to question your complacency, makes you more aware of the assumptions you take for granted.  Of course, the actual experience is disorienting & miserable.

One of these moments happened in yesterday’s religion class.  For this seminar, we’re studying The Gospel of Judas & using 3 different texts.  The first is the translation originally put out by National Geographic.  The second is called Reading Judas & has been translated by Elaine Pagels & Karen L. King.  The third is The Thirteenth Apostle by April DeConick.  We’re relying on these translations because, as Professor Goehring would say, “This isn’t graduate school & none of you can read Coptic.”

Some incarnations of Judas

In discussion yesterday, we mainly focused on the differences between the translations, using the NG version as a “primary” text.  I hate to label it that way because it’s not the true source.  But it was the first version that any subsequent translation has built off of.  In any case, there were quite a few differences that gave us trouble.  First was a mention at the beginning on how Jesus would appear to his disciples.  The translations are:

“Often, he did not appear to his disciples as himself, but he was found among them as a child.”  (NG)

“Frequently, however, he would not reveal himself to his disciples, but you would find him in their midst as a child.”  (RJ)

“Often he did not appear to his disciples, but when necessary, you would find him in their midst.”  (13A)

The real surprise came when some of my classmates with the second edition of the NG translation found that the sentence from 13A was now used instead of the original.  Even here, the idea of the NG translation being a “main” text has been undermined because its construction has been affected by subsequent translation.  We found this occurred with quite a few set of lines.  Another example was:

“In the last days they will curse your ascent to the holy [generation].”  (NG)

“In the last days they will <text missing> and you will go up to the holy ra[ce].”  (RJ)

“And in the last days they <text missing> to you.  And you will not ascend to the holy [generation].”  (13A)

Again, the 13A version was now present in the NG second edition.  The previously positive depiction of Judas as the “faithful & rewarded apostle” is now inconsistent.  As a class, we were somewhat knocked on our ass.  Our discussion struggled to move from beyond “Hey, this passage is different in this version, isn’t that weird?”  We literally had a timeline, an evolution of understanding the text from point A to point B.  It was difficult to take in.

This moment was sort of profound for me because it forced me to reflect on the literature I study as an English major.  There are already so many mechanisms in place to help someone “understand” a text.  The existing criticism, the definitive edition that captures a perfection of the author’s vision, the cultural reaction & weight that has accumulated on the material.  And above all there is the notion that somehow one’s personal reading also has validity.  You forget about the intent of all these conventions, that they all exist to guide the reader toward a specific impression.  Realizing the different goals & influences of each of these translations captures those moments of intervention.

If anything, yesterday’s class will hopefully help me to continue fostering a healthy suspicion of language.  I caught myself in class yesterday saying, “We all know language is subjective, whatever, but what about. . .”  Yes, I realized later that it was a stupid thing to say.  But, it is a fact that is so glaringly difficult to accept; it’s so much easier to get caught up in what we say without thinking what it intends.