Talk:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Judas Iscariot

Notes about recent discoveries:

1. Since this article was originally written, an ancient copy of a previously lost Gospel of Judas has been discovered. This is a Coptic text, probably a translation of a still-lost origin text in Greek. The manuscript is badly damaged in some places, and several pages appear to be missing. Some scholars believe that it was written in the second century and used by certain gnostic sects, so that it probably isn't a reliable source of information about the historical Judas Iscariot. But some scholars think that it could still be valuable for the glimpse into second-century attitudes that it provides. For more about this subject, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas.

2. A different theory about the meaning of the name "Iscariot" has been proposed since the encyclopedia article was written. According to this theory, the name is derived from the Latin word "sicarius", which means "dagger-man". The Sicarii were a secret group of Jewish assassins who were resisting the Romans. Thus it's possible that Judas had been one of these assassins before he became a disciple of Jesus. Go to http://www.gospel-mysteries.net/judas-iscariot.html for more information about this subject.