Was Judas a betrayer or a loyal disciple? Did he write this shocking document? And what does it mean for us today? In Reading Judas Elaine Pagels and Karen L. King , world-renowned experts in religious texts, explore the meanings of this contentious gospel in detail, separating myth from fact. Here they reveal a gospel that, far from seeing Jesus death as a sacrifice for humanitys sins, opposes the idea of martyrdom and instead points towards a faith that is free from authority. Containing the first translation of the Gospel of Judas from the original Coptic, Reading Judas radically overthrows our notions of the Christian faith.