Saving a piece of history

Re “Judas’ deal, 2,000 years later,” editorial, April 13

Re Attacking antiquities dealer Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos and her alleged lack of legality in dealing with the Gospel of Judas: I suggest that you wake up. The “shady world of illegal antiquities dealing” and its “unsavory market” are a reality, regardless of your apparently wishful thinking to the contrary. Just how many great revelations about actual history would you suppress because the revealer lacks the characteristics of an angel?

I suggest that you focus on the message rather than devoting so much energy to attacking the messenger. There were numerous brands of early Christianity, some radically different from and opposed to the proto-orthodox one that went on to become the orthodox -- one that eagerly and enthusiastically suppressed all of its Christian competitors as alleged heresies, not to mention its suppression of other totally non-Christian religions. Gnostic Christians naturally considered it to be the anti-Gnostic Christians who were the real heretics, much as current-day Christian fundamentalists commonly view all non-fundamentalist Christians.

LEON ALBERT

Temple City

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Your editorial takes National Geographic to task for its role in the conservation and dissemination of the Gospel of Judas. We believe we did our best to establish the details of the document’s past, including its “colorful journey” since its rediscovery in Egypt. We oversaw a comprehensive evaluation of its authenticity and did extensive due diligence related to many issues. We partnered with the Maecenas Foundation to conserve and translate the document, share the results with the world and repatriate the artifact to Egypt.

Our partnership with Maecenas and the support of the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery were mentioned in all our media. We publicly acknowledged we paid slightly more than $1 million to Maecenas for the conservation and the media rights, an arrangement that includes a royalty share from some product sales. We reported in the National Geographic magazine that Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos turned over the document to the Maecenas Foundation. National Geographic has no legal, financial or other arrangement with Tchacos. Without intervention at a critical time, this document would likely have deteriorated further. The opportunity to conserve and share its contents and spark a global dialogue about its significance would have been lost.

TERRY GARCIA

Executive Vice President

Mission Programs

National Geographic

Washington