was a notorious figure. he was an attention-getter in antiquity as he is today. >> anyone who would choose to write goel ojudas was certainly making a conscious decision to pick a figure whom wasn't accepted by the orthodox church. >> the judas character in the gospel of judas is not a great deal different from judas as we see him on the pages of the new testament. >> judas has always been a complicated character. ambiguity around judas and the fascination has always been there. >> there's no way that the gospel writers would have made up a character in jesus' inner circle who would have betrayed jesus. he's not just kind of a mythical person. judas, obviously, is someone who