Another Meyer obit

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES has published a long and detailed obituary for Marvin Meyer: Marvin W. Meyer dies at 64; expert on Gnosticism: The specialist in early Christianity helped translate the Gospel of Judas, which he said portrayed the disciple as a hero, not a villain, for betraying Jesus and setting in motion the Crucifixion. Excerpt:

The tanned, athletic man who wore rumpled khakis, oversized shirts and a silver hoop in his left ear "was our Indiana Jones," said James L. Doti, president of Chapman University in Orange, where Meyer held the Griset Chair in Bible and Christian Studies and was director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.

"Marv was a scholar and a showman who helped put this university on the map," Doti said. "He was fluent in 10 languages — five of them nearly extinct — and authored enough works to fill an entire bookcase. He was also a perpetually upbeat guy who inspired everyone he crossed paths with."

Princeton historian Elaine Pagels, author of "The Gnostic Gospels," which in the 1970s ignited international interest in the sect of early Christians condemned as heretical, reflected the thoughts of many when she noted: "Marv was a pioneer in making available to a wide audience obscure texts from the first and second centuries that had been buried as heretical and rarely seen outside of academia."

Other obituaries, etc. here and links.