Dr. Honora Howell Chapman, coordinator of the Classics Program at Fresno State, is available to speak to reporters about an early Christian manuscript that has surfaced that portrays Judas Iscariot not as a betrayer of Jesus but as his favored disciple and collaborator.

Chapman was educated in the classics at Stanford University, including studies in Florence and Rome. Her expertise includes early Christianity, ancient history, Western Civilization, classical literature and theater, the Roman Empire, Medieval and Renaissance history, St. Augustine, Latin and Greek.

She is co-chair of the Josephus Group, an international group of 25 chosen scholars who study Josephus within the context of Hellenistic Judaism and Graeco-Roman culture.

Josephus, who was born in Jerusalem in A.D. 37, is considered to be an important source of information about the beginnings of Christianity (or late second temple Judaism.)

To arrange an interview, contact Shirley Armbruster at 559.278.5292.

For more information Please go to the following Web site:

Dr. Honora Chapman biography http://www.fresnostate.net/Classics/Biographies.htm