en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas

"In contrast to the canonical gospels which paint Judas as a betrayer of Christ who delivered him up to the authorities for crucifixion in exchange for money, the Gospel of Judas portrays Judas's actions as done in obedience to instructions given by Christ."

And that's certainly the reason it's not in the bible. Why I have no idea. If that's how Jesus had to die than Judas made a sacrifice himself being the betrayer whether his suicide was part of the plan or not.

I could ask this same question about many of the other choices (e.g.Jesus) so far in the thread but I'll start here: What would you ask them or want to talk about with them? I'm especially interested in Boudica and Leonardo.

I wasn't sure I wanted to volunteer my reasons because they may go against the sensibilities of some members beliefs, but since you asked...

De Payens, The Templars are an area of high interest for me, so the founder of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon is an obvious choice for me-what was behind the creation of the order, why did his kin Bernard of Clairvauix champion the order, was there a secret agenda, why were they given such a wide level of power, wealth and independence/autonomy by the papacy, who everywhere else in Christendom was tightening the grip of their control and influence, etc. etc. 

Mary Magdalene-since the four canonical gospels were chosen (out of literally hundreds of gospels written) by Catholic politicos and bishops in a council as they were seeking to secure their positions in the secular world a few centuries after the events of Yeshua ben Yusif's (the Hebrew naming convention or Joshua son of Joseph the actual translation into English of the Hebrew names not the Greek form Jesus Christ (i.e. Joshua the Annointed) as Greek was a language very few would have spoken or known of in the Holy Land in the first century) life and were chosen because they supported the opinions of the masses' most common beliefs giving those bishops the broadest spectrum of popular support even though the accounts in the 4 gospels contradicted each other in several different areas on the most basic facts and sequences of events, and were not written for decades after the deaths of their attributed authors, and written in Greek, a language most of the apostles didn't even speak and altered in some of the translations over the centuries, I would want to discuss the events of the first century with someone who was there, someone who has been recast as an outsider and villified into a role that was most likely false by later Church fathers, someone who had a different and insider perspective to the people and events of the time, someone who may have had access and insight that very few others did

Boudica-Celtic culture is a another area of high interest, and as a culture that is not necessarily as male-dominated as some of its contemporaries (like Roman culture for instance), I would want to discuss not only Celtic culture without the taint of being presented by its conquerors (as is the case with most of the Roman sources) or it's converters (as are most of the Irish Catholic sources), but how being a warrior queen among a disparate people and facing such an entrenched patriarchal society played out, whether her position was typical for women or was she a rarity even among her culture, etc. etc. 

Dee was a genius natural philosopher, and most likely a spymaster in Elizabeth's court, as well as being an astrologer and a magus in the more legendary aspects of his legacy. Most remember the links to Edward Kelly and Bohemia, Enochian, and the like, but he was a man who lived at both Elizabeth's court and the Bohemian court and was in the inner circle of both-the insights and inside information he would have, as well as the rumored contents of his personal library would make for a long and fascinating dinner conversation

da Vinci-aside from all that we know, there is all that is rumored about the man, from links to the Templar legacy to the contents of the hidden notebooks, his alleged role in the creation of the Shroud of Turin, to just the artistic and scientific genius of the man, all the people he met and interacted with all over Renaissance Italy, exploring the real genius, debunking the barnacles of legend and conspiracy theory, sussing out the real and the imagined, there are so many possibilities in such an evening's discussion. 

-M

Severin could draw a set of portraits of the other guests!

Lovecraft might be a problem - would he talk at all?

PKD would be fascinating to listen to.  I have a feeling you might get into an argument with him if the conversation turned to music, though.

It would be interesting to talk to some eye-witness of Jesus's activities, for sure. I'd pick Jesus for my own list, but he's such a shadowy figure, it's hard to know if he'd be a wise choice (for someone like me who's interested in the historical and philosophical aspects) or not.

Boudicca would be one of my choices as well, though maybe not in my list of 5.

You could have a list of Elizabethans - Dee, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Francis Bacon, Raleigh, ...

I'd like to hear what da Vinci thought of modern science, or the history of western art from his death to the present.