Judas

The New Testament records twenty two references to Judas ranging from the mere three recorded in the oldest gospel, Mark, to the eight recorded in the newest gospel John. Those mentions leave a lot of blank canvas for the imagination be it clerical, literary or political. And not surprisingly that blank canvas has been filled through ages more from those purporting to view the story of the twelfth apostle than of the twelfth apostle himself. Gubar holds with the minimalist view that there was no historical Judas which is good because that view solidly holds with that of the Jesus seminar. The Jesus seminar was a group of some two hundred biblical scholars who painstakingly reviewed the gospels and held court on their historical accuracy. What the seminar said and Gubar seems to agree with is that any original historical Jesus story is much different from the one we've come to view. As to expertly outlined by Burton Mack in his many books on nascent Christianity the gospels and the Christian story along with them have been driven by Church imperative rather than any attempt at journalistic accuracy in recounting the events of around 4 BCE to 30 CE. And the story of that Church imperative is perhaps best outlined in James Carroll's Constantine's Sword though Gubar certainly does a serviceable job of re-telling it here. Owing to the necessarily negative nature of Judas' actions they stain not only an individual but a people for whom the name serves as a namesake. And again as shown by Gubar the distance between denounciations of "Judas" and pogroms or passion plays and mass executions is slight. Indeed, as recounted in both this book and James Shapiro's excellent Oberammergau the story of Judas and the story of the passion play was but a dress rehearsal for holocaust. Starting in 1634 the villagers of Oberammergau hosted a periodic passion play to give thanks for delivery from a plague. The alleged villainy of Judas and the Jews was so overplayed that Adolph Hitler himself gave a positive review to the play's 1935 performance, a fact decidedly not coincidental to the fact that Auschwitz was located a mere ninety miles away...sadly both ends of what was then the same device. While Gubar ends her book on a high note hoping that the events of the holocaust and the recent discovery of the gnostic gospel of Judas will provide a more balanced appreciation for Judas and perhaps even Jewry itself, maybe the more reasonable observation is the honest one which is that ironically a character whose supposed sin was complicity in wrongful persecution became himself the inspiration for such persecution and incited such sins for which no repentence may exist.

Susan Gubar is a professor of English. This fascinating and thought-provoking book is not about theology, biblical exegesis, or history. It is wide ranging and scholarly study of Judas Iscariot as he was portrayed through the ages. Judas as most people know him today represents betrayal. Gubar takes us through the history, not of the factual life or existence of Judas, but of how he had been portrayed. He was not always regarded as evil. The Gnostics, for example, see him differently; and an account is given of Irenaeus' destruction of the "heretics" and his explanation of Judas' origin as a demonic deviant. Some have worked sex into the relationship between Judas and Jesus. Gubar explores the homosexual theme and implications in the context of Judas and Jesus. She draws from diverse sources as Rheinau Psalter's "Kiss of Judas" (a fine reproduction is found in the plates between pages 166 and 167), and The Song of Solomon (from the Bible): "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine." The Song of Solomon has baffled many as an odd piece in the Bible (with its graphic allusions to physical love) but ancient and medieval theologians used it partly as an allegory of God's love for his followers, and partly, as Gubar writes, "the mystic's adoration of Christ". The range of material used by the author is itself a treat. She discusses Martin's Scorsese's film, "The Last Temptation of Christ", a film maligned by some Christians. She also discusses Nikos Kazantzakis' book of the same title, and Jose Saramago's "The Gospel according to Jesus Christ" and how these books "invalidate any interpretation of the Passion that blames the murder of Jesus on the Jews or on a Jewish Judas." She traces the roots of anti-Semitism that connects Judas to the origin and propagation of that phenomenon. The synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John were also scrutinized for their hermeneutic possibilities of Judas. Matthew's Jesus as exemplified in the Beatitudes suggest perhaps that a contrite and repentant Judas deserves, and perhaps, received forgiveness and thus, vilification of him today is no longer justified. That is a question John Wesley had also pondered. As Gubar pointed out in the final chapter of her book, regarding Judas at the Last Supper, "the twelfth apostle nevertheless participates as an invited, if not cherished, guest in Jesus' company: a stranger but also a neighbour, an indigenous foreigner. A friend who becomes a foe, Judas stands between amity and enmity to signify how difficult it is to take to heart Jesus' injunction to `Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" (Matt: 5:44) This is a book that will appeal to all scholars, whether they are theologians, historians, philosophers, or scholars of English and language. Some Christians might disapprove of the interpretations and suggestions contained in the book. The reader will realise that this book is about interpretations, and more specifically, t