The Book of Judas, penned by the much-maligned apostle himself, has finally found a publisher, at the end of a long search that ended at The National Geographic Society.
No, it’s not Random
House or Knopf. But, hey, after a 1700-year wait, any publisher is bound to
come as good news.
Now, Judas can at
long last be assured that the world will know his side of the story, in which
he portrays himself, as authors are prone to do, in a much more favourable
light than tradition has placed him. According to the author, while he was the
apostle who betrayed Jesus, he was actually Christ’s favourite apostle and was
chosen by Jesus to do the reprehensible deed, so Jesus could fulfil what he
considered to be his destiny.
So, as if we didn’t
have enough reconsider, now we have to revaluate our estimate of Judas. Was he
really just being Christ’s obedient assistant?
We must sympathize
with the most devout adherents to the New Testament. What are they to make of
Judas’s revised version of the betrayal?
We assume there
will be no shortage of debate.
Nor can we, even if
we wish, refuse to acknowledge that a certain reluctance to accept the new
author’s version will be due to the unfortunate timing of the publication,
since the hopes of the world are presently encumbered by the recent parade of
people in the Middle East who seem to think that their destiny requires them to
seek their own deaths.
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