EthnAlln

I'm sitting here watching the National Geographic Channel's documentary on the Gospel of Judas, which has been making a big splash in the news lately. It reminds me that Judas is the hero of a novelette by Leonid Andreev (1871--1919). There is a very powerful confrontation scene in that novelette, after the crucifixion, in which Judas confronts the other disciples and asks why they didn't fight to protect Jesus. They all tell him it was hopeless, but he won't accept that. He asks, "And if your child was drowning, would you just stand on the shore and say, 'Oh well, it's hopeless?' Of course not! You'd get in the water and try, even though it meant certain death." Andreev depicts Judas somewhat as in "Jesus Christ, Superstar", as a revolutionary who hopes to achieve a political end. But he comes off in the novelette as the only one who really loved Jesus.

Are there any other works where Judas is the hero? These are the only ones I can think of.

judge

One excellent commentary on the gospel of john which paints Judas in a very positive light is The yoga of the Christ (or via: amazon.co.uk).
It has many very good insights, taken from the gospels, which are not emphasised on traditional christianity and some of these are WRT to Judas.

Can a moderator fix my amazon link to an infidel style link pls...I amnot sure how to do this)

Zhivago

EthnAlln,
Russian literature and history are a hobby of mine, so I'd like to read this book you refer to. What is the name?

pharoah

Project Gutenberg has some of his work available for free download here. I think that the Judas Iscariot novelette can be found in the collection The Crushed Flower and Other Stories.

EthnAlln

Thanks to Pharaoh for answering this. If you want the Russian original, it's "L.N. Andreev: Rasskazy" Bookking International, Paris, 1995. I suspected you might be a fan of Russian literature, judging by your name. "Strashno vpast' v ruki Boga zhivago." ("It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31)

Linguistic coincidence: Andreev takes "Iscariot" and breaks it into a Russian phrase: "Iz Kariota" -- from Kariot. To my surprise, when I looked up "iscariot" in an encyclopedia, I found that it does indeed mean "from Kerioth."

Zhivago

Thanks to you both for the information. I've been a casual student of the country for a long time, and speak enough of the language to unintentionally insult someone or start an international incident. I used to live among a fairly large Russian community in Massachusetts and came to know and respect many of those whom I met. Always looking for something new to read.

sodium

I'm not sure it's the kind of thing you're looking for, but an English folk singer called Leon Rosselson has a somewhat stirring song called "Stand up for Judas", which takes Judas's side against Jesus from a militant socialist point of view.
This view of Judas as a revolutionary is extremely popular, but not really based on much of anything.

KPaffenroth

I published a book a few years ago, Judas: Images of the Lost Disciple (or via: amazon.co.uk) (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001) in which I assembled as many of the variant depictions of Judas as I could find. The section on "heroic" depictions was the longest in the book, even if the more villainous ones have been the more "official." (Lest this be considered "advertising" - the book should be in any college library, and in many public libraries, or they can get it for you on interlibrary loan.)

Toto

Welcome to the boards, Kim Paffenroth. I have linked the title of your book to Amazon. If anyone clicks on the link and buys the book, InternetInfidels will get a commission from Amazon. In addition, there is an interview with you on the Gospel of Judas.

EthnAlln

Thanks, Kim. Your page on Amazon is very impressive. Your interests seem to range very widely, with Augustine as a special interest. I note that Garry Wills seems to base a great deal of his rather liberal version of Catholicism on Augustine, all the way from "Bare Ruined Choirs" to "Papal Sin." Having just exceeded my comfort level in recent purchases of books, I'll take your modest suggestion and look for yours in a library.