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    Judas: The Most Hated Name In History
    Unavailable
    Judas: The Most Hated Name In History
    Unavailable
    Judas: The Most Hated Name In History
    Ebook380 pages5 hours

    Judas: The Most Hated Name In History

    By Peter Stanford

    5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A straightforward biography that thankfully avoids preaching. Readers curious about Judas’ broad effect on world history will welcome this book.” (Kirkus Reviews)
     
    In this fascinating historical and cultural biography, Peter Stanford deconstructs that most vilified of Bible characters: Judas Iscariot, who famously betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Beginning with the gospel accounts, Stanford explores two thousand years of cultural and theological history to investigate how the very name Judas came to be synonymous with betrayal and, ultimately, human evil. But as the author points out, there has long been a counter-current of thought that suggests that Judas might in fact have been victim of a terrible injustice: central to Jesus’ mission was his death and resurrection, and for there to have been a death, there had to be a betrayal. This thankless role fell to Judas; should we in fact be grateful to him for his role in the divine drama of salvation? You’ll have to decide,” as Bob Dylan sang in the sixties, “Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.” An essential but doomed character in the Passion narrative, and thus the entire story of Christianity, Judas and the betrayal he symbolizes continue to play out in much larger cultural histories, speaking as he does to our deepest fears about friendship, betrayal, and the problem of evil.
     
    “Light-hearted in tone, anecdotal in style, Peter Stanford’s narrative introduces the reader to profound themes.” —Karen Armstrong, New York Times–bestselling author of A History of God
     
    “Fascinating from start to finish . . . a compelling examination of how someone could become so notorious that their name would be synonymous with evil.” —The Guardian
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 1, 2016
    ISBN9781619027503
    Unavailable
    Judas: The Most Hated Name In History
    Author

    Peter Stanford

    Peter Stanford’s previous books include biographies of Lord Longford, Cardinal Basil Hume and the Devil. He has written an investigation of the Pope Joan legend and a polemical book, ‘Catholics and Sex’, which accompanied a Channel 4 television series. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph and the New Statesman. A regular broadcaster, he is also chairman of the national disability charity ASPIRE.

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    Reviews for Judas

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    • 5/5
      Peter Stanford has written one of the most interesting biographies of a Biblical character whose name is still known by one and all today as the ultimate and most despicable traitor the name which we call any traitor, Judas. Peter Stanford has written a fantastic account of Judas from the Gospels and how he has been dealt with throughout the ages. What we do learn that Judas Iscariot is probably one of the most well know names from the Bible, who we know betrayed Jesus to the Roman Guards in the garden at Gethsemane. We may recognise his name even though we learn that it only gets twenty-two mentions in the Bible and that we do not know anything about him. Peter Stanford poses the questions others have asked but never really answered and has broken Judas’ story down in to three distinct sections, Judas – The Evidence, which is based on what is in the Gospels and New Testament literature along with the Apocrypha (which refers to a set of texts included in the Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Bible) the earliest which were the Pauline letters written around 50 – 60 C.E..The Second Section, Judas – Satan’s tool, builds on the cult of Judas that built up throughout the medieval period, when there were pilgrimages to the site of Judas’s death where no a convent to a little known Saint stands. What we do learn, is that to find The Field of Blood in Jerusalem is virtually impossible today competing with other religious sites around the city.The final section, Judas – God’s Agent, deals with how over the centuries we have seen and possibly misinterpreted Judas and his motives. This section also looks at how some blame Judas for the reason of Anti-Semite thinking and actions within the Church. This section deals with how the church and history has dealt with Judas and the depictions we see of him in religious art and stained glass windows. Judas is often depicted with ginger hair, which is used to emphasise his evil doings.Throughout the book there are some very interesting vignettes such as the name Judas was a popular name at the time, similar to going in to a Welsh town and asking for a Mr Jones and thousands of people replying, yes how can I help you? That today the name Judas is a name that is almost extinct, but there is a Canadian artist called Judas Ullulaq.Peter Stanford has written an engrossing and very readable account about one of the darkest names within the New Testament and whose name we still use and abuse to this day. Whether you believe Judas was preordained or that Jesus selected him due to his character traits and failures or that he was just greedy he does ask us to shine a light on our inner self to those dark corners. Stanford does show that Judas was and still is a man for all seasons, and for only 22 mentions in the Bible his name still looms large today.The use of not just Biblical texts but what could be seen as the cult of Judas in art and other writing such as poetry aids this book and makes it far more readable. This is an excellent book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.