A Storyteller
BY SHELLY BRYANT I January 24, 2010
Jeffrey Archer. The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot. London: Macmillan, 2007. 90 pages. ISBN: 978-0-230-52901-4
Upon seeing The Gospel According to Judas as recounted by Jeffrey Archer, I expected to find that the volume is to the Gnostic Gospel of Judas what the New International Version is to the historically accepted canon of the New Testament. I was a little surprised to find, instead, a complete work of fiction, depicting the story of Judas and Jesus through the retelling of the events by Judas to his son Benjamin several decades after the death of Jesus.
In this work, Judas attempts to redeem himself to some extent. He tells his son the true version of events, including the fact that the story of his suicide was a lie. Instead, feeling humiliated at having been duped into leading Jesus' enemies to him in the garden, he leaves (after watching the crucifixion) to join the Essenes in Khirbet Qumran. In his telling of events, he relates to his son Benjamin that the common understanding amongst the disciples of Jesus concerning his claim to the title "Messiah" was off-base. He repeatedly insists that Jesus never claimed the title for himself, preferring instead the term "son of man" in an attempt to assert his unworthiness to claim any position that would point to him as God's anointed.
Archer is always a master storyteller. That is reflected in this short volume, particularly in the way he paces the text, and the way he frames material from the four canonical gospels. It is a little puzzling, though, that he chooses to quote so widely from those gospels. In the version of the book that I read, the text borrowed from the New Testament is italicized and printed in red. It is a little distracting, and seems to take away from the flow of the narrative. I thought this choice of printing method a little odd, as I think the story would have run together much more smoothly printed in a standard style. In that way, it might have made the account actually seem more like the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, rather than less. As it is, the reframing of events — which is effectively a way of refuting them (at least as they've been handed down) — is highlighted. This seems to draw the reader's attention to differences rather than similarities.
But then, the text makes no pretense — the embedded author, Benjamin Iscariot, son of Judas Iscariot, says that it is his intent to refute the stories passed down by the other followers of Chri… er, Jesus (the text clearly and consistently asserts that the title Christ/Messiah doesn't belong to Jesus). Its intent is, in fact, not really to tell the story of Jesus at all but the story of Judas.
Archer's fictionalized account is not to be confused with the Gospel of Judas, of the Gnostic Gospels fame. It is not the same book and does not really share its agenda. In that text, Judas' actions are not refuted but are shown to be done in obedience to Jesus and not in betrayal at all. Whereas Archer's Judas is used by the enemies of Jesus, the Judas of the Gnostic text is used by Jesus himself and is eventually killed by the other apostles for having obeyed their rabbi.
One way or another, though, Archer again proves himself in this book to be quite a storyteller. Even though much of the text is not his own having been quoted from various parts of the New Testament, his framing of it creates a new narrative that is fairly engaging. It's certainly not his best novel — or even his best short story about people who are villainized in the stories told about Jesus (my favorite is "The First Miracle") — but it is a fun enough read by a real storyteller.
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