austraLasia
#1785
The Gospel According to
Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot, by
Jeffrey Archer and Francis J Moloney
ROME: 12th March 2007 -- Just a week remains before the formal launch, in
eight languages*, of The Gospel According to Judas, intense interest is
being shown across the spectrum from atheist to zealot. In between is a broad
group of moderates representing the rest of us, following the occasional tit
bits of information in pre-release publicity. The book, to be published by
MacMillan in the UK and St Martin's Press in the US next Tuesday 20th March will
be formally presented in two significant European locations on 20th-21st: in
Rome, at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and in London at Westminster
Cathedral.
austraLasia hopes to publish an interview with
Fr Frank Moloney, co-author of 'The Gospel...', on 20th March. While any
work touching on the canonical Gospels, even obliquely, is likely to raise
eyebrows in various parts of the world, the fact that one of the world's
foremost biblical scholars (Moloney) was suggested for the effort by another of
the world's foremost biblical scholars (Martini), means that the Church has
thought the issue of Judas worthy of serious reflection. Not in connection with
this book, Pope Benedict XVI, last October, said: "The very name of 'Judas'
raises among Christians an instinctive reaction of criticism and
condemnation...The betrayal of Judas remains...a mystery". The book does
not aim to provide some gnostic answer to that mystery but, rather, by using the
canonical gospels as a reference point, to shed some light on possible
motivations for Judas' action in betraying Jesus - and how that same Jesus, in
line with his treatment of all other sinners in the gospels, might have regarded
Judas. As one senior Catholic source in the UK put it recently, "It is a
wonderful story of forgiveness and mercy through the eyes of someone who never
believed Jesus was God. Moloney has brought the four Gospels together into one.
Even if only half of Jeffrey Archer's readers buy the book, millions of people
will read the Gospel for the first time".
That is about as
good an endorsement as one could want! But at the very least, it is so
exciting to see one of the world's leading story tellers teaming up with one of
the world's leading biblical scholars, and Salesian to
boot!
*German, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, French
and English.
_________________
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