The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot

Book excerpt: The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot is the result of an intense collaboration between a storyteller and a scholar: Jeffrey Archer and Francis J. Moloney. Their brilliant work—bold and simple—is a compelling story for twenty-first-century readers, while maintaining an authenticity that would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew. "The very name of ‘Judas' raises among Christians an instinctive reaction of criticism and condemnation...The betrayal of Judas remains...a mystery." —Pope Benedict XVI, October 2006 The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot sheds new light on the mystery of Judas—including his motives for the betrayal and what happened to him after the crucifixion—by retelling the story of Jesus through the eyes of Judas, using the canonical texts as its basic point of reference. Ostensibly written by Judas's son, Benjamin, and following the narrative style of the Gospels, this re-creation is provocative, compelling, and controversial.