Maccoby returns to the sources of Christianity to show how Judas was invented by successive gospel writers, thereby ingraining in the minds of Christian Europeans a perverted image of the Jew as a malevolent betrayer. He goes on to show how this idea helped to justify 2,000 years of genocidal persecution.

'A superb work of committed scholarship . . . a work full of interest to those already familiar with the material it contains, and compelling reading for those who are not. Maccoby has done a fine job in recapturing the intellectual and social drama of the confrontations.' Jonathan Sacks, Jewish Journal of Sociology Hyam Maccoby's now classic study focuses on the major Jewish—Christian disputations of medieval Europe: those of Paris (1240), Barcelona (1263), and Tortosa (1413-14).

The biblical scholar recounts the events surrounding the discovery and handling of the Gospel of Judas, and provides an overview of its content, in which Judas is portrayed as a faithful disciple.

Christ 700 BC. One people, two kingdoms-one betrayed the other to total destruction. The Christ myth is ancient. The crucifixion account in the gospels relates to events that took place hundreds of years before the supposed time of Jesus. Such are the conclusions of this book which will revolutionise the way we see both Christianity and Judaism. The Judas War uncovers the story of a traumatic conflict in which a Judean king committed a desperate act that led to the annihilation of the sister kingdom of Israel. The surviving nation of Judah was racked by guilt, its population swelled by an enormous influx of refugees. To control a rebellious people, the king and priestly establishment centralised all religion in the Jerusalem temple. But the Judas War lived on through a dissident minority who preserved the bitter memory of the betrayal. The mainstream wrote the scriptures to deflect from their own shame. The dissidents told a very different story. The Judas War takes the reader on an epic journey to the real ancient Israel as revealed by modern archaeology as well as the original texts. It reveals a cosmos ruled by fallen angels; a religious worldview traced back to the Canaanite origins of the Jews. It shows how the unfolding tragedy on earth was explained by a tragedy in heaven: the divine king of the Jews, the Christ, had been crucified by the angelic rulers, the archons. He had been betrayed by the Jerusalem establishment who were represented by the fictional character of Judas Iscariot. After the defeat and exile of Judah, the Christ myth was expanded under a calendar of cosmic days ("the Almanac") to encompass all humanity. The Almanac set out the complete timeline of the world, past, present and future, as a symmetrical whole. It predicted that the Christ would be resurrected from the dead on "the third day" to defeat the archons and establish his new kingdom of heaven. Hundreds of years later in the first century, a female shaman announced that the time had come- Christ had appeared to her... The book reconstructs the Almanac from surviving sources and shows how it explains the gospel crucifixion account. From the strange timing of the crucifixion day to details such as the severed ear and the young man who has his sheet torn away, all come from the Almanac and the Judas War. Going further, the book uncovers a belief that Christ had come to earth three times in three different forms. And how as "the child of seven days" he revealed the shattering secret that would overturn the relationship between God and humanity. S.P. Laurie is the author of The Rock and the Tower and The Thomas Code.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Judas was characterised in film as the epitome of evil: the villainous Jew. Film-makers cast Judas in this way because this was the Judas that audiences had come to recognize and even expect. But in the following three decades, film-makers - as a result of critical biblical study - were more circumspect about accepting the alleged historicity of the Gospel accounts. Carol A. Hebron examines the figure of Judas across film history to show how the portrayal becomes more nuanced and more significant, even to the point where Judas becomes the protagonist with a role in the film equal in importance to that of Jesus'. Hebron examines how, in these films, we begin to see a rehabilitation of the Judas character and a restoration of Judaism. Hebron reveals two distinct theologies: 'rejection' and 'acceptance'. The Nazi Holocaust and the exposure of the horrors of genocide at the end of World War II influenced how Judaism, Jews, and Judas, were to be portrayed in film. Rehabilitating the Judas character and the Jews was necessary, and film was deemed an appropriate medium in which to begin that process.

Exploring the significance of Judas Iscariot for Christian theology and the difficult issues surrounding Judas, Anthony Cane shows that focusing on the tension between providential and tragic interpretations of Judas in the New Testament and in subsequent writing about Judas, is the key to understanding his significance. Building on the work of Karl Barth and Donald MacKinnon, Cane's argument sheds light not simply on the way Judas is understood, but on the way Jesus and the whole economy of salvation are understood. This book also highlights implications for the way in which issues relating to anti-Semitism and evil and suffering are most effectively explored.

In this bold, captivating and controversial book, the author combines his own intensely moving personal accounts with incisive scriptural analysis, and challenges the reader to reassess what they think they know about Judas Iscariot and suicide. Drawing on the memory of his own brother’s action in taking his own life, Aaron Saari examines Judas Iscariot as the definitive figure of God’s abhorrence for suicide and a powerful symbol of the cultural taboo originating from Christian doctrine. Instead, he argues, this ancient condemnation of Judas’ death is unfounded: Judas is instead a literary invention of the Markan community meant to undercut the authority of the Twelve, entering the Christian story c.70 CE through the Gospel of Mark. Written with passion and clarity and consistently relevant to today’s moral issues, this book is as much an ideal introduction to biblical studies for the general reader as it is essential reading for students, scholars, and anyone with an interest in Biblical studies, ancient scripture and theology.

"Judas is a dark journey through the murderousness of Christian Anti-Semitism, culminating in the mass slaughter of more than a and their associated European butchers. Lucid, study is close to definitive on the fictive figure of Judas."—Harold Bloom

In Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World, bishop and social activist John Shelby Spong argues that 200 years of biblical scholarship has been withheld from lay Christians. In this brilliant follow-up to Spong’s previous books Eternal Life and Jesus for the Non-Religious, Spong not only reveals the crucial truths that have long been kept hidden from the public eye, but also explores what the history of the Bible can teach us about reading its stories today and living our lives for tomorrow. Sarah Sentilles, author of Breaking Up With God: A Love Story, applauds John Shelby Spong’s Reclaiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World, writing that “pulsing beneath his brilliant, thought-provoking, passionate book is this question: can Christianity survive the education of its believers?…A question Bishop Spong answers with a resounding yes.”