OUT OF PRINT

Price £17.95
Format Hardback
Published  1992
ISBN  1870015495

Judas Iscariot and the Myth of Jewish Evil

Hyam Macoby

In the Western imagination Judas Iscariot has always been the archetypal traitor - whether in legend, art or literature. The name Judas has become a paradigm of evil ready to undermine good from within.

In this masterly book, Hyam Maccoby explores the character and story of Judas Iscariot in order to disentangle the historical from the fictitious, and to assess the power as well as the purpose of the myth of Judas the betrayer.

Maccoby traces the development of the story from the Gospels themselves— where a bare idea of the Betrayer changes from Gospel to Gospel until Judas represents the Jews as a nation— to the Middle Ages when the relationship between Judas and the Jews is developed — and finally to the deadly part played by the myth in modern anti-Semitic post-Christian movements.

He also discusses the impact of the Judas story on the human imagination and its continuing fascination for writers and artists alike throughout the centuries, vividly illustrating his arguments with reproductions of drawings, woodcuts and paintings.

But, most importantly, Maccoby discusses the question of why such a myth was needed, what role it has played in Christianity and how it has moulded attitudes to the Jews and subsequently fuelled anti-semitism.

This is a passionately argued book which will anger some readers and excite others.