JUDAS ISCARIOT AND THE MYTH OF JEWISH EVIL – HYAM MACCOBY

JUDAS ISCARIOT AND THE MYTH OF JEWISH EVIL
Hyam Maccoby

Hardback, 1992
£17.95, 256pp, 1 870015 49 5





Winner of the -Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction 1993


In the Western imagination Judas Iscariot has always been the archetypal traitor – whether in legend, art of literature. The name ‘Judas’ stands for the 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 myth 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 as 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.

Hyam Maccoby is well known as a lecturer, reviewer and writer who has aroused passionate debate amongst scholars and laymen. He is the author of Revolution in Judaea, The Sacred Executioner, The Myth Maker and the controversial television play The Disputation.