(Since this essay was posted in January, 2006, really official Vatican officials have declared that there is no plan to rehabilitate Judas. This was all started by the pending publication of "The Gospel of Judas," another non-canonical bit of Gnostic bilge that the usual suspects are hoping will lead to a revision of Christianity.)
I guess Pope Benedict XVI hasn't yet gotten around to firing all the Vatican bureaucrats who encourage idiotic notions which, carried to their logical conclusions, deny sin, free will, the need for a Catholic Church and even the need for Christ himself.
Either that or a recent London Times Story, "Judas The Misunderstood,"(1) is a lousy piece of Brit journalism based on a lousy translation of a lousy piece of Italian journalism.
Religious faith is largely regarded as a joke in the U.K., the most atheistic country on earth, and so care, accuracy and expertise in reporting upon it should be expected less so than they should be expected in the United States.
Also the Times story was sourced by an article in an Italian journal, La Stampa. I have never read an English translation of an Italian newspiece that made any kind of sense whatsoever. I doubt that the newspiece in its original lingo made any sense either. The European mind always seems to be concentrated on the holes rather than the cheese.
Nevertheless I suspect that the Times story about a "makeover" for Judas Iscariot by "Vatican scholars" is basically true. These scholars, by the way, include a writer, Vittorio Messori, of no official position, and Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences. This is by no means an important consultative body. Asssuming it really is an official Vatican entity, it is not even mentioned on the Vatican web site.
Claiming the support of Scripture (except John 12:4-6 which describes Judas as a thief) and tradition, these scholars claim that Judas was "just fulfilling his part in God's plan" and not really in control of his actions. Yes, it's the old "It's-all-part-of-God's-Plan" explanation of human action and condition. There really is no such thing as freedom of choice or moral evil. Everything one does is good because God's really doing it; everything that happens to one is good because God wants it to happen. Hitler and the Holocaust were willed by God as part of This Big Plan of His.
The second error apparent in this effort is another commonly preached and believed among Catholics: that God the Father and Son forgive everybody no matter what, no confession and repentence necessary. Indeed Messori questions the ancient interpretation of Judas because he simply can't conceive of a Jesus who wouldn't be gratuitously merciful, in other words, a Jesus who never existed. If Christ were gratuitously merciful, there would have been no need for Gospels, sacraments, evangelizaton or any of the other things He instituted.
These scholars ignore that part of the ancient tradition about Judas that he was damned not becaused he betrayed Christ, but because he despaired of Christ's mercy. He thought he would not be forgiven, as he would have been, and so didn't seek forgiveness.
There is also concern about Judas being a semitic stereotype. Other biblical scholars, unnamed in the Times article argue that the evangelists made Judas "a victim of theological libel which helped to create anti-Semitism by forming an image of him as a sinister villain prepared to betray for money."
What ignorance, arrogance and pride it takes to twist tradition and truth to modern lies!
This is the kind of story that also makes me lament the death of logic, not only in society, but even in the church. Logic, once regarded as indispensible to ascending the ladder of faith, is now seen as some kind of ungodly obstacle to true belief. Even in the recent Disney version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, logic is denigrated (2), opposite the way C.S. Lewis treated it, as an aid to believing, in his book.
Thus, so-called "scholars" make their ridiculous claims without considering what the implications are. If Jesus gives everyone a free, unconditional pass, He's nonsense.
(1) "Judas the Misunderstood" by Richard Owen, Times Online, 1/12/06
(2) This is in the scene where the children discuss Lucy's discovery with the old professor. In the movie, the professor pooh-poohs logic. In the book, he uses it to argue that Lucy might be telling the truth.
Copyright © 2006 by Neal J. Conway. All rights reserved.