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Judas Iscariot to Get Vatican Makeover
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Comments
1
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Ted Belman
said:
This is a dialoge among Christians. If a Jew were to debate the issues he would point out that the fact that Judas was Jewish should be totally ignored. Everyone except the Romans were Jews, Jesus and Judas included.
Secondly just as the Jews and their descendants were improperly blamed for killing Christ, it is just as improper to blame the betrayal on a Jew, rather then on Judas.
Assuming of course that the Gospels are telling historical truth and not purposely villifying those Jews who resisted their new doctrines.
If "in betraying Christ Judas was fulfilling a divine mission, which led to the arrest and Crucifixion of Jesus and hence to man’s salvation.", Judas should be praised as should the Jews for not only producing Jesus but for alledgedly killing him thereby leading to the salvation of man.
Posted by: Ted Belman on January 13, 2006 10:01 AM
2
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The City Troll
said:
The strife between Jews and Christians has always befudled me. If looked at from a basis of fact and reality Christians like myself are nothing but reformed Jews, all of our laws and testamints are derived from the same sources. The main differences are in how we view Jesus. All the apostles and Jesus were Jews and were in the process of reforming the Jewish faith. If you follow through with the prophecies, Jesus had to die just as judas had to identify him and the Romans were the ones that had to finalize act.
Posted by: The City Troll on January 13, 2006 01:52 PM
3
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Ptah
said:
*sigh* I think they shouldn't, but for a host of reasons that I am now putting down at my website, and which they clearly do not address.
Short answer: it depends on whether you think God is under the requirements of a divine version of Starfleet's Prime Directive.
Posted by: Ptah on January 13, 2006 02:29 PM
4
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Per
said:
There is no need for a “rehabilitation” of Judas. Unfortunately, the wealth of theological knowledge of the Times newspaper is probably no more impressive than that of the Pravda.
The "debate" which is faintly echoed above, is part of a process which started fourty years ago during the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, and which has still to reach its logical (and theological) conclusion, that the People of Israel is not a "deicide people". This process is still in its initial stages, and struggles at present against the new version of "replacement theology" called Palestinism, which rejects the existence of Israel altogether and replaces it with "the Palestinian people which has inhabited Palestine since time immemorial". (They praise the Palestinians at Christmas time, but still blame the Jews at Easter, in order to retain the age old European pogrom tradition).
I think Jews should take an interest in this phenomenon, and support the reform efforts by the Holy See, rather than fraternize with the notoriously anti-Semitic dhimmi churches of the Middle East.
Posted by: Per on January 13, 2006 02:35 PM
5
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kuhnkat
said:
I tend to agree with Per. There is no need to rehabilitate Judas Iscariot.
If you believe in Judaic and Christian teachings then you should be a believer of free will and the ability to choose between good and evil acts.
Jesus and previous prophets taught that Jesus would be sold out by one of his disciples. They did NOT teach WHO would do it. Unless you want to ASSUME information that has NEVER been put out that G-D MADE Judas betray Jesus you may come to the conclusion that Judas thought something like this:
Well, they said SOMEONE was going to do it, so, I may as well make some money on it!!!
That's my measly contribution.
I would also agree with Per's statement to associate more with a group of Christians who appear to be struggling toward support of Judaism as opposed to the local Christian sects who appear to be busy selling the Jews and themselves down to permanent Dhimmitude!!
I still can't believe the local Christian sects won't fight back when the local Jihadis commit acts of total bestiality on them!! They are a perfect example of why I don't believe Jesus was a pacifist!! Pacifism only works in relation to at least semi-civilised races.
Posted by: kuhnkat on January 14, 2006 01:08 AM
6
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Leonard
said:
It would seem that christian groups and leaders who wish to sell out and betray their jewish neighbours and friends in Israel in order to appease palestinian terrorism are a form of modern day Judas Iscariot and really ought to be recognised as such by the rest of the Christian community.
Posted by: Leonard on January 14, 2006 07:54 PM
Judas Iscariot to Get Vatican Makeover
Judas the Misunderstood
Times of London
Interpretations of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss, are being rethought by Vatican scholars.
The proposed “rehabilitation” of the man who was paid 30 pieces of silver to identify Jesus to Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane, comes on the ground that he was not deliberately evil, but was just “fulfilling his part in God’s plan” reports the Times newspaper.
Historically Christians have often blamed Judas for aiding and abetting the Crucifixion, and his name is synonymous with treachery.
According to St Luke, Judas was “possessed by Satan”.
Now, a campaign led by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science, is aimed at persuading believers to look kindly at a man reviled for 2,000 years, reports the newspaper.
Mgr Brandmuller told fellow scholars it was time for a “re-reading” of the Judas story. He is supported by Vittorio Messori, a prominent Catholic writer close to both Pope Benedict XVI and the late John Paul II.
The suggested re-interpretation may be explained by some as a result, at least in part, of the new 'post-Christendom' context.
Within Christendom, a close alliance of church and government meant that Christians often played down Jesus’ radical message of mercy, love and forgiveness. Such values did not sit nicely with a church which had to play a part in governing, waging wars imprisonment and torture, and Jesus was often interpreted in more retributive terms.
As the church moves further from government however, room is made for interpretations of Jesus to re-emerge that are more in keeping with ideas of forgiveness rather than punishment.
Signor Messori said that the rehabilitation of Judas would “resolve the problem of an apparent lack of mercy by Jesus toward one of his closest collaborators”.
He told La Stampa that there was a Christian tradition that held that Judas was forgiven by Jesus and ordered to purify himself with “spiritual exercises” in the desert.
In scholarly circles, it has long been unfashionable to demonise Judas and Catholics in Britain are likely to welcome Judas’s rehabilitation.
Father Allen Morris, Christian Life and Worship secretary for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, said: “If Christ died for all — is it possible that Judas too was redeemed through the Master he betrayed?”
The “rehabilitation” of Judas could help the Pope’s drive to improve Christian-Jewish relations, which he has made a priority of his pontificate.
Some Bible experts say Judas was “a victim of a theological libel which helped to create anti Semitism” by forming an image of him as a “sinister villain” prepared to betray for money.
In many medieval plays and paintings Judas is portrayed with a hooked nose and exaggerated Semitic features. In Dante’s Inferno, Judas is relegated to the lowest pits of Hell, where he is devoured by a three-headed demon.
The move to clear Judas’s name coincides with plans to publish the alleged Gospel of Judas for the first time in English, German and French. Though not written by Judas, it is said to reflect the belief among early Christians — now gaining ground in the Vatican — that in betraying Christ Judas was fulfilling a divine mission, which led to the arrest and Crucifixion of Jesus and hence to man’s salvation.
Mgr Brandmuller said that he expected “no new historical evidence” from the supposed gospel, which had been excluded from the canon of accepted Scripture.
But it could “serve to reconstruct the events and context of Christ’s teachings as they were seen by the early Christians”. This included that Jesus had always preached “forgiveness for one’s enemies”.
Some Vatican scholars have expressed concern over the reconsideration of Judas. Monsignor Giovanni D’Ercole, a Vatican theologian, said it was “dangerous to re-evaulate Judas and muddy the Gospel accounts by reference to apocryphal writings. This can only create confusion in believers.” The Gospels tell how Judas later returned the 30 pieces of silver — his “blood money” — and hanged himself, or according to the Acts of the Apostles, “fell headlong and burst open so that all his entrails burst out”.
Fortunately, the Times newspaper itself has come to the rescue, and using its wealth of theological knowledge to set everyone straight.
In an editorial today the paper concludes; “To see him as a victim is surely too generous — even by modern standards. To contend that he did not know what he was doing does not square with biblical evidence. To conclude that he was only obeying orders is not satisfactory either. Nor did the Roman Empire often exploit the equivalent of ASBOs. The Vatican may decide to be very kindly towards him. Yet, Judas is surely a ‘bad chap’.”
Well, that sorts that one out then. (ekklesia)
Posted by Ted Belman at January 13, 2006 09:00 AM