Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Back Bay Books (2002), Paperback, 352 pages
Description
Amongst the ancient papyri of the Dead Sea, a remarkable scroll is discovered. Written in the first century AD, it purports to be the true account of the life of Jesus, as told by Youdas the sicarios - Judas Iscariot. If authentic, it will be one of the most incendiary documents in the history of humankind. The task of proving - or disproving - its validity falls to Father Leo Newman, one of the world's leading experts in Koine, the demotic Greek of the Roman Empire, and a man the newspapers like to call a 'renegade priest'. But as Leo absorbs himself in Judas' testimony, the stories of his own life haunt him. The story of his forbidden yet irresistible love for a married woman. The story of his mother's passionate and tragic affair amidst the war-time ruins of Rome. They are stories of love and betrayal that may threaten his faith just as deeply as the Gospel of Judas... With a dramatic narrative that spans from the Europe of the Second World War to Jerusalem two thousand years after Jesus' birth, THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS is a compelling and erudite thriller.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum
The Gospel of Judas is the story of Father Leo Newman's loss of faith. There are three strands to the story: Leo's mother's experiences in World War II, Leo's work on the translation and publication of the gospel, and his present day, post-gospel and post-Christian life.
The motif of infidelity
The motif of infidelity
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mirrors that of apostasy, as the characters grasp for the desires of happiness and responsibility, held in tension. But really, this is a bleak book and nobody ends up happy. So the next step after that is the question of whether to settle, whether to compromise, whether to cope with an imperfect situation. This is a dense and very literary book, not so much about a specific loss of religious faith as a loss of the ability to find inspiration in life when the sacred is undermined and only the mundane remains. Show Less
LibraryThing member avhacker
eh it was good but i am so confused about the charcters and places. i really don;t know what happened here......
LibraryThing member PhoenixTerran
Leo Newman is both a scholar and a priest. Lately he has been working with newly found documents dating as early or earlier than the gospels. But when a new gospel is apparently found, his world begins to fall apart. He finds his faith shattered. And perhaps even worse, he finds himself falling in
The novel took about a hundred pages or so to really get started, and those first hundred pages were the most fragmented and difficult to comprehend. After those first few chapters, it became much more engrossing. The book really has three stories going on simultaneously, each taking place at a different time. One is the story of Leo's mother during World War II, the second takes place during the recent past when the "Gospel of Judas" is found, and the third is the present, after Leo has played his part in the documents translation. This format didn't work as well as it could have, but it was interesting to see the story from three different perspectives: before, during, and after. Ultimately, the story was rather depressing and not everything was resolved by the end, but it was an intense read.
Experiments in Reading
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love with a married woman who has secrets of her own.The novel took about a hundred pages or so to really get started, and those first hundred pages were the most fragmented and difficult to comprehend. After those first few chapters, it became much more engrossing. The book really has three stories going on simultaneously, each taking place at a different time. One is the story of Leo's mother during World War II, the second takes place during the recent past when the "Gospel of Judas" is found, and the third is the present, after Leo has played his part in the documents translation. This format didn't work as well as it could have, but it was interesting to see the story from three different perspectives: before, during, and after. Ultimately, the story was rather depressing and not everything was resolved by the end, but it was an intense read.
Experiments in Reading
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LibraryThing member ablueidol
Finding this difficult to get into. Not sure if its structure or writing that's the block. Or if its my idea of what the story was to be. I have the idea that it would be an interplay of historical and contemporary events leading to a mutual story development. Rather then a crisis of faith story. I
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need the space to have to read it so I can get into its world. I had a similar problem with Catch 22 when reading it 30 years ago. I could never get past the first chapter. In the end I started with the 2nd and then was drawn in to its magic. Show Less
LibraryThing member magentaflake
Loved this book. Story of a priest who has fallen by the wayside, dwells too much on his mother's life, who questions his vocation and is asked to verify evidence which questions Jesus' death and which in turn will turn the Catholic church in the greatest of turmoil.
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
An interesting novel. The Magda chapters are confusing as it is not immediately obvious that they take place later in time.
The gospel find in this novel is not at all similar to the one recently published.
The gospel find in this novel is not at all similar to the one recently published.
LibraryThing member bookcrazed
Father Leo Newman is an expert on ancient biblical texts. When he is asked to examine and verify the authenticity of an ancient papyrus that purports to be the earliest of writings about Jesus ever discovered, he falls into a dark pit of doubt as his scientific assessment makes clear that this
This is the second of Simon Mawer’s novels that I’ve read. In each, there is a subtle thread of suspense that lends the air of a thriller, but without gun fire and chase scenes. In each his protagonist is an intellectual, an international expert in his field. In each the story hinges on an improbable love affair. And in each there is an ending that startles the reader into uncomfortable conjecture about what could have followed. His endings are beginnings—much as in real life. We are left neither with the horror of a certain disaster nor the comfort of an implied happily-ever-after. The star in each of these novels is his writing, his magnificent use of language.
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long-lost gospel of Judas contradicts everything he has believed and taught. The Gospel of Judas is about a crisis in faith, about what happens when someone discovers that their life, both public and private, has been based on a false assumption. This is the second of Simon Mawer’s novels that I’ve read. In each, there is a subtle thread of suspense that lends the air of a thriller, but without gun fire and chase scenes. In each his protagonist is an intellectual, an international expert in his field. In each the story hinges on an improbable love affair. And in each there is an ending that startles the reader into uncomfortable conjecture about what could have followed. His endings are beginnings—much as in real life. We are left neither with the horror of a certain disaster nor the comfort of an implied happily-ever-after. The star in each of these novels is his writing, his magnificent use of language.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
352 p.; 5.5 inches
ISBN
0316973742 / 9780316973748