(+) The Gospel of Judas (2000 Mawer), novel
The Gospel of Judas (2000) is a novel by Simon Mawer.
Abstract
Near the Dead Sea, a new scroll from the time of Jesus has been discovered, which denies much of what has been claimed by the other Gospels. The Vatican sends Rome teacher-scholar Father Leo Newman to investigate.
"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: the missing Gospel of Judas. 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 ... A priest experiencing a crisis of faith -- and the married woman to whom he is attracted. A scroll newly discovered near Jerusalem that, if authentic, could open Christianity to a complete reinterpretation. A tragic love affair unfolding in Fascist-dominated Rome during World War II. These are the elements of a magnificent literary entertainment -- a novel that resonates with tales of love and betrayal as it deals profoundly with questions of faith and what it means to believe. -- At once a love story, a thriller, and a rich novel of ideas."--Publisher description.
Editions
Published in London [England], and Boston, MA: Little & Brown, 2000.