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The Gospel of Judas
 
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The Gospel of Judas (Paperback)

by Simon Mawer (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Abacus; New edition edition (7 Jul 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0349113580
  • ISBN-13: 978-0349113586
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 37,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
This carefully wrought and ambitious novel relates the life-history of Father Leo Newman, a priest who is called in to translate and to help authenticate a first-century papyrus scroll that appears to predate the gospels and was written and signed by one Judas Iscariot. The stakes in such an intellectual exercise are high and are exacerbated by the complications of Father Newman's personal life: an affair with the wife of a British diplomat and uncertainty about his family origins. Is he the son of a Nazi officer's wife and her Italian-Jewish lover, whom his mother turns in? Mawer writes with sympathy and wit and is compelling across the entire range of his subject matter: shaken faith, adultery, betrayal, religious intrigue, scholarly controversy. The opening of the novel sets the tone with some flair:
A curious structure, the confessional. A cross between a wardrobe and a prie-dieu, a varnished wooden construction that is probably the only piece of furniture never to have awoken the interest of collectors. You'll not go into a precious modern house, somewhere in Islington say, and find a confessional in the hall and a careless confession by the proud owner that it was "Something we picked up at an auction. We thought it would go so well just there ..."
Skilful writing on many levels makes The Gospel of Judas an intelligent and moving meditation on one man's search for the elusive truth of his life and faith and, never mired in its own profundity, the novel simultaneously reads like a thriller. Neville Hoad END --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
'Intelligent, unusual and absorbing' SCOTSMAN; 'Erudite and compelling...the twists are surprising and genuinely tense. There is a great deal in this book...thrillingly readable... an excellent novel' OBSERVER; 'Well informed and vibrantly realised. A thoroughly enjoyable and extremely well written novel' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It makes you think, 11 Oct 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Gospel of Judas (Hardcover)
I was drawn to this novel because, intrigued by some non-fiction writing on the historical Jesus, it struck me that a gospel written by Judas, albeit fictional, might also be interesting. I was not disappointed. Imagine the havoc that an authentic gospel written before any of the synoptic ones (and almost a hundred years before John) would cause with the words "...he died and did not rise and I myself witnessed the body in its corruption..." For much of the early part of the novel Simon Mawer only allows the reader tantalising glimpses of this gospel, which his main character, Father Leo Newman, as a scroll expert, has been asked to analyse. Instead, this part concentrates mainly on the two other threads of his story; one of these is Leo's life and involvement with Madelaine, and his subsequent loss of faith, and the other is Leo's mother and her life in Rome during WW2. Although for a while I was hoping for more about the gospel, I was gradually hooked on the other parts of the story and the common themes: love, betrayal, accountability and, most importantly, truth. Mawer paints a convincing picture of Rome and the expatriates living there; he clearly knows Italy and Italians. He is also very informative on ancient papyri and the demotic Greek of the Roman Empire, but don't let his erudition put you off, this is a truly excellent and thoughtful novel.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A haunting tale, 4 Jan 2006
I loved this book. I have to admit that I did buy it thinking from the title it would be very similar to Dan Brown in that a document would be excavated that would jeopardise Christianity and this does happen but it isn't what the whole story is all about.

The discovery of the Gospel of Judas near the Dead Sea coincides with the main character, Father Leo Newman's struggle with his faith as he tries to come to terms with his forbidden love for another man's wife and the consequences this incurs. The scroll symbolises to Leo all that is crumbling around him in his life. The story flicks from past to present giving us some background on Leo's mother and her own forbidden love affair.

Don't pick up this book expecting a Brown-esque adventure with car chases and secret societies. This is a much more complex story of one man's struggle with his faith and his humanity and somehow coming out the other end to find a wary sort of happiness.

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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Of love, faith, and betrayal--heaven and hell on earth., 19 Jan 2003
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This haunting and ironic novel takes us into the heart, mind, and family history of a dedicated priest living in Rome, giving the reader a rare look at his insecurities, the internal battles he faces, and the constant choices he must make. Father Leo Newman is an expert in ancient scrolls from the Dead Sea. Called to investigate a new, intact scroll in Jerusalem, he makes the startling discovery that this scroll is a record of what happened immediately after the crucifixion, as witnessed by Judas and Paul. Its transcription and publication will call into question the accuracy of the more familiar gospels, all of which were written later than this scroll, and which have, until now, been the underpinnings of Christianity and its traditions.

Mawer takes us into the mind of Father Leo as he battles the demons of doubt unleashed by his discovery, and other, entirely mundane demons represented by his love for Madeleine Brewer, the wife of a diplomat. As the novel spirals from the present to the very near past and into the more distant past of Father Leo's childhood during World War II and back again, we see fascinating parallels between the betrayals Father Leo commits, and those of his mother, and of Judas. The roles of Mary Magdalen, Madeleine, and Magda, all of whom even share a name, continue these intriguing parallels and expand the novel's themes.

As Mawer investigates the many kinds of love--love of mankind, love of God, and romantic love--he also shows us the multiplicity of threats to these kinds of love, and the difficulty of facing personal challenges armed only with black and white arguments. Father Leo, an honest man doing the best he can to be true to his church, is, strictly speaking, guilty of betraying both individuals and the church, while Judas, usually thought of as the most villainous of betrayers, possesses a core of honesty here which calls into question the traditional view of him in later gospels. This tour de force of a novel is a stimulating and thought-provoking study of love and truth, connecting a modern man with a much vilified disciple and raising the big question of whether a long-range good can come from a short-term betrayal and whether the price is worth it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the Da Vinci Code
Despite its title, this pretty accomplished novel is not connected - not at all, in no way and not by any stretch of the imagination - with the recent outpouring of thrillers... Read more
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1.0 out of 5 stars Save yourselves the time and effort
and look through the reviews below, essentially they summarise all that is of interest in this drag of a novel. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2006 by Charlie Mount

1.0 out of 5 stars A triumph of style over substance
The author seems to have been more concerned with his writing style than with actually telling a story. And what story there is to this book is really not terribly interesting. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2006 by bluebeam

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the book the title leads one to expect
It would be an interesting to read a novel in which Judas tells the Gospel story from his side; but don’t be taken in by the title of this book, since most of it is not... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars forget the da vinci code
This book was published (at least in America)well before The Da Vinci Code and is superior in every way. Read more
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2.0 out of 5 stars When In Rome
In a lot of ways, this is a very interesting work, a description of a Catholic priest stuck in an unworldly, scholarly life, losing his faith and coming into contact with a... Read more
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2.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. In this case, don't judge this book by its title. The title suggests a tale of suspense similar to the Da Vinci Code. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Fed up with spy thrillers?
If you have some sort of intellectual capacity, enjoy thrillers but are fed up with the usual format, this is for you. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2000 by cr1@dircon.co.uk

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