Let’s face it: We all knew that as soon as the manuscript for the lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot was revealed to the world through National Geographic‘s two nonfiction books and accompanying television documentary, some enterprising novelist was going to run with the notion that there’s more backstory to the betrayal of Jesus than what we find in the New Testament. And so, in two months, Jeffrey Archer(right) will present the world with The Gospel According to Judas. (Don’t be fooled by the Simon Mawer novel The Gospel of Judas from 2001; that’s a modern-day thriller involving an biblical-era manuscript in the vein of Irving Wallace’s The Word.) Interestingly, the Sunday Times piece on the book gives no more than passing mention to the recently discovered manuscripts, relying on Lord Archer’s explanation that he’s been dwelling on the subject of Judas for years. (Insert your own “lots of free time in prison” wisecrack here, because I’m too lazy to polish one up myself.)
Among the major talking points he develops in the novel, co-written with biblical scholar Frank Moloney: the betrayal of Jesus was strictly political, there was never any money involved, and Judas certainly wouldn’t have killed himself afterwards. Reports say the book will be published worldwide on March 22; Macmillan is identified as the UK publisher, and though there’s no listing for the book yet on Amazon, presumably St. Martin’s will publish it in the States, where, as Lord Archer predicts to Reuters, “this is going to cause an amazing amount of debate.” Yes, let’s see if the New York Daily News gets as bent out of shape over this as they did when a novelist dared to suggest that Mickey Mantle was a drunken skirt-chaser…
Here’s a funny bit, in the meantime: In reviewing the Judas scrolls last year, religious historian Steve Tomkins dismissed the ancient manuscripts as unreliable Gnostic propaganda, or “the gospel accoding to Jeffrey Archer.”