Jeffrey Archer to Co-author Fifth Gospel

“Already the very name of ‘Judas’ raises among Christians an instinctive reaction of criticism and condemnation … the betrayal of Judas remains … a mystery.”

Pope Benedict XVI in a General Audience at the Vatican, October 2006

Bestselling novelist, Jeffrey Archer, is to publish The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot on 20 th March 2007. The gospel will be published around the world in German, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and English, with Spanish and French rights currently under negotiation. The English-language audio version was recorded by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town last week.

Written in close collaboration with one of the world’s leading biblical scholars, Professor Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel According to Judas, by Benjamin Iscariot throws new light on the mystery of Judas, including his motives for the betrayal and what happened to him after the crucifixion. At just over 22,000 words, it is roughly the same length as the four canonical Gospels.

The many mysteries surrounding Judas – for example, whether he really did commit suicide, as cited in The Gospel According to Matthew – have long intrigued scholars and theologians.

Together, the authors tell the story of Jesus, using the canonical texts as their basic point of reference, through the eyes of Judas. They offer a very plausible re-reading of the Christian tradition that throws into relief the tragedy of Judas, and the compassion of Jesus.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the book “riveting and plausible. It's so authentic. It sounds just like the kind of thing someone's son would do to try to rehabilitate their father's name.” Former Archbishop Lord Carey “liked it very much indeed”.

Ostensibly written by Judas’s son, Benjamin, and following the style of the Gospels, the aim was to write a story for twenty-first-century readers, with Professor Moloney ensuring the result would be credible to a first-century Christian or Jew. Both authors worked on the project intensively for nine months. Lord Archer was steered throughout by Professor Moloney and has included nothing with which the Professor disagreed; both acknowledge that 80% of the storytelling is Jeffrey Archer’s, and 80% of the scholarship is Professor Moloney’s.

The partnership between Jeffrey Archer and Francis Moloney was formed following a meeting in Rome between Lord Archer and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop emeritus of Milan and former rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute , in Rome early in 2006. When Lord Archer asked who might be approached to help write such a gospel, Cardinal Martini immediately singled out one of his former students, Francis Moloney.

Francis Moloney’s distinguished academic career has included appointments as Professor of New Testament at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, President of the Catholic Biblical Association of America (the first non-US citizen ever to hold this position) and Chair at the Catholic University of America: the Katherine Drexel Chair of Religious Studies, where he later became Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies.

Pope John Paul II appointed Professor Moloney to the International Theological Commission to the Holy See in 1984, and he remained on that important advisory body to the Holy See as one of its longest-serving members for 18 years. In 2005, he returned to his native Australia having been appointed the Provincial Superior of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He is the author of almost forty books.

Publication: 20 March 2007
ISBN: 9780230529014
Price: R131.00
Category: Fiction General
Format: Hardback
Page extent: 96 pp
Audio: CD (Read by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, incl. video footage)
9780230531390
Price: R202.00