Forgiving Eye for the “Part of God’s Plan” Guy

12 January 2006

The Times Online reports on a proposed campaign among Vatican officials to perform an extreme makeover on one of the Bible’s worst baddies: the ultimate betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Under the proposal, Judas would be redeemed through a “re-reading” of his story by Vatican scholars, who hope to reconcile his betrayal and Jesus’ “‘apparent lack of mercy'” for him, with the idea of Christ dying for all man’s sins. After his sessions with moral stylists, Judas will come across not as intentionally evil, or possessed by Satan, but as someone who fulfilled “‘his part in God’s plan'”: Judas, the cog in the machine. Coinciding with the redemption of Judas are plans to publish The Gospel of Judas, a text that is thought to reflect early Christian beliefs about Judas’ betrayal being part of the divine plan for salvation.

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