Judas: The Troubling Story of the Apostate Disciple

He is considered the personification of evil and is without a doubt the most ridiculed biblical figure: Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Drawing on two thousand years of art, theology and literature, Peter Stanford sketches a historical and cultural biography of a man whose name became synonymous with betrayal.
Against this he puts forward the theory that Judas can also be seen as a victim. One should be grateful to Judas for the role he played in the divine drama of redemption.
'You'll have to decide,' sang Bob Dylan in the 1960s, 'whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.'
Although he took his own life immediately after his betrayal, Judas has been kept alive throughout the centuries in poetry, paintings, pop songs, and even as a beer brand. In this book, Stanford leads the reader through an endless museum of expressions of fascination, horror, and admiration for the great traitor.