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Judas: A Biography, by Susan Gubar. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2009. 453 pp., 8 color plates and 39 b&w illustrations. $27.95.
Throughout Christian history, Judas poses a theological conundrum; although he betrays Jesus, without his betrayal there is no death, which means there is no salvation. At the same time, this very act of betrayal turns Judas into the condemned scapegoat. As a consequence, Judas becomes the flashpoint for Christian antisemitism throughout history. It is this to latter role that Gubar devotes much of her attention in her overview of textual and visual portrayals of Judas through the centuries.
The introductory chapter sets the tone of the book and outlines the procedure to follow. Drawing upon the metaphor of biography, Gubar wants to show the historical development of this enigmatic figure from his childhood in biblical times, “his fiendish adolescence during antiquity and the premodern period, his erotic coming of age during the Renaissance, his heroic maturation in modernity, his death as well as his astonishing resurrection during the course of the twentieth century, and his venerable afterlife into the twenty-first” (p. 5). Each of these periods is taken up in detail in subsequent chapters. The first two chapters examine the scant evidence for details of the life of the historical person whose role was so significant in the handing over of Jesus—or not! As Gubar rightly points out, the earliest snippets of information seem not to put Judas in the picture, and his “betrayal” develops into something increasingly sinister as one looks at the historical progression of the canonical Gospel narratives. Outside of these so-called orthodox texts Judas’ role remains shrouded in ambiguity.
The next five chapters are collected together under the heading “Evolving Incarnations.” Chapter 3 gives attention to the oral and anal fixations in the writings and the artwork of the Middle Ages. Highlighted is the increasing link between Judas and “Jew,” in which the latter are vilified for their role as “Christ-killers” while the former takes on stereotyped Semitic features. Chapter 4 examines the bringing together of Judas and Jesus during the Renaissance, with particular focus on the exchange of a kiss. Feminine masculinity and homoerotic overtones are highlighted, particularly in the paintings of Carracci and Caravaggio. Chapter 5 moves into the Enlightenment period and the twentieth-century to show how Judas becomes a redeemed sinner and heroic rebel who pushes Jesus to his destiny. Still present throughout, however, are traces of antisemitism, albeit more muted than before, until the rise of National Socialism in Germany, which is explored in Chapter 6. Although Gubar here connects various depictions to the work of modern biblical scholars, she does not show how these scholars are arguing from (re-) interpretations of ancient evidence, which bolsters her own argument for the evolving of Judas, but she fails to see that these depictions are not created in a vacuum. The seventh and final chapter details her opening declaration: “I found myself contending that the condition of Judas . . . profoundly reflects some of the most stubborn psychological and ethical issues human beings face now, as always” (p. xxi).
While her claim to find in depictions of Judas some key issues of the human condition is borne out throughout her chapters, she does not always fully contextualize the works that she describes in detail or even consider interpretations other than her own. For example, her interpretation of an Italian ivory plaque (c. 400–420 CE; illustration 2.2, p. 73) as showing Judas’ remorse at Jesus crucifixion does not mention that the weight of Judas’ body is bending the tree branch, the tree-leaves functioning to point a dove and her newborn towards Jesus on the cross. The artist may be suggesting that without Judas’ action, no new life would be possible (a theme that shows up in other texts from the time). A more modern example comes from Gubar’s reading of Cecil B. DeMille’s film The King of Kings (1927) in which she claims “the deicide engineered by Caiaphas . . . fueled hatred of the Jews for he displayed more wicked and stereotypically Semitic traits than did Judas” (p. 236). Gubar fails to note that DeMille tried to counter antisemitism in society by toning down the critique of the “Jews” in the Gospels. Rather than have a crowd cry out “Let his blood be upon us and our children” (Matt 27:25) DeMille has the high priest tell Pilate “If thou, imperial Pilate, wouldst wash thy hands of this man’s death, then let it be on me, and me alone.” Later when Jerusalem is hit with a storm and earthquake the high priest shouts into the wind, “Visit not thy wrath on thy people Israel—I alone am guilty!”
Despite such debates about interpretation, of which there could be many, the book remains disturbing in its accuracy about Judas’ role in Christian antisemitism. Nevertheless, the book is disappointing in its lack of attempt to uncover anything at all about the historical Judas. Although Gubar uses the metaphor of life-stages throughout, it is pushed too far in applying psychological categories to composite summaries of large blocks of time. Gubar herself wrestles implicitly with the inadequacy of the overarching metaphor of biography, sometimes of necessity lapsing into the language of “evolution” (a far better controlling metaphor in my opinion). For this reason, the book might better be named “Judas Through the Centuries” to parallel Jaraslov Pelikan’s Jesus Through the Centuries, as it has little to offer by way of actual biography, and is, as Gubar admits, a book “about character and representation” (p. 5).
All of these quibbles with the scaffolding of the book aside, the overall content is interesting and compelling. Gubar provides a thick description of the various presentations of Judas throughout history. As an overall narrative of the role Judas plays in various cultural periods the book works quite well, particularly in the attention given to the disturbing link between Judas and Christian antisemitism.
Richard S. Ascough
Queen’s University at Kingston
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