Over the years on the blog whenever I have posted something about Judas Iscariot (as in my last post), I’ve had readers ask me whether he was a real person or, as some folk have it, he was made up by Christian story tellers who wanted to explain how Jesus ended up in the hands of his enemies? Often it is pointed out that “Judas” sounds like “Jew”: did Christian story tellers come up with the “Jew” who “betrayed Jesus” in order to make a theological point?
I have a definite view about that.
I think he was a real person. Actually one of Jesus’ disciples. And the one who betrayed him to the authorities leading to his arrest and crucifixion.
Why should I think so? The following explanation is based on the discussion in my book, The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot (Oxford University Press, 2006) — where I start with the question of historical evidence and what “counts”:
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