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ABSTRACT the Death of Judas: the Characterization of Judas Iscariot In ABSTRACT The Death of Judas: The Characterization of Judas Iscariot in Three Early Christian Accounts of His Death Jesse E. Robertson, Ph.D. Mentor: Charles H. Talbert, Ph.D. Three different accounts of the death of Judas Iscariot are preserved in Matthew 27:3–10, Acts 1:18–20, and fragments of Papias. The present study will argue that in the milieu of the ancient Mediterranean such death-accounts would have conveyed to the authorial audience particular character traits of Judas through established conventions. The rhetorical handbooks of the era reveal the strategies employed in the depiction of persons in general as well as in descriptions of death. By comparing these theoretical discussions with the actual practice in various types of discourse, the principal patterns of literary portraiture emerge. Using these patterns as an interpretive grid, the three early accounts of Judas’ death reveal character-shaping details that are relevant to the overall plot and theological interests of each work. In Matthew, Judas is depicted as a traitor of a Davidic king and a failure as a disciple. In Acts, the portrait of Judas presents him as an apostate apostle and a defeated enemy of God’s people. In Papias, Judas is characterized as a greedy and intemperate miscreant who plots against a righteous benefactor. The Death of Judas: The Characterization of Judas Iscariot in Three Early Christian Accounts of His Death by Jesse E. Robertson, B.A., B.S.M.E., M.Div. A Dissertation Approved by the Department of Religion ___________________________________ William H. Bellinger, Jr., Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved by the Dissertation Committee ___________________________________ Charles H. Talbert, Ph.D., Chairperson ___________________________________ Mikeal C. Parsons, Ph.D. ___________________________________ R. Alden Smith, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2011 ___________________________________ J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2011 by Jesse E. Robertson All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v DEDICATION vi CHAPTER ONE. Introduction 1 The Problem and Its Significance 1 Methodology 4 History of Research 5 Outline of the Argument 18 CHAPTER TWO. Death and Character: The Contribution of Death-Accounts toward the Portrayal of Persons in the Milieu of Early Christianity 21 Death and Character in Rhetorical Education 22 Death and Character in Narrative 30 Conclusions 67 CHAPTER THREE. The Death of Judas according to Matthew 27:3–5 69 The Plot of Matthew: A Tale of Two Kingdoms 71 Judas in Matthew 26: A Foot in Both Camps 86 The Death of Judas in Matthew 27:3–5: Between Two Worlds 94 Judas and Peter 117 The Function of the Figure Judas in the Gospel of Matthew 120 Conclusions 123 CHAPTER FOUR. The Death of Judas according to Acts 1:18–20 125 The Plot of Luke: The Conquering King 129 Judas in the Gospel of Luke 133 The Plot of Acts: The Reign of Jesus and the Expansion of his Kingdom 143 The Death of Judas in Acts 1:18–20 147 The Function of the Figure Judas in Acts 178 Conclusions 183 CHAPTER FIVE. The Death of Judas according to Papias 186 Trajectories in the Fragments of Papias 191 The Death of Judas in the Fragments of Papias 201 Conclusions 220 CHAPTER SIX. Conclusion 222 Summary 222 Continuity and Variegation 225 Avenues for Further Research 228 WORKS CITED 232 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many supporters and encouragers helped to bring this project to completion. Foremost among them is my mentor Dr. Charles H. Talbert, who has guided this project with constant optimism and clear, helpful advice. One could not ask for a more encouraging director. Dr. Mikeal C. Parsons has likewise been a gracious adviser, concerned about both the research and the researcher. Special thanks are due to the Baylor University Graduate School and to the Young Christian Scholars Program for the financial aid provided during the course of my studies. In addition, my profound gratitude is due to Freed-Hardeman University for providing financial support throughout this endeavor. During the course of doctoral studies the blessings of God have been constant. I have especially experienced them through his people at the Estes Church of Christ and the Lake Shore Drive Church of Christ. Above all, I give thanks for my sweet wife, fine son, and beautiful daughters who have shared in the task as only a family can. v For Kayla, Jacob, Emily, and Anna vi CHAPTER ONE Introduction The Problem and Its Significance Three different accounts of the death of Judas have survived from our earliest Christian literature. Matthew 27:3–10 states that Judas hanged himself after return- ing the betrayal fee of thirty pieces of silver. Acts 1:18–20 says that Judas died from falling and bursting on property that he had acquired with the “reward of his wickedness.”1 According to fragments of Papias preserved in catenae and other ancient sources, Judas suffered numerous torments while still living, including enormous swelling, an accumulation of pus and worms throughout his body, and the loss of his eyesight, before dying on his own land.2 Throughout most of the twentieth century these texts were found to be fertile soil in which to work with the tools of source and redaction criticism in attempts to either pursue a quest for the historical Judas, reconstruct the history of Judas traditions, or discern the theological tendencies of the authors. Such endeavors, however, tended to pay slight attention to the function of these death-accounts in their literary settings. In the latter half of the twentieth century, developments in narrative criticism have led to a renewed 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Bible and the Apocrypha will be from the New Revised Standard Version. 2 Frag. 4 in the collection found in The Apostolic Fathers (trans. Bart D. Ehrman; 2 vols.; LCL; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003). For a full review of the state of the critical text of this fragment in Papias, see ch. 5 below. 1 focus on reading each episode in biblical narratives as integral elements of the larger piece of literature in which they are found.3 This new literary and narrative criticism has typically depended on categories developed in the modern study of literature (e.g., plot, setting, characterization), but in recent decades greater awareness of the compositional techniques and elements of discourse that were familiar to ancient authors and audiences has resulted in a more historically-informed rhetorical criticism that is shedding new light in biblical studies.4 Of particular interest for our project are several recent studies of ancient techniques of characterization that are yielding fresh insights in biblical literature.5 Building on these precedents, we propose to assess, from the standpoint of an ancient auditor, how the accounts of Judas' death in Matthew, Acts, and Papias contribute to the characterization of Judas which would have been perceived by each authorial audience, and how that characterization contributes to the religious message of each work. 3 David M. Rhoads and Donald Michie, Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982); R. Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983); Mark Alan Powell, What is Narrative Criticism? (ed. Dan O. Via, Jr.; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990). 4 George Alexander Kennedy, New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984); Burton L. Mack, Rhetoric and the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990); John A. Darr, "Narrator as Character: Mapping a Reader-Oriented Approach to Narration in Luke-Acts," Semeia 63 (1993). 5 See John A. Darr, On Character Building: The Reader and the Rhetoric of Characterization in Luke-Acts (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992); Fred W. Burnett, "Characterization and Reader Construction of Characters in the Gospels," Semeia 63 (1993): 1–28; Petri Merenlahti, "Characters in the Making: Individuality and Ideology in the Gospels," in Characterization in the Gospels (eds. David Rhoads and Kari Syreeni; New York: T. & T. Clark International, 1999), 49–72; Mikeal C. Parsons, Body and Character in Luke and Acts: The Subversion of Physiognomy in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006). 2 The proposed project is relevant for current issues in several areas of biblical scholarship, including NT exegesis, the history of early Christianity, and methodo- logy in biblical interpretation. Exegetically, such an investigation has the potential to bring important evidence to the table in the continuing debate about whether the New Testament presents Judas as a reprehensible or sympathetic figure. Regarding the history of early Christianity, the question of how the early Christian audience would have regarded the final portraits of Judas in these early texts is important if one wishes to have an accurate historical perspective on the interpretation of the figure Judas. In this regard, the timeliness of this project is particularly appropriate given the recent discovery and publication of the Gospel of Judas.6 The availability of this long-lost document has spawned a flurry of scholarly articles and mono- graphs regarding the figure Judas and the significance the primitive church assigned to him.7 A detailed, rhetorically grounded re-examination of our more familiar depictions of Judas offers to provide better insight to the dominant traditions about Judas against which the Gospel of Judas stands in contrast. Methodologically speaking, a careful examination of death-accounts as an element of literary portraiture in the ancient world may contribute to the emerging field of character analysis in biblical interpretation.
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