A Time for Judas

infobox Book |
name = A Time for Judas
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Morley Callaghan
cover_artist = Brant Cowie
country = Canada
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Macmillan of Canada
release_date = September 1983
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 247 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-7715-9772-X (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-312-80513-6 (paperback edition)
preceded_by = No Man's Meat and the Enchanted Pimp
followed_by = Our Lady of the Snows

"A Time for Judas" is a novel by Canadian author Morley Callaghan, published by Macmillan of Canada in 1983. It tells the story of a man in modern times who discovers tablets written by a scribe named Philo of Crete or Philo the Greek. In the story, these tablets are from the time of Jesus and are Philo's telling of Jesus' last days and the aftermath, including his resurrection. This modern-day man writes a novel based on these tablets. The bulk of the real novel is the fictional novel, i.e. a retelling of sorts of Philo's story.

Plot introduction

The title refers to the friendship between the scribe, Philo, and Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. The premise is that Judas was actually Jesus' most trusted disciple, and chose him for the important job of "betraying" him to the authorities. In other words, Judas was following Jesus' instructions. He tells his story to Philo, who writes it all down on papyrus, seals it up in a Greek jar, and hides it until it is discovered in the 20th century. The story goes that Judas hanged himself, not because he was ashamed of betraying Jesus, but because he had not kept the secret as Jesus had made him promise to do.

Trivia

This is almost an exact parallel to the recently revealed content of the controversial Gospel of Judas.