Did the Judas saga occur at all?
“Our conclusion must be therefore that no tradition of the betrayal and the defection of Jesus existed before 60 CE” …The whole story of betrayal was invented not less than 30 years after Jesus’ death (Maccoby, Judas Iscariot and the Myth of Jewish Evil, p. 25)
There is general scholarly consensus that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, with this attributable authorship to a major Christian figure juxtaposed against the four Canon Gospels, whose true authorship is
unknown. Paul, founder of Christianity, writes in 1 Corinthians 15:5
that Jesus, immediately after his crucifixion was seen by “the Twelve.” Meaning, all twelve Disciples were present and accounted for. Judas Iscariot included.
So, Paul, the very founder of Christendom, in a key document written (in the 50s CE) prior to the writing of the first Cannon Gospel by writers unknown (in the 70s CE), does not seem to include any Judas betrayal vignette.
Why might that be?
