Judas Iscariot-Analytical Essay

In Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” the focal point is clearly the image of Jesus at the center of the table. There were various way in which da Vinci emphasized the focal point of the picture. First, his placement at the center of the circle, while being surrounded at the center of the circle highlighted his importance within the portrait. Next, the arms and head of Jesus Christ’s figure appears to form a triangle, which to my understanding is mathematically symbolic to the “Holy Trinity” Lastly, da Vinci further emphasized Christ as the focal point of the portrait by connecting his head to various lines within the portrait.

Baker, William R., and Paul K. Carrier. James-Jude: Unlocking the Scriptures for You. Standard Bible Studies. Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1990.

Many of the books from the New Testament are from the apostles or from authors who interacted personally with them. Examples of this include Matthew and John, two of Jesus' apostles who each wrote one of the Gospels. Then there are

Throughout many years we’ve seen different Filmmakers and Directors who have given there input or thought of what the ideal version of Jesus Christ. What makes the image of Jesus Christ so dynamic is the controversy it creates, whether the connection is positive or negative people will challenge it. In 1988 film director Martin Scorsese directed the film “The Last Temptation Of Christ “written by author Nikos Kazantzakis. The significance of the character that Scorsese present is he shows the veracity of Jesus Christ. Instead of giving people the typical Jesus Christ that we see on postcards, Scorsese shows the true flesh and blood of Jesus. He shows the struggles and the questioning of Jesus and to his father. The image that Scorsese presents as Jesus gives a solid and strong acknowledgment to Christ; this is not a fully divine Christian movie. It helps to understand Jesus more and what he suffered and went through in order to help save mankind.

In order to fully understand this book, I thought it was a good idea to know the background information. Further looking into this, I really got intrigued by what I found. James was the brother of Jesus and the leader of

The Last Temptation of Christ, was released in 1988, starring Willem Dafoe as Jesus of Nazareth. The film caused controversy amongst Christian’s for it’s contentious representation of Jesus Christ. In the opening scene, Willem Dafoe is seen in a foetal position, whilst hearing disturbing sounds, from a high angle looking down on him, exposing his vulnerability. Jesus in the Last Temptation of Christ, built crosses for the Roman Empire, in order for the crucifixion of the Jewish. Judas barges into Jesus' home, which they have a debate on the activities, Jesus partakes in. Through the debacle, Jesus is portrayed as a coward through the use of high angles, and low angles of Judas, blatantly calls Jesus a "disgrace" and a "Jew killing Jews". This representation of Jesus challenged the Christian subculture's values and beliefs. In the eyes of a Christian, Jesus is represented as a virgin with no sin, who has the mission to help the undesirables. The alternate reading of the film was decoded by Christians in a negative light as they classified the film as sacrilegious, viewing the film as a mockery of the life of Jesus as the two characters juxtapose one another. In traditional images and drawings, Jesus is characterised as having power and influence over others. A character, the illustration of the nativity scene has emphasised the humility of Jesus and promoted a more tender image of him, as a major turning point from the early "Lord and Master”. These attitudes towards Jesus and conservative values are challenged in LTOC. Through the film, it is evident that Jesus has internal conflict and a symbol of violence, when returning from the desert, Jesus, meets with his disciples and holds up an axe, inviting them to war, saying “I believed in love now I believe in this”. This representation disturbed Christians, as it has distorted their image of Jesus, as a merciful and gentle being. The Last Temptation of Christ represents the conservative values of Christians, as they caused controversy. Angry Christians took to the streets to make a change, calling for protests and boycotts. A harsher censorship was wanted, to prevent the movie to be seen from a larger audience. The film was banned in many countries, such as;

In the epistle 1 John, no direct answer in the text states who the author is. However, we can determine who the author is by the clues within the text along with the help of other historical and current resources. Ever since the early church, John the son of Zebedee, has continually thought to be the author. John may have not mentioned his name due to the fact that many readers already knew him before (MAB. John p.1961). The author’s writing style is very similar to that of the Gospel of John.The greeting of both books is just one area that proves similarity, “That which was from the beginning...concerning the Word (1 John 1:1)” and “In the beginning was the Word, the Word…(John 1:1)”.

Throughout the Gospels, wherever Judas the Iscariot is named the betrayer. Judas the Iscariot was chosen by Jesus as one of His twelve apostles. In Mark, the Judas, Jesus and the rest of the apostles entered a home where a large crowd came to see Jesus, so much so that Jesus and His disciple could not eat. The Pharisees continuously challenged Jesus throughout his ministry. But Jesus outsmarted the Pharisees each

The Bible follows an extremely logical and rational progression of events as God created the world in the seven days of creation. This rigid and systematic process in which God transforms and molds the world foreshadows the rigid and defined right and wrong that becomes an inherent and ubiquitous theme in the Bible such as the events of Adam and Eve and Cane and Abel. Furthermore, this theme is extended as “light is created and separated from darkness to designate day and night,” that there is only right and wrong and no moral ambiguity in between the two extremes of black and white. On the second day, this theme is again underscored when the “sky” was created to separate the water on earth from the water above.” This continual separation and dichotomies of the world demonstrates that God follows a systematic transformation of the creation of the world and this characteristic manifests itself later in his punishments towards Adam and Eve. This recurring theme continues to appear in Jesus’s Last Supper, Abel and Cane, and other biblical stories, further reinforcing the fact that ambiguity is nonexistent.

Justine Martyr mentions Hebrews as authoritative to the level of acquiring the tittle “apostle and Angel” as applied to Jesus. Clement of Alexandria referred it to Paul through the authority of Panteanus who was the principle of Catechetical Scholar in Alexandria. This was in the mid second century. Paul does not call himself an Apostle of the Hebrews because he was the Apostle of the Gentiles.

this refers to a Jewish Christian audience, however, some scholars believe that James is simply

John the Apostle was a disciple, who would preach the word of God and spread Christianity through his life.

In The Judaeo-Christian Tradition by Jack H. Hexter, the trial of Jesus is addressed in an unorthodox perspective. The trial of Jesus incorporates two trials: the Roman trial and the Jewish trial. In Hexter's book the Roman trial is addressed in great length while the Jewish trial is almost unaddressed. Hexter provides a perspective of the trial of Jesus with only one cause: the charge of sedition, for claiming to be king of the Jews. By using the four gospel texts, Hexter's view is illuminated and we find crucial aspects to the trial that not only counter Hexter's view on the sedition charge but also provide evidence for other important charges. Themes other than the charge of sedition supporting Hexter's perspective include, the

James the Just, was the successor of Peter as leader of the Jerusalem Church around AD 44 and maintained the position until he was martyred in AD 62 (127). As the man who was reasoned to be the first real bishop of the Christian Church, it is obvious that he would have been a well-known figure amongst early Christians and would not have needed to use his full name in order to establish his literary authority. Furthermore, the idea that James the Just was the author would also fit with the content of the book of James, which assumes much of Jesus' teachings and whose author seems to have a great understanding of events and situations regarding the oral traditions and life of Jesus, despite the fact that the Gospels had not yet been amassed

When assessing the relative merits of various approaches to the death of Jesus of Nazareth, it is worth bearing in mind C.S. Lewis’ measured observation that ‘a good many different theories have been held as to how it works; [but] what all Christians are agreed on is that it does work’. This is not, however, to suggest that all theories of atonement are equally valid, nor is it to affirm any theory which represents the death of Jesus as redemptive or restorative as necessarily credible or valid per se. Rudolf Bultmann’s existentialist and “demythologized” theology of the cross represents perhaps the most cogent departure from traditional models of atonement advanced from the church fathers to the 16th century reformers. For Bultmann, an accomplished New Testament scholar and form critic par excellence, the “salvation event” is ahistorical; occurring not in the cross of Christ, but rather in the “kerygma”; that is, the preaching of Christ crucified and risen. Given that the standard by which the integrity any theology of the cross must be judged is not that of ecclesial tradition, but that of scripture, the task of determining the reliability of Bultmann’s scheme becomes one of biblical interpretation. While Bultmann appeals extensively to scripture in the formulation of his theology, the validity of his conclusions have been challenged both by Bultmann’s contemporaries and more recent scholars. From a dogmatic standpoint Karl Barth notably defended the orthodox