austraLasia #1792

The Gospel according to Judas - austraLasia's first podcast!

ROME: 19th March 2007 -- Under embargo for the moment but due to be made available on 20th March, is austraLasia's first podcast - a 20 minute interview with Professor Frank Moloney, co-author of The Gospel according to Judas.  The interview will be made available as an mp3 download both directly from the Bosconet homepage and as part of the new Salesian Digital Library at http:sdl.sdb.org.
    Frank flew into Rome on Sunday morning from Australia and now faces a gruelling series of public launches starting in Rome (he had a pre-launch rehearsal at the Biblicum on Sunday evening) then on to London, Dublin and finally New York.  He will be accompanied, of course by co-author Lord Jeffrey Archer.
    This writer and interviewer has read the 'gospel' and agrees with the viewpoint of several others who were permitted to read it beforehand - a wonderful story of Jesus in the long Christian tradition of telling stories of Jesus. The fact that it is written through the eyes of Judas and his son just makes it all the more interesting!
    The interview is not to be missed.  While many other interviews with either of the two authors will focus on issues to the far right or left of the solid and centred Christian tradition, here you will find a Salesian interviewing a Salesian, neither of whom are all that bothered by who is to their right or left but by another divide. "It is my experience over the years that the Church and the world at large are speaking two different languages", says Frank in the interview.
    We explore questions relating to the creative process, especially in a co-authoring context.  At one point I ask him if it eventually became the book (after the process) that he wanted to write.  What were his deeper motivations for taking up the challenge? Where is the 'Salesian' in it all?  Every question receives a thoughtful answer, and you become aware that there are some surprises in this gospel but, as Frank says, while some things may be improbable, absolutely nothing in it is impossible.  And maybe some of the things you thought were 'gospel' truth, ain't necessarily so!  By the way, you will see that biblicists don't reference with footnotes but in the margin.
    I didn't say this to Frank at the time, but the thought struck me - the Torah has the two tablets of the Law written by 'the finger of God'. It is a wonderful metaphor slipped into a dramatic piece of narrative. God has a hand in human affairs.  You may come away from this interview with the same feeling I had, that in this unlikely coupling of creative effort by the artful Archer and the mettlesome Moloney, there just might be another finger at work.
    As soon as the podcast is made public, readers will be informed. jbf
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