On the Other Hand, You Can Blame Judas' Ghost Writer

Quote:  "If Jesus had been acting consistently and seeking a trusted companion who could facilitate his necessary martyrdom, then all the mental and moral garbage about the Jewish frame-up of the Redeemer goes straight over the side."  Christopher Hitchens in Slate.

Figure of Speech:  enthymeme (EN-thih-meme), the argument packet.

The Gospel of Judas has finally come to light after hiding out in Egypt and in greedy art dealers’ vaults for a millennium and a half.  An impressive feat of revisionist religion, it turns Judas into Jesus’ martyrdom enabler.

Christopher Hitchens, a columnist for Vanity Fair, makes it the premise in an enthymeme ("something in the mind"), the rhetorical version of Aristotle’s syllogism.  If Hitchens’ logic were in the form of a syllogism, it would go like this:

Jesus had a helper facilitate his necessary martyrdom.
Someone who directs his own martyrdom can’t be a victim.
Therefore,  the Jews didn’t victimize him.

The enthymeme leaves out the middle, well-duh part, which, Aristotle said, would tax the audience’s attention span.

Snappy Answer:  "Enough with the blaming.  Celebrate the rebirth, of Jesus or of spring."

Comments

[donkeychef]

Hitchens is just unbearable. Well done

[Molly]

Anthypallage. Hitchens is not a columnist for Vanity Fair.