ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the key issue identified in the latter part of the preceding one, the fate of Judas in the light of Christ's descent into hell. For MacKinnon, Judas is tragic in that he is an unredeemed consequence of the economy of salvation. Neither he nor Barth have seen that such 'readings' open up the possibility of a further, startling reading: that it is Judas rather than Jesus who is truly lost in order that the world may find salvation. Emmons was a Calvinist who considered that 'Calvinism has lost much of its purity and simplicity by going through so many unskilful hands of its friends'. Borges writes that Runeberg contends the superfluity of Judas' action in pointing out Jesus, as Christ was well known and did not need identification. The overwhelming strength of Balthasar account of Holy Saturday, nevertheless, is that it can show that there is a genuine possibility of redemption for Judas.
