My Name was Judas

This has most likely been the year's book in terms of alternative explanations - and that's the one phrase to describe it. Certainly, the year's book is a bit of an unfortunate reference as it has, in fact, been published a while back - but I've only read it now.

[This] elegant, calm novel is written in the voice of Idas of Sidon, who long ago changed his name, for convenience, from Judas of Keraiyot. An old man now, beloved of family and friends, he recollects a youthful adventure with his childhood friend, Jesus of Galilee. In Stead's version, there was no kiss, no silver, only growing scepticism. Judas does not hang himself or live in an agony of guilt, but becomes a respected citizen in Egypt. Having rid his "consciousness of gods, ghosts and demons" without difficulty, he instead chooses to study the horizon and the heavens with reason alone in an effort to understand the nature of the world. In this bold conceit, a profoundly untroubled empiricist Judas accepts that the world will perceive him incorrectly with a graceful shrug.
Stead writes a cool, reasonable prose; a flat, amiable tone matches precisely the almost uncanny lack of guilt of the man we see as most guilt-ridden. Not biblical, but quiet, sane, occasionally to the point of dullness, it only draws attention to itself when it steps into the modern idiom. It's very odd when Judas worries that "the wheels were falling off our collective enterprise" or the young Jesus yells, during a fight with his friend, "All those who have ruled over Israel, and those who have profited from Israel's shame, shall die - arsehole. Die!" And when Judas tells us that, as a child, Jesus was "intellectually superior, but socially on the back foot", it's a disappointment that Judas's singular escape from the clutches of unreason has not given him fresher phrases to think.
They were tutored together, Judas and Jesus, child of a wealthy merchant and son of a carpenter. Jesus was a star pupil, clever and charismatic, but with a troublingly manic, adoring mother whom he found embarrassing. Judas watches his friend, impressive but not lovable, become increasingly fervent in his religion, while Judas's lukewarm belief in a "vague, flexible, inclusive Heavenly Father" grows ever cooler. Jesus becomes one of the many itinerant preachers wandering that part of the world. They go their own ways until Judas's adored wife dies in childbirth, and in grief he takes up Jesus's invitation to join him on the road.

Should you find this enticing, keep reading The Guardian's review of the book here.
[Book cover from here.]