The Trial of Jesus : Victim of Bigotry and Cowardice

The author shows how Jesus' message of love and tolerance, so rapturously received by the masses, was recognised by the Jewish elite as being a dangerous threat to the fragile privileges they enjoyed under Roman sufferance. At the same time, Pontius Pilate is seen to have been a political opportunist intent on saving his own career at any price. Using verbatim evidence from the Gospel accounts, Elio Palombi traces the fascinating interplay of two legal systems: that of the Sanhedrin and that of the Romans. He shows that although the Jewish leaders condemned Jesus for blasphemy - a religious crime - in the end they only persuaded a reluctant Pilate to act when they said that Jesus claimed to be a king and was therefore a potential rebel against the Emperor. Recent studies have tended to put most of the blame on Pilate; this work redresses the balance by showing how disastrous consequences can ensue when religious or political leaders put self-interest before the truth.