Providing
an account of the trial of Jesus presents challenges unlike that for
any
of the other trials on the Famous Trials Website. First, there is
the challenge of determining what actually happened nearly 2,000 years
ago before the Sanhedrin and the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius
Pilate.
The task is daunting because almost our entire understanding of events
comes from five divergent accounts, each of which was written by
a Christian (who did not know Jesus directly) for a distinct audience
from fifteen to seventy years after the trial. Second,
there is
the
challenge that comes from knowing that readers of this account are
likely
to have prior understandings of trial events that come from their own
religious
training--and that any account of the trial provided here that varies
substantially
from these prior understandings may not be easily accepted.
Nonetheless,
I believe the trial of Jesus merits analysis for the simple reason that
no other trial in human history has so significantly affected the
course
of human events....[CONT.] |