經(jīng)典案例:The Trial of Jesus

Providing an account of the trial of Jesus presents challenges unlike that for any of the othertrials on the Famous Trials Website. First, there is the challenge of determining what actuallyhappened 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 comesfrom five divergent accounts, each of which was written by a Christian (who did not witnessthe final days of Jesus directly) for a distinct audience from thirty-five to seventy years afterthe trial. Second, there is the challenge that comes from knowing that readers of this accountare likely to have prior understandings of trial events that come from their own religioustraining--and that any account of the trial provided here that varies substantially from theseprior understandings may not be easily accepted. Nonetheless, I believe the trial of Jesusmerits analysis for the simple reason that no other trial in human history has so significantlyaffected the course of human events.

In 63 B.C.E. the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem, and in so doing put an end bothto the independent Jewish state of Palestine and eight decades of rule by the Hasmoneandynasty of high priests. Rome began appointing the high priests that served the Temple inJerusalem. High priests from then on juggled the religious interests of Jews and the politicalinterests of Rome, at whose pleasure they served.

Seven decades after Rome assumed control of Palestine, in 6 C.E., growing Jewish oppositionto Roman laws relating to the census, taxation, and heathen traditions boiled over. Especiallydespised was the Roman imposition of a census of property for tax purposes. Ancestral landheld an exalted position in Jewish ideology and many Jews feared that the new laws would leadto its appropriation by Rome. Jewish uprisings in protest of the laws led to the crucifixion ofover 2,000 Jewish insurgents and the selling into slavery of perhaps 20,000 more. The mostintense opposition to Rome came from an area of Palestine called Galilee, which was the centerof an armed resistance movement called the Zealots.

The riots of 6 C.E. and recurring outbreaks that followed caused Roman officials to see Jewishnationalism and religious fervor as threatening to law and order. When Herod Antipas, theRoman ruler of Galilee, constructed a new capital city, Tiberius, on the western shore of Galileein 19 C.E., he might have expected trouble from the peasant population forced to meetheavier tax burdens to pay for it. In any event, trouble came, as two significant Jewish religiousmovements were born in the next decade in the region of northern Palestine under his rule.

The first important movement to arise in Galilee was led by the apocalyptic visionary, John theBaptist. The Baptist called upon his followers to confess their sins, live an ascetic lifestyle, andprepare for the imminent coming of an avenging God. To the purification process offered inthe Temple, he presented a radical new alternative: a ritual immersion in the waters of theJordan River.

John the Baptist's growing popularity among the peasant population alarmed Herod Antipas,who likely feared that the new movement, with its promise of apocalyptic intervention, couldlead to rioting. Antipas made a preemptive strike. He arrested and executed--beheaded,according to Biblical accounts--the Baptist. The execution of John the Baptist may have deeplyinfluenced one of his early disciples, a young man from Nazareth that he had baptized in theJordan river (Mark 1:9-11), Jesus.

The execution of John the Baptist is likely to have had a profound effect on Jesus. God's non-intervention might have caused Jesus to modify the apocalyptic vision of John the Baptist--which was probably a product of the perceived hopelessness of the peasants' plight--to onethat emphasized change in the structure of political and religious institutions. The teachings ofJesus, who began his ministry around 28 or 29 C.E., describe an ideal world, a world thatmight exist if God--and not Caesar or the high priests--had his way. Jesus spoke primarily ofthe need to change the here and now, and less of need to ready oneself for the arrival of anavenging God. Needless to say, a religious program of the sort presented by Jesus would likelybe seen as threatening by powerful beneficiaries of the status quo, from Roman leaders toTemple officials.