Why did the Jewish authorities hand Jesus over to Rome for crucifixion? It cannot have been because he was judged to have been a false prophet, a deceiver of the people, opposed to Torah, opposed to the temple, or even a messianic pretender. On the last point, Brant Pitre quotes the Spanish theologian Armand Puig I Tàrrech: ‘[N]ever in the history of the Jewish people had a messianic pretender, for the simple fact of being such, been accused of being an enemy of God’s and sentenced to death” (249). Rather, Pitre will argue that Jesus was condemned and executed because he was found guilty, on more than one occasion, of blasphemy.
Recent comments