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The Trial Of Jesus: An Account, Douglas O. Linder

Faculty Works

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 witness the final days of Jesus directly) for a distinct audience from fifteen (at least) to seventy years after the trial. Second, there is the …