Essay - Bible Review in 'How Pilate Became a Saint,' Robin M....

Bible review

In "How Pilate became a saint," Robin M. Jensen (2003) convincingly makes the case that Pontius Pilate, who is often despised as a persecutor of Jesus Christ, was actually revered by some early Christians as everything from a convert to a man carrying out God's plan. To bolster his argument, Jensen relies on all four gospels, which consistently depict Pilate as proclaiming Jesus' innocence and trying to convince the crowd to set him free. Jensen also focuses on extrabiblical texts and writings by Augustine, ***** claimed ***** c*****verted to Christianity, as well as early Christian artwork that depicted Pilate favorably. But while Jensen makes a strong argument that Christians did not always despise Pilate, he misses the opportunity to make a more interesting inquiry into the timing of some of the more positive portrayals ***** Pilate. Some of the works Jensen draws on to show benevolent representations ***** Pilate came during and after the his*****ric conversion of ***** Romans to Christianity. It would have behooved Jensen to at least raise the possibility ***** the ***** positive portrayals of Pil*****e were part ***** a campaign by early Christians to advance the cause of *****, or by the Romans to mitigate *****ir guilt f***** Christ's execution.

The ***** *****or Pilate

As ***** (*****) points out, ***** is ***** seen as a villain ***** the bible, who understood Jesus' *****, but lacked the moral strength to st***** up to a ***** of Jewish subjects and ***** Jesus *****. But *****re is plenty of evidence that ***** Chri*****ians may ***** viewed Pilate differently. First, Pilate and his wife are portrayed in ***** four gospels as being arguably the only people involved in ***** persecution of Christ ***** tried ***** declare his innocence. Jensen cites the Gospel of John, which shows Pilate himself carving the plate that appeared above ***** cross, ***** personally turning ********** body over to Joseph of Arima*****a. Also, the ***** demonstrate that Jesus advised Pilate to carry forth ***** persecution, saying it had been foretold by the prophets and ***** God's will.

In fact, Jensen (2003) argues that ***** was ***** in early Christian works as a m*****n forced to carry out an unsavory aspect of God's will, like more ***** Christian heroes before him. Pilate is represented in a mid-fourth century sarcophagus alongside Abraham and Daniel, and such representations appear ***** other early-Christian ***** of art, Jensen *****. *****, of course, was asked by God to sacrifice his own son ***** prove his loyalty - an order later rescinded - *****d ***** saved Susannah from persecution for adultery ***** steadfastly pr*****essing her *****. In short, some early Christians depicted Pilate as part of a line of biblic*****l figures who were injected into unseemly situations to carry forth God's greater *****. Jensen ***** out that the Greek Orthodox and Coptic faiths even named Pilate and his ***** saints.

While the bible's discussion of Pilate ends with the death ***** Jesus, Jensen (2003) points out ***** early Christian ***** add