Book Review by Peter Stein
The problem of precisely what legal proceedings preceded the crucifixion of Jesus has produced an immense quantity of literature in recent years, most of it by biblical scholars. Legal historians have been drawn to the subject by the desire to sort out from the Gospel narratives just what legal issues were involved. Professor Watson, whose reputation as a legal historian is based mainly on his considerable work in Roman law and the history of the civil law, has now turned his attention to the New Testament. He recently published Jesus and the Jews: The Pharisaic Tradition in John. Its argument is that the Gospel of John is a composite work. On the one hand, it contains a strand that derives from a Pharisaic tradition which makes the Gospel in some ways the most sympathetic to the position of the Jewish leaders. On the other hand, it also contains passages that make it “much more anti-Jewish than the Synoptics.” The first strand was too strong to be ignored, but John “defanged” it and “superimposed his theological message.” In the present work, The Trial of Jesus, Watson has moved on to consider the trial of Jesus as portrayed in the four Gospels as a whole.
About the Author
Peter Stein. Emeritus Regius Professor of Civil Law, University of Cambridge.
Citation
70 Tul. L. Rev. 1773 (1996)