Product Description: The Judas Brief challenges the fundamental Gospel concept that at least some leading Jews played a key role in having Jesus executed. Author Gary Greenberg provides a detailed examination of all Gospel accounts of hostile interaction between Jesus and the Jews, with special attention to the Gospel accounts of the Jewish and Roman trials of Jesus. He then compares these Gospel reports with the historical evidence and reaches some surprising and controversial conclusions, including that: · there was never any organized Jewish hostility to Jesus · the only significant opposition came from Roman authorities · Judas was a close ally of Jesus and represented him in negotiations with the High Priest · the High Priest tried to protect Jesus and his followers from a Roman initiated massacre · Jesus willingly agreed to surrender himself to Pilate as a hostage to insure that his followers remained passive during the holiday · Judas and Caiaphas had expected that Jesus would be released after the holiday · Pilate broke his word and had Jesus executed · Judas committed suicide in grief over the unexpected death of Jesus and the role he had played
'The Judas Brief' is a comprehensive and clearly written account of the many Gospel portrayals of interaction between Jesus and the Jews. It may well provide modern Christian scholars and exegetes with some of the tools necessary to challenge the anti-Semitic reactions that flow from the Gospel accounts of Jewish hostility to Jesus.
The Judas brief: Who really killed Jesus WHO REALLY KILLED JESUS Book review By Andre Austin
Author, Gary Greenberg has released a brand new book, The Judas Brief: Who really killed Jesus. His main thesis is an attempt to rightfully indict and exeronate the murders of the man you know as Jesus Christ. He uses all of his lawyer verbal and writing skills coupled with digging deep through the historical records to offer an alternative ethological assumption of the murder of Jesus. Gary cuts through the chase, hyperbole and all of the embellishment handed down to us all the zealous followers of Jesus.
So just who killed Jesus? We are led down a road to believe that Pilate with the assistance of Jewish priest forced Pilate to crucified Jesus. However, all that we know about the cruel Pilate was that only another individual with similar or equal power or the Emperor could make Pilate budge on issues dealing with political and military operations within his jurisdiction. According to the Bible "Herod and Pontius Pilate met together...to conspire against your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:27). Herod was called a fox a possible allusion to foxes who wore sheep clothing because by birth he was a Jew but was Roman in all of his ways. So if Herod conspired to kill Jesus just what did he do? When you conspire it's a joint effort of two or more person to achieve a criminal or immoral goal. The goal was killing Jesus. The trumped up charges was he claimed to be Son of God and or Son of Man. Theses terminologies meant King and ultimately treason to Herod and Pilate; and we are lead wrongfully to believe it meant blaspheme to Caiaphas, the Sadducee priest.
For some reason or another the apocrypha book the Gopel of Peter (GOP) didn't make it in the official canon of the New Testament, however it's useful because it continues the dialogue of fully explaining Herod's conspiracy to kill Jesus. According to the GOP Herod was the one who gave the order for the execution. "Herod the king commandeth that the lord (Jesus) be taken saying to them (Pilate), what things soever I commanded you to do unto him (Jesus), do" (GOP). This settles it for me. Like father like son Herod the great attempted to kill Jesus, (with no massive baby killing was the embellishment), in his infancy and his son Herod Antipas finally was able to get him as an adult. In the New Testament Jesus had taunted Herod to try to kill him out of his jurisdiction. Herod beheaded John the Baptist which he thought Jesus was a reincarnation of.
As I read The Judas Brief, I began to see the real picture. Judas didn't betray Jesus the correct term was "hand over" temporary for house arrest at the Sadducee priest house. It is very unclear in the gospels just what Judas Iscariot's betrayal consisted. Matthew says that Judas' payment and death were prophesied by Jeremiah, and then he quotes Zecharian 11:12-13 as proof!
According to Matthew 26:15, the chief priests "weighed out thirty pieces of silver" to give to Judas. There are two things wrong with this: a. There were no "pieces of silver" used as currency in Jesus' time - they had gone out of circulation about 300 years before. b. In Jesus' time, minted coins were used - currency was not "weighed out." By using phrases that made sense in Zechariah's time but not in Jesus' time Matthew once again gives away the fact that he creates events in his gospel to match "prophecies" he finds in the Old Testament. The embellishments were for moral teachings not historical teachings. Judas was a trusted treasury and rebuke Jesus for using expensive oil that could be used for the poor. This behavior is inconsistent with a man wanting to kill Jesus for money. Although the bible says Satan entered Judas the only apostle called the devil was Peter and that was because Peter didn't want Jesus to die. Judas also didn't commit suicide which Greenberg points out the contradiction. And if you read also another apocrypha book called the Gospel of Judas you will see the allegation that Judas was murdered.
The deal was brokered that Jesus would remain under house arrest after the Passover festivals was over. When Herod found out about it he countermanded Pilate to put Jesus on the cross. The Jewish authorities had to hand him over to Pilate and Herod to avoid widespread killing spree. So Jesus died so that many Jews could live at that time and place. Judas and the others didn't believe in suicide, martyrdom or sacrifice but it was out of their hands now. The Jews had very little to do with Killing Jesus.
It appears that at one point in time Christians and Jews didn't get along. It's possible that in that zeal of animosity the Jews involvement with killing Jesus was hyped up.
I stopped everything I was doing to finish this book. Two thumbs up for this page turner. It was worth my money.
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