What is The Judas Brief about?
Reviews
The Judas Brief is a spirited defense of first-century Jewish people and leaders by way of a historical reassessment of the NT Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus. . .[Greenberg has] “a keen eye for the ways religious and political motives have shaped the story of Jesus’ arrest and execution.” . . . Greenberg presses important historical questions and rightly insists on fresh consideration of the evidence, particularly in view of centuries of Christian hostility toward Jewish people and religion that found inspiration in the Gospel accounts of the passion.”—Catholic Biblical Quarterly”
This well-documented work ... presents some interesting history and is clearly written. – Library Journal
Synopsis
Judas did not betray Jesus. He tried to save his teacher’s life.
The Gospel charges that Jewish authorities sought to kill Jesus and pressure Pontius Pilate to crucify him have fueled two millennia of virulent anti-Semitism. The Judas Brief offers the first full-scale historically based rebuttal to Gospel accusations that Judas betrayed Jesus and that the Jewish priesthood demanded that Pilate crucify him. Greenberg concludes that not only did the Jewish authorities not seek to have Jesus put to death, but they also acted to save him and his followers and other innocent Jews from a crushing military assault by Roman soldiers. He argues that in order to stop a Roman massacre of Jews, Judas, acting as Jesus’ representative, negotiated a three-way deal with Pilate, the Jewish High Priest, and Jesus, in which it was agreed that Jesus would remain under house arrest with the High Priest until after the holiday, that his followers would not engage in any demonstrations, and that after the holiday he would be released. But Herod Antipas, the Galilean ruler, feared Jesus’ popularity in Galilee and successfully pressured Pilate to break the agreement and execute Jesus as a threat against the Roman order. The true villain in all of this, says Greenberg, was Herod Antipas, the Roman ruler of Galilee.
Some astonishing revelations from The Judas Brief
- Pre-Gospel Christians did not believe that Judas betrayed Jesus.
- Pontius Pilate’s contemporaries described him as a cruel corrupt murderer who tolerated no disagreement from Jewish leaders and brutally suppressed any protest against his rulings.
- The chief Jewish priests had no political leverage over Pilate and little political support from the Jewish population.
- The only major Jewish leader who felt threatened by Jesus was Herod Antipas, the Roman-appointed ruler of Galilee, who previously beheaded John the Baptist for speaking out against Herod’s wickedness.
- The Gospel of John radically differs from and contradicts the other three Gospels regarding the events leading up to the arrest of Jesus.
Gary Greenberg has written several books on biblical history that have been translated into many languages, including The Moses Mystery, 101 Myths of the Bible, and Who Wrote the Gospels? He was President of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York and served as a consultant to the National Geographic Television Series Science of the Bible. He maintains a web site at www.bibleandhistory.com.