Book summary

The death of Jesus has been a subject of intense debate throughout the history of Christianity. John Dominic Crossan states definitively that it was the Roman government that tried and executed Jesus for being a social agitator. Not only has the belief that the Jews killed Jesus served as the basis for rampant anti-Semitism throughout history, argues Crossan, but it is also historically untrue.

Media reviews

"Given the spectacular drama of [Christ's] crucifixion and the emotions it is capable of creating, the charge against those deemed responsible has been, historically, the ultimate j'accuse....As fundamentalists keep insisting that the 'inspired word of God' is hard fact in the face of science and sense, the discussion of religious myth and metaphor, along with scriptural intention, becomes an inevitable reality. In this book as well as others, John Domenic Crossan is in the pioneering forefront of investigative Christian thought."