The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus

Book excerpt: The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus is a comprehensive sourcebook for those looking to gain a more robust understanding of this event through the eyes of ancient writers. Featuring extrabiblical primary texts--along with a new translation and commentary by David W. Chapman and Eckhard J. Schnabel--this work is relevant for understanding Jesus' last days. The significance of Jesus' death is apparent from the space that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John devote to the Passion narrative, from the emphasis of many speeches in the book of Acts, and from the missionary preaching and the theology of the apostle Paul. Exegetical discussions of Jesus' trial and death have employed biblical (Old Testament) and extrabiblical texts in order to understand the events during the Passover of AD 30 that led to Jesus' execution by crucifixion. The purpose of this book is to publish the primary texts that have been cited in the scholarly literature as relevant for understanding Jesus' trial and crucifixion. The texts in the first part deal with Jesus' trial and interrogation before the Sanhedrin, and the texts in the second part concern Jesus' trial before Pilate. The texts in part three represent crucifixion as a method of execution in antiquity. For each document, the authors provide the original text (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin), a translation, and commentary. The commentary describes the literary context and the purpose of each document in context before details are clarified, along with observations on the contribution of these texts to understanding Jesus' trial and crucifixion.