Talk:Sanhedrin trial of Jesus

Among the reasons that this topic may be considered controversial is that some of its factual basis comes from religious texts. Specific reasons for controversy have to do with the death of Jesus, and whether this institutional body was truly in a postion to stop it, or if it was directly responsible. The casual editor should be warned that posits made in this article, innocently stated, may fuel a sensitive debate.

Isn't the Sanhedrin Trial only in the Synoptics? In John, Jesus seems to be subjected to an informal interview by Annas, not a trial by the Sanhedrin. Also, the current version seems highly biased against John's account. Much of the scholarship I have read suggests that John's version of what happened makes more sense - an informal interview by the Jewish leadership, followed by him being turned over to the Roman authorities - than the Synoptic version. Also, all the Gospels, except maybe for Mark, try to downplay Pilate's role and put the blame on the Jewish authorities. It is, after all, Matthew which has Pilate's wife's dream and Pilate washing his hands and the Jews calling down their guilt onto their children and their children's children; and it is Luke who has Pilate try to evade responsibility by sending Jesus off to Herod, among other things. At the very least, all the stuff that suggests that it's generally agreed that the author of John wasn't a Jew should be seriously recast, I think. john k 15:08, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Re: JohnI agree with almost all you said. Oub 18:03, 18 May 2006 (UTC):

Most scholars are of the opinion that John is the least reliable even if it might on occasion have the most logical argument. See Authorship of John. E.g. you can logically argue that shopkeeper A must have been in bank B at time C, but that doesn't make you an eyewitness.

I agree that Pilate's role is downplayed by most of the Gospels, though I'm not that sure why it is significant to state that on the talk page of the Sanhedrin trial article?

It IS generally agreed that the author of John was probably not a Jew - see Authorship of John. Clinkophonist 17:10, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Many scholars, however, believe that John may, in some points, be more accurate than the Synoptics. The idea that only the Synoptics contain real historical details arose in the 19th century, and I think a lot of recent scholars have taken issue with the idea. And on what basis can we possibly say that John is less reliable than those parts of Matthew and Luke which do not follow Mark? And there's certainly no general sense that the author of John was not a Jew. Certainly many scholars think this, but I've never gotten any sense that this is a consensus - many scholars I've come across clearly think it's likely that John was a Jew - I've come across sources saying things like "I see no reason to doubt that the authors of the Gospels, other than Luke, are Jews." I'd say that scholars generally agree that the author of Matthew was a Jew, and that the author of Luke was a Gentile, but that there's no especial consensus about Mark or John, and various opinions exist. The Authorship of the Johannine Works article seems to me to suggest that the supposed non-Jewishness of John has, in fact, come into question based on the fact that various Johannine ideas show up in the Qumran material. As to Pilate's role, this article states

Both the Synoptics and the Gospel of John state that early in the morning the Sanhedrin reach their conclusion, and bind Jesus, taking him to Pontius Pilate. The Gospel of John downplays Pilate's responsibility and somewhat anti-semitically treats all the Jews as being responsible for Jesus' death, arguing that the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, that Pilate initially wanted the Jews to judge Jesus by their own laws, but that the Jews object since they want to execute Jesus but don't have the legal authority.

This implies that John is unique both in blaming "the Jews" and in downplaying Pilate's responsibility. Which just isn't true. Matthew certainly does both, and Luke at least downplays Pilate's responsibility. john k 18:58, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Article Title

Didn't this page used to be called just "Trial of Jesus?"

In of itself, the title seems to state a POV (that the Sanhedrin was fully capable of trying Jesus independently, etc). Wouldn't one say that the trial went before a court, in order to assume the court's impartiality (rightly so, or not)? I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "Supreme Court Trial of Roe v. Wade," so much as "Roe v. Wade" or "The Trial of Roe v. Wade, that went before the Supreme Court." Calling it "their" trial of Jesus sounds accusatory. I submit that the name be changed.

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