Dick Gross raises an important point in this weeks My Gospel Gripes. The death and resurrection of Jesus have always been at the heart of the Christian faith. If we can’t trust what the Gospels say about the events of the first Easter, then we should abandon the cross and embrace the chocolate bunny as the true symbol for the long weekend.
Gross invites us to start with the Gospels’ portrayal of Pontius Pilate. He levels two major criticisms. First, he says the characterisation of Pilate in the Gospels as a reluctant executioner is ‘laughable’ and ‘fraudulent’. Second, more seriously, he says that the Gospels lay all the blame for Jesus’ execution on ‘the Jews’. This matters, he says, because the Gospels ‘began two millennia of intractable and murderous anti-Semitism’. These are serious accusations. In neither case, however, does Gross provide a plausible reading of the evidence.....
To read the full article, check it out on The Sydney Morning Herald Website....
