PILATE'S PRISONER: A Passion Play

The passion and death of Jesus of Nazareth were first recorded in the four gospels written seventy to eighty years after his crucifixion. Mark wrote the first account based on oral stories, and his gospel was the basis for the other three.

This novel is based on these gospel passion accounts, contemporary scriptural research, and the recent discoveries of Palestinian archeology. In the second half of the first century and early in the second century, the four gospel writers wrote and creatively tailored their passion stories to address the needs of Christians in different places. Following that apostolic practice, this story of the passion of Jesus has been written for 21st-century Christians. It strives to give them insights into how they can take up their crosses and, as Jesus requested, follow him.

The secondary purpose of this novel is to paint a picture of the person of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator-governor at the trial of Jesus of Nazareth, and the historical and cultural setting of that time. Pilate is enfleshed as a historical person, a man of contradictions, and a religious atheist who superstitiously evokes the Roman gods. He is a neglected historical personage, even though Pilate had the distinctive honor of being named in the Christian Apostles' Creed.

This novel also is intended to invite contemplation. Mystics, saints, and ordinary Christians throughout the ages have used the passion and death of Jesus of Galilee to meditate on their own sufferings. The purpose of an authentic religion and good religious art and literature is not to comfort, but to challenge - so be prepared to be confronted yourself by this timeless tragedy of the passion and death of Jesus. This novel is not a work of entertainment but of inner-attainment into the most significant of all human experiences: The passion of your own suffering and death.