Mixing religion and politics: The trial of Jesus and the idea of justice - David Dusenbury

Our series of seminars ‘How to mix religion and politics’, ends with exploring how Jesus’ trial has been interpreted. Jesus’ Roman trial is doubly – or trebly – religious. Pilate is a legate of Rome’s “supreme pontiff” and “son of the divine”, Tiberius Caesar; Judaea’s Temple elites bring charges of blasphemy (and sedition); and the accused – who becomes the condemned – is now revered by more than half of humankind, Christians and Muslims, as Christ (Greek Christos and Arabic Masih), and by roughly a third of humankind as the Son of God. In this talk, we look at how the trial has been interpreted and how it influenced European ideas about politics and justice over many centuries. David Lloyd Dusenbury is a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute, and a visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University. His books include Platonic Legislations, and his latest The Innocence of Pontius Pilate: How the Roman Trial of Jesus Shaped History, can be purchased here. He has lectured widely in Europe on topics in philosophy, religion, and the history of ideas. His essays and criticism have appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, Corriere della Serra, and other cultural and political reviews. He lives in Budapest.