Overview

Some two thousand years ago, in a small province of the Roman Empire, an obscure Roman governor ordered the execution of a peasant leader. It went virtually unnoticed at the time. No official report of the event has survived, and we would have no memory at all of it except for the efforts of a handful of followers of the condemned man. Those followers who kept that memory alive changed the course of history, and the results of their efforts continue to reverberate to this day.Conventional interpretation says that the execution of Jesus of Nazareth came on the heels of a series illegal trials before a number of different tribunals, and at the culmination of that series of trials a moral coward by the name of Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus' execution despite being satisfied that he was innocent. Revisionist interpretation says that there was no trial at all, that Pilate simply executed Jesus because he was a nuisance, and that Jesus' followers invented the story of his execution as a means of shifting the blame from the Roman government to a group of people whom they despised - the Jews.Are the Gospels good history or bad propaganda? Does a fair reading of the Gospel accounts support either the conventional or the revisionist interpretation of the trial of Jesus? Who, if anyone, should shoulder the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus? The Case against Christ seeks to answer these questions by treating the matter as a forensic death investigation and answering the questions as they might be answered by a prosecutor attempting to determine who should be held criminally responsible for the death of Jesus.

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9781443831949

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Reviews

This sweeping study brings the eye of a prosecutor to the events of Jesus' last week. He has read the literature, considered the options, and writes to take us through all those possibilities. This is a fascinating study, full of many observations from which those curious about these events can profit. - Darrell L Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary As an experienced prosecutor and law professor, Dekle sets out to analyze whether the proceedings against Jesus were fair. He also tackles the question of who was responsible for Jesus' death, a question that still haunts much of the world today. The book is a fascinating read, and the in-depth analysis is well researched and reasoned. - Deacon Michael Riggio, J.D., LL.M., Adjunct Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA July 2011

This sweeping study brings the eye of a prosecutor to the events of Jesus' last week. He has read the literature, considered the options, and writes to take us through all those possibilities. This is a fascinating study, full of many observations from which those curious about these events can profit. - Darrell L Bock, Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary As an experienced prosecutor and law professor, Dekle sets out to analyze whether the proceedings against Jesus were fair. He also tackles the question of who was responsible for Jesus' death, a question that still haunts much of the world today. The book is a fascinating read, and the in-depth analysis is well researched and reasoned. - Deacon Michael Riggio, J.D., LL.M., Adjunct Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA July 2011

Author Information

George R. Dekle, Sr., is a retired prosecutor and a legal skills professor at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Florida, USA. During his 30 year career as an Assistant State Attorney, he investigated and prosecuted hundreds of homicide cases. In 1986, Dekle received the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association's Gene Barry Memorial Award as the outstanding prosecutor in Florida, and upon his retirement in 2005, he received the Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in continuing legal education. While serving at the Levin College of Law, Dekle has authored two books, Prosecution Principles: A Clinical Handbook and The Last Murder: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Execution of Ted Bundy, and co-authored another, Cross Examination Handbook: Persuasion, Strategies, and Technique.

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