Hey guys, great episode!

Just one note for additional information: Dr. Paul Maier did an excellent job analyzing Pontius Pilate’s motivations for finding Jesus guilty in a historical novel he wrote in the ’60s/’70s. He posits that Pilate’s decision was motivated by a political shift in the Roman Empire itself. Up to about 31/32 CE, a guy named Sejanus had the ear of Tiberius and Sejanus was a raving antisemite. But then, sometime between 30-33 CE, Sejanus was exposed as a traitor who was plotting against Tiberius and all of his supporters were executed along with him. Maier connects that event with an incident recorded by the Jewish philosopher Philo to suggest that Tiberius took a different attitude toward the Jews post-Sejanus that was more conciliatory, one that Pilate would have been defying had he found Jesus not guilty and released him.

I’m probably not doing it justice, but it’s a fascinating theory and I highly recommend the book.