Letters of Pontius Pilate: Written During His Governorship of Judea to His Friend Seneca in Rome

Rating:
Summary: Captivating! Enormously interesting!
Review: This is a non-fiction collection of thirty-three letters written by Pontius Pilate over a four year period to his friend, the Roman senator Lucius Seneca. Seneca would eventually become tutor to the emperor Nero.

The friendship between Pilate and Seneca would last for many years, but Pilate only wrote to his friend during the first half of his administration. Many scholars believe that the disaster handling the Christ affair "would spoil him into indecency" and so it is not with surprising that he found it improper or unpalatable to carry on correspondence with a man, though a friend, who had the Caesar's ear.

The letters reveal much about the Pilate's personality and the challenges that he faced with the persistent difficulties that the Jewish populace presented from the rising unrest amongst their ranks. Many New Testament figures are written in these pages, such as Caiaphas, John the Baptist and Herod, but his encounter with Jesus, the emerging King of the Jews, would affect him with a regret and forlorness that would taint him for the rest of his administration and, we can assume, for the rest of his life.

This book, while not attempting to expand on the history of the Roman Empire or the origins of the Christian Era, offers a very personal view of the occurences of the region from the man who possessed an excellent ability for observation and communication. What makes Pilate unique, and which still captivates the imagination of mortals, is that he encountered the single most influential human being to have ever lived, but played a part in his death. This book allows the reader to discover how he handled the grief and perplexion that was the aftermath.

This is a terrific find, and one that I will treasure for many years. I have purchased several copies for friends and family, and I still get questions about where I purchased the book.

If one wishes to get a good picture of what Judea and the Roman Empire was like in the first century, then this is the book to get. Its like none other.

Rating:
Summary: Take note: this is a work of fiction
Review: When I first saw this book I had to ask, why have I never heard of this before? It should be very famous. When I began reading it, I concluded immediately that it must be a work of fiction. A quick web search confirms that W. P. Crozier was a reporter for the Guardian newspaper in England. This book is identified on the Guardian website as his first "novel," written in 1928.

This is a short story in letter form. It is an account of a self-absorbed, gossipy, impulsive and petty-minded provincial governor--intent on gaining credit for himself and possible advancement in the Roman hierarchy. To him Jesus was simply a minor problem: another of those troublesome people whom a good Roman governor had to dispose of in order to maintain provincial peace. Who knows? That may be an accurate rendering of Pilate's character and personality. The story has some interest in depicting in personal terms the contending interests that a Roman governor had to deal with in Jesus' time: the two neighboring king Herods; the prerogatives and rivalries of the Jewish priestly class; Rome's interest in maintaining order in the province; and the financial requirements of maintaining order and building public works.

Rating:
Summary: Take note: this is a work of fiction
Review: When I first saw this book I had to ask, why have I never heard of this before? It should be very famous. When I began reading it, I concluded immediately that it must be a work of fiction. A quick web search confirms that W. P. Crozier was a reporter for the Guardian newspaper in England. This book is identified on the Guardian website as his first "novel," written in 1928.

This is a short story in letter form. It is an account of a self-absorbed, gossipy, impulsive and petty-minded provincial governor--intent on gaining credit for himself and possible advancement in the Roman hierarchy. To him Jesus was simply a minor problem: another of those troublesome people whom a good Roman governor had to dispose of in order to maintain provincial peace. Who knows? That may be an accurate rendering of Pilate's character and personality. The story has some interest in depicting in personal terms the contending interests that a Roman governor had to deal with in Jesus' time: the two neighboring king Herods; the prerogatives and rivalries of the Jewish priestly class; Rome's interest in maintaining order in the province; and the financial requirements of maintaining order and building public works.