This book by Paul Maier is one I bought at the McFarlin book sale for two dollars, and is billed as a "biographical novel." It blends both Biblical, historical, and traditional sources to paint a probable portrait of Pilate's life. The notes explain that several orthodox churches have a tradition of Pilate's wife Procula being an early convert and celebrate her as a saint, and the Ethiopian Orthodox actually have St. Pilate and St. Procula's day, indicating a belief that Pilate also converted. The book does not take a stand on whether they ultimately did, but the book does offer a large amount of accurate historical data about the rules of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius and the governorship of Pilate. It was interesting to read this one right after the Anne Rice book, they were complements from different perspectives.
Pilate has short interactions in the book with several Biblical figures, including Paul, the Centurion Cornelius (who, Maier notes, Pilate almost certainly would have met, given how few Roman officers were in Judea at that time), and of course Jesus. It gives context to many of the occurrences of the Bible, including the identities of the "Herodians" who succeeded Herod the Great, their actions, and Pilate's authority with respect to Christ's prosecution.
It makes the interesting theological point, through Paul, in fact, that the presence of Pilate was to indicate the guilt of Gentiles in the death of Christ. Based on this and a reference in the preface, I feel that Maier was trying very hard not to write anything that could be construed as anti-semitic, but nonetheless I think it is a legitimate point and a true interpretation. Though I do wonder what all of you think about this point and the method of its presentation. Actually, having delved slightly into the genre of religious fiction set in Biblical times, I was wondering what your opinions might be on that type of writing.
Certainly this is a recommendable book, though there is a lot more darkness in it, what with the Roman politics, Caligula, Tiberius, and all, than in many of the others. It is intensely interesting if you have a interest in ancient history.
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It sounds like this is a very useful book, if only as a way of learning about this historical time period.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author's interpretation of Pilate's involvement in Christ's crucifixion. As for the method of the presentation... do you mean, the Apostle Paul being the spokesman for Maier's ideas?
Authors may make errors when they try to imagine what historical figures said, thought, and felt. However, I'm not against that kind of historical fiction in general. Presenting a fictional Christ is much trickier. I think it would be much harder to do that well, and the consequences of a mistake could be more severe.
I'd like to hear E.'s thoughts on this.
I have some difficulty reading historical fiction that is meant to represent Biblical events. Whenever authors try to portray Christ, I start to become uneasy. Perhaps it's because we inevitably portray the Jesus we "want" instead of the one the Gospels actually give us.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have enjoyed reading some books in this genre. "The Bronze Bow" by Elizabeth Speare and "The Robe" (sorry, don't remember the author) being two of them.
As I remember, Jesus himself is not portrayed as saying anything that is not a direct quotation from Scripture, even during the trial with Pilate. There is some added action on the part of Pilate to explain exactly what he was doing to the modern reader, for example, why he refers Christ to one of the Herods and why the Jews had to come to him to execute Jesus over a religious matter. As far as other actions and sayings by Jesus they are reported to Pilate second hand and are either portrayed as rumors that are moderately accurate when they do not conform perfectly to scripture (This is what happens when Pilate interviews people about Jesus feeding the five thousand, and not everyone agrees perfectly about how many loaves and fishes there were) or portrays them accurately. Paul only stops by long enough to tell Pilate of his own conversion and advise Pilate that he can be forgiven for allowing Jesus' execution. So he may be a spokesman for Maier's theology, but only with respect to Pilate's symbolic responsibility and the potential for his redemption.
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