In Reply to: Did Jesus really die on the Cross? posted by moonshiner on April 04, 2006 at 20:00:15:
I read the entire article with great interest, expecting to see a new theory put forth, but now I’m thinking the title (‘Did Jesus really die on a cross?’) was a misnomer. That may be what Baigent believes, that Jesus did not die on a cross, but he presents almost no reason for arriving at his conclusion. As the article states:
It's not much to support a claim as audacious as Baigent's. Baigent is aware how slender his reeds are. And, in fact, they are not his sole or even main support. Those, curiously enough, are matters of faith.
Also:
At the heart of his conclusions about Jesus are Aramaic papyri bearing a letter to the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin, which Baigent has seen, and actually held in his hands. (Unfortunately he can't read Aramaic.)
I think what I find most unconvincing is what Baigent would consider the logical heart of his theory:
Jesus was sentenced to the cross by Pontius Pilate all right, argues Baigent in The Jesus Papers [but] Pilate didn't want him dead (Baigent's Jesus is a prominent Jew friendly to Rome), but didn't dare face down a mob of anti-Roman Jews demanding his execution.
Later the article says:
Baigent also believes that Christ was nurtured by the Zealot faction -- militant, occasionally murderous Jews opposed to Roman rule...’ But then Jesus was ‘no longer interested in the realpolitik future the Zealots had raised him to. Naturally they denounced him to the Roman authorities. "My starting point was realizing Pilate's dilemma," Baigent says, meaning Pilate's need to avoid executing a prominent Jew who was friendly to Rome, balanced by the risk of public unrest in a notoriously unruly province. So Pilate cut a deal with the Zealots -- they could have their sacrificial victim or their martyr (he can't make up his mind which), but only for show: Jesus had to come down alive, and depart Israel forever (to Egypt, Baigent believes).
Baigent’s entire theory turns upon this hypothesis, yet it’s hard to easily believe that a man ‘nurtured by the Zealots’ would end up so ‘friendly to Rome’ that the Zealots would want him dead while Pilate wants him alive, & then arrange to send Jesus off to Egypt.
I guess Baigent ignores John’s statement that a spear was shoved through Jesus’ heart while he was on the cross.