Revolution to Religion: How Rome Captures the Jesus Movement

@kulture.n.history

overlooked transformation in the origins of Christianity as it moved from a Jewish revolutionary context into a Roman imperial religion.

During Yeshua’s (Jesus’) lifetime, Judea was under Roman military occupation. The Sanhedrin, though nominally a Jewish judicial council, had no power to execute capital punishment without Roman approval. This is why the Gospels describe Jesus being brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect — execution by crucifixion was a Roman method of punishment for sedition or rebellion, not a Jewish one.

So, in essence, the “trial” narrative reflects a politically entangled scenario where the Jewish leadership acted under pressure, but the final authority rested in Roman hands.