Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Series Editors’ Preface
- Frontispiece
- Prologue: ‘Do You Enjoy Being a Symbol, Pontius?’ The Trial of Pontius Pilate and Governor Collins
- 1 Quod Scripsi Scripsi
- 2 The Silent Pilate
- 3 The Roman in the Living Room: Pilate on TV in the Early 1950s
- 4 Mrs Pilate: Claudia Procula and Clare Boothe Luce
- 5 Pilate in CinemaScope, or Notes on Roman Camp
- 6 Finding Meaning in the Middlebrow: Pilate in the 1960s
- 7 What Is Truth? Pilate as 1970s Moral Relativist
- 8 Michael Palin’s Accent in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and a Few Others
- 9 Grand and Not-So-Grand Inquisitors of the Reagan Age
- 10 ‘We at War’: Pilate for the New Millennium
- Epilogue: A Time of Handwashing
- Works Cited
- Index
Epilogue: A Time of Handwashing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Series Editors’ Preface
- Frontispiece
- Prologue: ‘Do You Enjoy Being a Symbol, Pontius?’ The Trial of Pontius Pilate and Governor Collins
- 1 Quod Scripsi Scripsi
- 2 The Silent Pilate
- 3 The Roman in the Living Room: Pilate on TV in the Early 1950s
- 4 Mrs Pilate: Claudia Procula and Clare Boothe Luce
- 5 Pilate in CinemaScope, or Notes on Roman Camp
- 6 Finding Meaning in the Middlebrow: Pilate in the 1960s
- 7 What Is Truth? Pilate as 1970s Moral Relativist
- 8 Michael Palin’s Accent in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, and a Few Others
- 9 Grand and Not-So-Grand Inquisitors of the Reagan Age
- 10 ‘We at War’: Pilate for the New Millennium
- Epilogue: A Time of Handwashing
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
‘Pilate needed to scrub his hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds to avoid taking any responsibility for the crucifixion’, said one researcher. ‘He should have sung “Happy Birthday” twice or the “Full House” theme song. Then, a good thorough drying with a paper towel or Dyson Airblade would have sealed the deal. As it stands, just running a little water over his hands wasn’t near enough to help him avoid judgment from God’.
Pontius Pilate responded to whether or not the allegations are true from the afterlife, saying, ‘What is truth?’
– ‘Scholars Now Agree Pontius Pilate Didn’t Wash His Hands Long Enough To Avoid Responsibility For Crucifixion’, Babylon Bee (30 March 2020)The prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, was looking out at an angry mob below, and I have been watching him again and again now for several years, as he assesses the situation in the streets and is deciding how he must respond. In the end, Pilate will talk to those to whom he is predetermined to talk (to the crowd, to the high priests, to his wife, to Jesus) and do that which he is predetermined to do (to display the beaten Jesus, to release Barabbas, to dispatch Jesus to the cross, to wash his hands). It has been a chore, at times, to watch Jesus condemned to the cross again and again, and to watch prefect after prefect come to terms with the decision he has made, from tortured indecision to malicious self-justification to casual dismissal of another person’s life. There are times I have suffered under Pontius Pilate, to be sure. Each time he speaks and acts, however, although I have known how it would all turn out, I have been fascinated to see how it would unfold. What expression would there be in his face, what catch in his voice, what unexpected glance or gesture? There is a constancy from production to production in the portrayal of Jesus that verges on monotony – there he is, as always, in his robe and sandals, with beard and hair of a certain length and a steadfast look in his eye. Pilate, however, has always been allowed a far wider range of appearances on stage and screen.
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- Information
- Pontius Pilate on ScreenSinner, Soldier, Superstar, pp. 257 - 263Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2022