Pilate's Fifteen Minutes of Fame

(RNS) In the story of Jesus, Pontius Pilate is little more than a footnote, his 15 minutes of fame stemming from a cameo appearance in the Easter drama when he sentences the Son of God to die on the cross--a decision that forms the crux of Christian belief that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of humanity.

His role in Jesus' death is nearly all that can be certain about this Roman governor of Judea. Still, Pilate's image has been endlessly refashioned in the centuries since that fateful encounter with Jesus. From the penitent Christian convert of medieval legend to the saint of the African Coptic tradition to the biblical boogeyman of the 20th century, his image has constantly shifted.

"We've been given so many versions of Pilate over the years, but yet we've got so very little to go on," said Ann Wroe, an editor at the London business magazine The Economist and author of the new "Pontius Pilate" (Random House).

"Pilate is so important to the whole redemption story that we've got to make something out of him--you can't have someone who is so key and not know about his character. We can't just let him go."

Pontius' reputation took a beating as early as the first century from some Jewish writers who thought Gospel writers treated the Roman governor with kid gloves in biblical accounts of the crucifixion.

"There was a sense that Pilate was well-treated in the Gospels at the expense of the Jews," Wroe said. "People wanted to show that Pilate had more responsibility for Jesus' death than the Gospel writers let on."

The specter of Pilate as biblical boogeyman blossomed within the past century, said Wroe, as writers, theologians, and even filmmakers seized upon the story of Jesus and Pilate as a handy metaphor for the individual battling authority.

"In 20th-century accounts, Pilate is viewed with more and more disfavor," Wroe sid. "Jesus is portrayed as a political rebel, a man struggling against the state, and if you make Jesus a rebel of that sort, then Pilate has to represent all that is overweening about the state. And in the 20th century, states are much more huge and much more pervasive than before, so Pilate has gradually taken on the role of the tyrant and oppressor.

"The worker-priests in Soviet-controlled Europe and the liberation-theology priests in Central America often compared themselves with the state in the Jesus/Pilate way," she added.

But Pilate wasn't always the designated bad guy; Coptic Christians of Africa took a gentler view of the man and elevated Pilate and his wife to sainthood. The two are commemmorated in St. Pilate and Procula Day on June 25.

"According to the Gospels, Pilate's wife sent a message to Pilate saying 'have nothing to do with this just man,'" said former California Sen. James Mills, whose historical novel, "Memoirs of Pontius Pilate," appeared in March. "That's why she was considered a saint by some--she recognized Jesus was the Messiah."

Coptic legend also reports that Pilate himself died by crucifixion--upon Jesus' cross, Wroe said.

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