The Judas Brief: A Critical Investigation Into the Arrest and Trials of Jesus and the Role of the Jews

＂The Judas Brief offers the first full-scale historically-based rebuttal to Gospel accusations that Judas betrayed Jesus and that the Jewish priesthood demanded that Pilate crucify him. Greenberg concludes that in order to stop a Roman massacre of Jews, Judas, acting as Jesus’ representative, negotiated a three-way deal with Pilate, the Jewish High Priest, and Jesus, in which it was agreed that Jesus would remain under house arrest with the High Priest until after the holiday, that his followers would not engage in any demonstrations, and that after the holiday he would be released. But Herod Antipas, the Galilean ruler, feared Jesus’ popularity in Galilee and successfully pressured Pilate to break the agreement and execute Jesus as a threat against Roman order＂--