Blogwatch: Warren Carter on Pontius Pilate

On Paleojudaica, a link to this interesting piece by Warren Carter (Pherigo Professor of New Testament at St. Paul's School of Theology) in the Kansas City Star:

A place for Pontius Pilate
Roman governor was merely playing his political part
By WARREN CARTER

It seems that Carter has published a book on Pontius Pilate. This had escaped by attention until now:

Pontius Pilate: Portraits of a Roman Governor (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003)

Over on the Liturgical Press web site, they are headlining with this book with the line, "Have you seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ? Wondering what Pontius Pilate was really like?" Here's their blurb:

Pontius Pilate examines the portraits of this Roman governor found in the Gospels. Unlike some discussions of Pilate, this one takes Pilate’s role as governor and representative of Roman imperial power seriously. It views Pilate predominantly as a strong, efficient, and astute governor, not as a weak and indecisive man, pressured into killing Jesus against Pilate’s convictions. The conclusion considers some of the ethical and theological issues the scenes involving Pilate raise for contemporary readers.

Chapters are “Would the Real Pilate Please Stand Up?” “Reading the Gospel Accounts of Pilate,” “Governors and the Roman Imperial System,” “Mark’s Pilate,” “Matthew’s Pilate,” “Luke’s Pilate,” and “John’s Pilate.”

And they also have an excerpt available from the preface and introduction to the book:

Excerpt from Pontius Pilate: Portraits of a Roman Governor