Expert: Dean Gade - 8/2/2007

Question
hi, I am a 54 year old man who is FINALLY embarking on Gods call to ministry and as a result am attending class in a Calvery Chapel Bible Collage.See Jonah 1:1-3, and you'll get my drift. I need to do a paper on the political climate in and around Jerusalem from A.D. 20 to A.D. 40 and am having a terrible time finding reference material to draw from. Can you help?

Answer
I must admit that I have never done any study on the political climate around Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' walk on earth.

The world politic around the Mediterranean Sea was the "Pax Romana" and looking up Caesar Agustus and Pontious Pilate on the Web might be a helpful start.

Then there are the local politics of the Jews at that time. There you could check the High Priests of the time: Caiaphas, Annas, Annanias, the Sandhedrin  and even King Herod and King Agrippa.

It seems politics are always the same, trying to get the approval of the people to win approval...or overriding what the people want if you feel secure in power.