I Judge No One: A Political Life of Jesus

Why was Jesus, who said "I judge no one," put to death for a political crime? Of course, this is a historical question—but it is not only historical. Jesus's life became a philosophical theme in the first centuries of our era, when "pagan" and Christian philosophers clashed over the meaning of his sayings and the significance of his death. Modern philosophers, too, such as Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche, have tried to retrace the arc of Jesus's life and death.

I Judge No One is a phil...