José Antonio Pagola, a Spanish Catholic priest, theologian, and scholar of biblical matters, has authored nearly thirty titles on his specialty. Although none as controversial and questioned as the one mentioned, this does not detract from the interest in his text, mainly due to the display of knowledge about the life of Jesus and the historical, social, political, and religious context in which he lived. Thus, for example, what the historians Cornelius Tacitus and Flavius Josephus, a Roman and a Jew respectively, wrote about Christ Jesus, Pagola accepts as not just known but proven truth. Ah, but what the four evangelists wrote he immediately puts into question. Towards the mid-80s of the last century, a scholar of the topic calculated that in what had gone of the past century, 60,000 different books about the life of Jesus had been published. That is, an average of two titles a day for a little over eight decades. Without a doubt, the most biographied character in history and about whom the most has been written is Jesus of Nazareth, who lived in the first three decades of our era. In 2007, 'Jesus, an historical approach' (Ed. PPC, 571 pages) was published. It very quickly sold 100,000 copies and was translated into eight languages. However, it was also very soon the object of strong accusations and criticisms. Among others, from the then bishop of Tarazona, Demetrio Fernández González, and particularly from the theologian José Antonio Sayés, to the point that the Sayés-Pagola controversy became famous. The Spanish Episcopal Conference then intervened, which in 2008 published a note on the matter, pointing out methodological and doctrinal deficiencies that the Conference itself found in Pagola's book, according to which it concludes that 'the author seems to indirectly suggest that some fundamental proposals of Catholic doctrine lack historical foundation in Jesus'. Pagola then revised the content of his book and introduced modifications to the edition published in 2013, but published without the ecclesiastical imprimatur. He affirms that there is a 'clear and growing tendency of the tradition to absolve the Romans'. He talks about it quite a lot. With such abundant literary production basically on the same subject, although the approaches or fields of study can be diverse, the reader can easily imagine the dense forest that will be before him who wishes to delve into it. In another passage, he addresses the point about who was responsible for sentencing Jesus to death by crucifixion, the Jews or the Roman Pontius Pilate. Although historically it was Pilato who dictated the death sentence, Luke presents him proclaiming Jesus' innocence three times (23:4,14,22). Ah, where to start, because besides, there is – in fact, there is – everything. Well, in 2007 'Jesús, aproximación histórica' (Ed. PPC, 571 págs.) was published. He recognizes that 'although the evangelists offer a very detailed account of the passion of Jesus', however, 'we do not know who could have been direct witnesses to the facts: the disciples fled to Galilee; the women could have observed something at a distance and been witnesses to the public events, but who could have known how the conversation between Jesus and the high priest or the encounter with Pilato developed?' (p.384). He then adds: 'On the other hand, the account of the passion does not resemble the other evangelical accounts, composed of small scenes and episodes transmitted by tradition. It is a long composition that describes the succession of linked events; everything suggests that the writing is due to the work of 'scribes' who narrate the passion seeking in the Sacred Scriptures the profound meaning of the facts' (Ibid), which, instead of trying to argue the opposite, he simply dislikes and disqualifies. Pagola's book, published in 2007, immediately became a publishing success. Truly impressive. However, the author has his biases. Among the many points addressed by Pagola that require clarification or discussion, there are others. For example, he affirms that 'this fact, which he affirms is at the origin of so many persecutions of the Jews, is due to the fact that the Christians, who are spreading among the gentiles, do not want to earn the hostility of Rome by presenting themselves as heirs of someone condemned by the Roman authorities as dangerous for the Empire; at the same time they wish to clearly differentiate themselves from the rest of the Jews, who are being persecuted by Rome after the fall of Jerusalem' [pp. 385 and 400].
