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Who was Barabbas?: confronting an obstacle for Christian–Jewish relations in religious education

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Abstract

Barabbas has a small role in the Gospels, but his presence influences the way the Christian story has been told and received over the centuries. While he is mentioned in all four Gospels during the account of Jesus’ Roman trial, he never appears “on-stage” in the Gospels. His main purpose is to exculpate the Romans of responsibility for the killing of Jesus of Nazareth, and to shift the blame onto the Jewish crowd assembled in the presence of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. Religious educators require context to present material that involves Barabbas. This article provides an overview of the contemporary scholarship on Barabbas in the New Testament. It provides discussion of teaching and learning approaches that can be included in classrooms to assist in removing Barabbas as an obstacle to positive Jewish–Christian relations.

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    Maurice Ryan

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Ryan, M. Who was Barabbas?: confronting an obstacle for Christian–Jewish relations in religious education. j. relig. educ. 71, 63–76 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-022-00192-8

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