A rhetorical-pastoral analysis of the trial of Jesus

The trial of Jesus is one of the essences of the Gospel accounts. In the first part, this paper introduces Jewish and Roman law and its application to the trial. In the second part, the trial is analysed in terms of the presence of rhetorical components. First, the focus is on Jesus’ communication in general, followed by the roles of the main protagonists of the trial, the argumentation and persuasion, and, finally, the purpose of questions as crucial rhetorical figures. In the last part, the paper connects specific forms of rhetorical expression with the ways they can be applied in pastoral theology.