What if Pilate Had Said No?

Bad Friday explores the event upon which two thousand years of Christianity hang, namely an obscure Roman Governor’s decision to allow the execution of Jesus to go ahead. But what if Pontius Pilate had refused to cooperate with the Pharisees calling for Christ’s death? It could easily have happened – Gospel accounts indicate Pilate was unconvinced by the evidence presented before him; at one point he even tried to nudge Jesus into offering a more robust defence of himself.

Bad Friday presents a fictional counterfactual, exploring what might have happened if Jesus had been denied the opportunity to reconcile man to God. Contrary to what many might assume, the results are catastrophic, plunging the depths of man’s potential for evil as well as hinting at what a world in which God has been abandoned might look like. The book includes questions for church and study discussion groups.

“The historical context is accurately rendered… a well told imaginative story that engages the reader” Philip Yancey