“A politician is a politician whether he's wearing a suit or a funny hat.”

“According to Mark, it was a custom of the Roman governor during the feast of Passover to release one prisoner to the Jews, anyone for whom they asked. When Pilate asks the crowd which prisoner they...”

“The task of defining Jesus's message fell instead to a new crop of educated, urbanized, Greek-speaking Diaspora Jews who would become the primary vehicles for the expansion of the new faith. As the...”

“The first century was an era of apocalyptic expectation among the Jews of Palestine, the unofficial Roman designation for the vast tract of land encompassing modern day Israel/Palestine as well as ...”

“But, as in the rest of Galilee, the profits firm this increase in the means of production disproportionately benefited the large landowners and moneylenders who resided outside Capernaum: the wealt...”

“Among Romans, crucifixion originated as a deterrence against revolt of slaves, probably as early as 200 B.C.E. By Jesus's time, it was the primary form of punishment for "inciting rebellion" (i.e.,...”

“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last.”

“If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.”

“I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions.”

“We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war.”

“youre already naked in this worldin this timein this lifebeacause your next loveyour next hungeryou next laughterand even your next tearmay never come”

“Negotiations with Iran, especially, will not be easy under any circumstances, but I suspect that they might be somewhat less difficult if the nuclear-weapon states could show that their requests ar...”