At this point I can imagine you thinking of some Sunday when you went to church and got nothing out of it. The Scripture was poorly read, the hymns were antiquated, the pastoral prayer was a wandering improvisation of trivial requests, the anthems were dreadful, and the sermon was a flop. Just so! Once in Switzerland I climbed the Rigi and saw nothing. …

Anatole France, the french novelist who won the Nobel Peace prize in 1921, wrote a story in which Pilate and a friend, long years afterward talking about Palestine and their experiences there. They talked…