All the News Fit to Render Unto Caesar

They lived under an empire. They knew tax collectors, client kings, provincial governors and crowds that could turn in an afternoon. Then they got a look at the American republic: its liberty, its Constitution, its elected leaders, its churches, its markets, its swagger. They have opinions.

Every day, Judea Today reads the top stories in American news. Then six figures from first-century Judea each pick the story that gets under their skin and write a column about it:

• Jesus of Nazareth, our narrator, who sides with whoever in the story nobody else is looking at.
• Judas Iscariot, who kept the purse and follows the silver.
• Tiberius Caesar, emperor, recluse and professional paranoid, writing from Capri.
• Pontius Pilate, prefect, crisis manager and hand-washer.
• Aretas IV, merchant-king of Petra, on foreign affairs and the feuds of the powerful.
• Herod Antipas, tetrarch, party host and gossip.

Sometimes all six pick the same story. That's the fun of it.

The fine print

No fine print - just serfs and serifs.