Pope Francis Spin Cycle

Imagine for a moment that the evangelist Luke lived today, in our world of 24/7 news cycles, ideological combat conducted in cyberspace, sound-bite “analysis,” and controversies manufactured by bloggers who double as their own editors (thus reminding us why God invented editors): a world of all spin, all the time. And assume, which is quite reasonable, that the Christian community of his day, like that of our day, was divided into various factions and camps, each with its own take on the public meaning of what those first disciples called The Way. In this case, imagine that some Christians believe that The Way ought to be more aggressive toward the Romans, while others counsel either cooperation with established authority or nonviolent resistance. The followers of The Way thus take different positions on the Zealots, a ragtag bunch of anti-Roman activists, and their role in the First Jewish–Roman War, which was fought from 66 to 70 a.d.; some Christians think the Zealots heroes, others think them fools. The debate continues even after the Romans have suppressed the rebellion and Titus has laid waste to the Second Temple.