The Concept of Crisis and the Truthfulness of the Judicial Process in Giorgio Agamben’s Pilate and Jesus

Abstract

This article examines Giorgio Agamben’s philosophical analysis in “Pilate and Jesus” (2013), focusing on the concept of krisis as both juridical and theological category. The text contextualizes Agamben's ideas within twentieth-century literary counterparts, such as Roger Caillois’s Ponce Pilate and Emmanuel Carrère’s The Kingdom. The study focuses on the multifaceted concept of krisis – functioning simultaneously as a judicial verdict, a medical turning point, and an eschatological crisis. The encounter between Pontius Pilate and Jesus is interpreted as a crisis of earthly law confronting divine truth. The study traces spatial dynamics of the trial, the act of “handing over” (paradosis), and its eschatological implications for Western history and theology.