Editing Barabbas (section)

==Historicity==
The majority of scholars such as [[Craig A. Evans]] and [[N. T. Wright]] accept of the historicity of the Passover pardon narrative, quoting evidence of such pardons from [[Livy]]'s ''[[Ab urbe condita (Livy)|Books from the Foundation of the City]]'', [[Josephus]]'s ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', Papyrus Florence, [[Pliny the Younger]]'s ''[[Epistulae (Pliny)|Epistles]]'' and the [[Mishnah]].{{sfn|Evans|Wright|2009|p=21}}

The similarities of the name ({{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαραββᾶς|translit=Iēsoûs Barabbâs}}) in some manuscripts and the name of [[Jesus]] have led some modern scholars to argue that the counter-intuitive similarity of the two men's names is evidence of its historicity. They doubt a Christian writer would invent a similar name for a criminal, practically equating Christ with a criminal, if he were fictionalizing the story for a polemical or theological purpose.<ref name="britannica.com"/>{{sfn|Warren|2011|p=118}}{{sfn|Dimont|1999|p=}}

Contrarian beliefs include [[Max Dimont]]'s opinion the story of Barabbas as related in the Gospels lacks credibility from both the Roman and Jewish standpoint. Dimont argues against the believability of the Barabbas story by noting that the alleged custom of {{lang|la|privilegium Paschale}}, "the privilege of [[Passover]]", where a criminal is set free, is only found in the Gospels. [[Raymond E. Brown]] argued that the Gospels' narratives about Barabbas cannot be considered historical, but that it is probable that a prisoner referred to as Barabbas (''bar abba'', "son of the father") was freed around the period Jesus was crucified, and this gave birth to the story.{{sfn|Brown|2008|pp=815–820}} 

[[Bart D. Ehrman]] notes the story is not in Pontius Pilate's character and comments that the name Barabbas "son of the father" is interestingly similar to Jesus's role as the son of God.{{sfn|Ehrman}}

Another minority of scholars, including [[Benjamin Urrutia]], [[Stevan Davies]], [[Hyam Maccoby]] and Horace Abram Rigg, have contended that Barabbas and Jesus were the same person.{{sfn|Rigg|1945|pp=417–456}}{{sfn|Maccoby|1969|pp=55–60}}{{sfn|Davies|1981|pp=260–262}}{{sfn|Maccoby|1973|p=}}