The Jewish Jesus

Zev Garber

Description

There is a general understanding within religious and academic circles that the incarnate Christ of Christian belief lived and died a faithful Jew. This volume addresses Jesus in the context of Judaism. By emphasizing his Jewishness, the authors challenge today’s Jews to reclaim the Nazarene as a proto-rebel rabbi and invite Christians to discover or rediscover the Church’s Jewish heritage. The essays in this volume cover historical, literary, liturgical, philosophical, religious, theological, and contemporary issues related to the Jewish Jesus. Several of them were originally presented at a three-day symposium on “Jesus in the Context of Judaism and the Challenge to the Church,” hosted by the Samuel Rosenthal Center for Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University in 2009. In the context of pluralism, in the temper of growing interreligious dialogue, and in the spirit of reconciliation, encountering Jesus as living history for Christians and Jews is both necessary and proper. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of the New Testament and Early Church who are seeking new ways of understanding Jesus in his religious and cultural milieu, as well Jewish and Christian theologians and thinkers who are concerned with contemporary Jewish and Christian relationships.
Introduction

Section 1: Reflections on the Jewish Jesus

1 The Jewish Jesus: A Partisan’s Imagination, by Zev Garber

2 The Kabbalah of Rabbi Jesus, by Bruce Chilton

3 The Amazing Mr. Jesus, by James F. Moore

4 Jesus the “Material Jew”, by Joshua Schwartz

5 Jesus Stories, Jewish Liturgy, and Some Evolving Theologies until circa 200 CE: Stimuli and Reactions, by Ziony Zevit

6 Avon Gilyon (Document of Sin, b. Shabb.116a) or Euvanggeleon (Good News), by Herbert W. Basser

7 Psalm 22 in Pesiqta Rabbati: The Suffering of the Jewish Messiah and Jesus, by Rivka Ulmer

Section 2: Responding to the Jewish Jesus

8 What Was at Stake in the Parting of the Ways between Judaism and Christianity?, by Richard L. Rubenstein

9 The Jewish and Greek Jesus, by Yitzchak Kerem

10 Jewish Responses to Byzantine Polemics from the Ninth through the Eleventh Centuries, by Steven Bowman

11 A Meditation on Possible Images of Jewish Jesus in the Pre-Modern Period, by Norman Simms

12 Typical Jewish Misunderstandings of Christ, Christianity, and Jewish-Christian Relations over the Centuries, by Eugene J. Fisher

Section 3: Teaching, Dialogue, Reclamation: Contemporary Views on the Jewish Jesus

13 How Credible is Jewish Scholarship on Jesus?, by Michael J. Cook

14 Taking Thomas to Temple: Introducing Evangelicals to the Jewish Jesus, by Christina M. Smerick

15 The Historical Jesus as Jewish Prophet: Its Meaning for the Modern Jewish-Christian Dialogue, by Sara Mandell

16 Before Whom Do We Stand?, by Henry F. Knight

17 Edith Stein’s Jewish Husband Jesus, by Emily Leah Silverman

18 Can We Talk? The Jewish Jesus in a Dialogue Between Jews and Christians, by Steven Leonard Jacobs

19 The New Jewish Reclamation of Jesus in Late Twentieth-Century America: Realigning and Rethinking Jesus the Jew, by Shaul Magid

Annotated Bibliography

Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Theology
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 12 avril 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612491882
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Jewish Jesus
Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation
Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies
Editor
Zev Garber
Los Angeles Valley College
Case Western Reserve University
Managing Editor
Nancy Lein
Purdue University
Editorial Board
Dean Bell
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
Louis H. Feldman
Yeshiva University
Saul S. Friedman
Youngstown State University
Joseph Haberer
Purdue University
Peter Haas
Case Western Reserve University
Rivka Ulmer
Bucknell University
Richard L. Libowitz
Temple University and St. Joseph s University
Rafael Medoff
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
Daniel Morris
Purdue University
Marvin A. Sweeney
Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University
Ziony Zevit
American Jewish University
Bruce Zuckerman
University of Southern California
The Jewish Jesus
Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation
Edited by Zev Garber
Purdue University Press / West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2011 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Jewish Jesus : revelation, reflection, reclamation / edited by Zev Garber.
p. cm. -- (Shofar supplements in Jewish studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55753-579-5
1. Jesus Christ--Jewish interpretations. 2. Judaism--Relations--Christianity. 3. Christianity and other religions--Judaism. I. Garber, Zev, 1941-
BM620.J49 2011
232.9 06--dc22
2010050989
Cover image: James Tissot, French, 1836-1902.
Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue ( J sus dans la synagogue d roule le livre ). 1886-1894.
Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper.
Image: 10 11/16 x 7 9/16 in. (27.1 x 19.2 cm).
Brooklyn Museum. 00.159.71. Purchased by public subscription.
Dedication
To the courageous and devoted essayists of this tome. Jews, who practice the faith of Jesus, and Christians, who believe by faith in Jesus. By the authority of Torah and Testament, they merge as one in proclaiming the Jewish Jesus and restoring his pivotal role in the history of Second Temple Judaism and beyond. The rest is commentary and controversy. Read and see why.
Contents
Introduction
Section 1: Reflections on the Jewish Jesus
1
The Jewish Jesus: A Partisan s Imagination Zev Garber
2
The Kabbalah of Rabbi Jesus Bruce Chilton
3
The Amazing Mr. Jesus James F. Moore
4
Jesus the Material Jew Joshua Schwartz
5
Jesus Stories, Jewish Liturgy, and Some Evolving Theologies until circa 200 CE: Stimuli and Reactions Ziony Zevit
6
Avon Gilyon ( Document of Sin , b. Shabb.116a) or Euvanggeleon ( Good News ) Herbert W. Basser
7
Psalm 22 in Pesiqta Rabbati: The Suffering of the Jewish Messiah and Jesus Rivka Ulmer
Section 2: Responding to the Jewish Jesus
8
What Was at Stake in the Parting of the Ways between Judaism and Christianity? Richard L. Rubenstein
9
The Jewish and Greek Jesus Yitzchak Kerem
10
Jewish Responses to Byzantine Polemics from the Ninth through the Eleventh Centuries Steven Bowman
11
A Meditation on Possible Images of Jewish Jesus in the Pre-Modern Period Norman Simms
12
Typical Jewish Misunderstandings of Christ, Christianity, and Jewish-Christian Relations over the Centuries Eugene J. Fisher
Section 3: Teaching, Dialogue, Reclamation: Contemporary Views on the Jewish Jesus
13
How Credible is Jewish Scholarship on Jesus? Michael J. Cook
14
Taking Thomas to Temple: Introducing Evangelicals to the Jewish Jesus Christina M. Smerick
15
The Historical Jesus as Jewish Prophet: Its Meaning for the Modern Jewish-Christian Dialogue Sara Mandell
16
Before Whom Do We Stand? Henry F. Knight
17
Edith Stein s Jewish Husband Jesus Emily Leah Silverman
18
Can We Talk? The Jewish Jesus in a Dialogue Between Jews and Christians Steven Leonard Jacobs
19
The New Jewish Reclamation of Jesus in Late Twentieth-Century America: Realigning and Rethinking Jesus the Jew Shaul Magid
Annotated Bibliography
Contributors
Index
Introduction
Zev Garber
Though many articles, reviews, and books are not of one opinion on the life and time of Jesus, there is a general understanding in the dogma of the church and in the quests of the academy that the incarnate Christ of Christian belief lived and died a faithful Jew, 1 and what this says to contemporary Jews and Christians is the focus of this volume depicting Jesus in the context of Judaism and its impact on Jewish and Christian traditional and contemporary views of the other.
In the context of our time, Pope John Paul II challenged members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission to help Christians understand that the Hebrew Scriptures are essential to their faith (1997). That is to say, Catholic mysteries, including annunciation, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and redemption are derived from the Hebrew biblical Weltaschauung . To speak of Jesus in the context of Judaism is affirmed by the church s acceptance of the Jewish Hebrew Bible as the Christian Old Testament, and this presents distinctive challenges to the visions of Judaism. When Jewish and Christian savants interweave the narrative and teaching of Jesus into the cultural and social life of first-century Judaism in the land of Israel under the rule of Caesar, they pinpoint the evolving Christology of Jesus believers, which conflicts with the viewpoints of the rabbis and jurisdiction of Rome. Second, Christians and Jews committed to reading scripture together are deeply motivated by an academic and reverential disposition toward rabbinic Judaism and the desire to correct the malign image of Jews and Judaism that emerges from erroneous readings of the Gospel sources. Arguably, contra Iudaeos biases happen when historicity (Pharasaic kinship of Jesus, Peter, and Paul) is conflated with apologetic ( give unto Caesar ) and polemic depictions (Jews are a deicidal and misanthropic people), and theological innovation (Christ replaces Torah).
The desideratum is neither extreme skepticism nor full faith acceptance but rather a centralist position, somewhat contrary to an ecclesiastical tradition which teaches that truth is bounded and restricted to New Testament and early Christian kerygma (preaching) and didache (apologetics). Exploring the place of Jesus within Second Temple Judaism means to apply drash (insightful interpretation) to peshat (plain meaning of the text). Why so? Because Jesus the historical being, that is to say, Jesus before the oral and written traditions, is transformed and transfigured into a narrative character that appears in the canonized New Testament. The Jesus in narratology is a fluid figure of creative, idyllic, and dogmatic imagination, whose realness cannot be fixed in any given episode, teaching, or telling.
Thus, on reading the Gospel of John s account of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, the trial before Pilate, and the sentence of death, one may project that the Evangelist s Jewish opponents are the reason for the virtual negativity of the Ioudaioi towards Jesus in his teaching and trial. Also, the cry of the mob, His blood be upon us and on our children (Matt. 27:25) is neither an acceptance of guilt nor perpetual pedigree damnation for the death of Jesus but can be seen as an expression of innocence that says if we are not innocent of this man s blood then may the curse be fulfilled (see Acts 18:6 and b. Sanh. 37a).
Jewish-Christian Encounter
The ground rule for Christian-Jewish scriptural reading and discussion is simple but complex. Let the Christian proclaim core Christian dogma (Easter faith) and dicta (e.g., Jesus the living bread that came down from heaven [John 6:51] is the savior of Israel) without a hint or utterance of anti-Judaism. Likewise, the Jewish observant needs to be aware and sensitive about claims of Christian identity. The objective in the quest for the rediscovery, and possibly reclamation, by Jews of the Jewish Jesus is to penetrate the wall of separation and suspicion of law and grace and enable the believer in the Second Testament to appreciate the saga and salvation of Israel experientially in terms of Judaism, that is to say, in accordance with the teaching of Moses and the exegesis of the sages of Israel. Reciprocally, the follower of the Torah way learns the how and why of the Christian relationship to the Sinai covenant as presented in the Christian spirit of scriptural inspiration and tradition, a strong sign that the centuries-old teaching of contempt is not doable for Christians and Jews in dialogue, where a shared biblical tradition is the surest sign that the stumbling blocks of religious intolerance can be overcome. Take lex talionis , for example.
Three times the Pentateuch mentions the legislation of lex talionis (the law of retaliation, of an eye for an eye [Exod. 21:23-25; Lev. 24:19-20; Deut. 19:18-21]). Though the law of measure for measure existed in the ancient Near East, there is little evidence that the Torah meant that this legislation should be fulfilled literally except in the case of willful murder. Life for life is taken literally in cases of homicidal intention, and fair compensation is appropriate when physical injuries are not fatal. Equitable monetary compensation is deemed appropriate by the Oral Torah in the case of a pregnant woman whose unborn child s life is lost and when animal life is forfeited. Indeed, the Written Torah casts aside all doubts regarding the intent of the biblical lex talionis injunction: And he that kills a beast shall make it good; and he that kills a man shall be put to death (Lev. 24:21).
Rejecting the literal application of lex talionis puts an end to the mean-spirited charge that Judaism is strict justice. Similarly, the words of Jesus on the Torah ( For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished [Matt. 5:18]) beckon interpretation. Christi