Soundings in the Religion of Jesus

by Bruce Chilton, Jacob Neusner, Anthony LeDonne (Editor)

Overview

Jesus was a Jew and not a Christian. That affirmation may seem obvious, but here an international cast of Jewish and Christian scholars spell out its weighty and often complex consequences for contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue. Soundings in the Religion of Jesus contextualizes Jesus and the writings about him that set the stage for Jewish-Christian relations for the next two thousand years.

Of equal importance, this book considers the reception, celebration, and (too often) the neglect of Jesus' Jewishness in modern contexts and the impact such responses have had for Jewish-Christian relations. Topics explored include the ethics of scriptural translation, the ideological motives of Nazi theologians and other "quests" for the Historical Jesus, and the ways in which New Testament portraits of Jesus both help and hurt authentic Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800698010
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	07/01/2012
Series:	Soundings Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	14.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Bruce D. Chilton is the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, where he has taught since 1987. In addition to his many celebrated publications on the texts, practices, and beliefs of ancient Judaism and Christianity, he is also the author of popular historical biographies of Jesus, Paul, Mary, and James.

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism at Bard College and the author of numerous books on Judaism.

Table of Contents

Contributors xi

Foreword Adele Reinhartz xv

Introduction: Allowing Historical Study to Serve Interfaith Dialogue Anthony Le Donne 1

Part 1 The New Testament Jesus and Exclusionary Boundaries

1 Translating Jesus and the Jews: Can We Eradicate the Anti-Semitism without Also Erasing the Semitism? Leonard Greenspoon 11

2 A Jewish Teaching: Jesus, Gentiles, and the Sheep and the Goats (MATTHEW 25:31-46) Joel N. Lohr 29

3 A Dogmatic Jesus Anne Lapidus Lerner 47

Part 2 Early Jewish and Gentile Perspectives on Jesus

4 The Distribution of Jewish Leaders in the Synoptic Gospels: Why Wariness is Warranted Michael J. Cook 61

5 Viewing the Jewish Jesus of History through the Lens of Matthew's Gospel Donald Senior C.P. 81

6 The Trial of Jesus and the Temple: Sadducean and Roman Perspectives Eyal Regev 97

Part 3 Jesus Research before and after German National Socialism

7 Remapping Schweitzer's Quest through Jewish-Christian Polemic, Apology, and Dialogue Anthony Le Donne 111

8 The Dissimilar Jesus: Anti-Semitism, Protestantism, Hero-Worship, and Dialectical Theology Dagmar Winter 129

9 Jesus within Judaism: The Political and Moral Context of Jesus Research and Its Methodology Gerd Theissen 143

Part 4 Jesus in Jewish-Christian Dailogue

10 The Importance of Jewish-Christian Dialogue on Jesus James D. G. Dunn 161

11 Jesus in Jewish-Christian Dialogue Amy-Jill Levine 175

12 Conclusion Bruce Chilton Jacob Neusner 189

Notes 205

Bibliography 235

Index of Modern Authors 253

Index of Ancient Sources 259