Jesus in the Talmud » (ANN)

Peter Schafer is Ronald O. Perelman Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. His books include "Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah" (Princeton) and "Judeophobia: Attitudes toward the Jews in the Ancient World", which has been translated into several languages.

"Peter Schäfer's remarkable volume on Jesus' enigmatic place in Talmudic literature is a work of erudition and depth. It will bring deeper knowledge to students and teachers of Judaism and Christianity."--Elie Wiesel

"When the premiere 'Christian-Hebraist' of our era turns his attention to Jesus in the Talmud, everyone interested in ancient history and modern interreligious dialogue must take notice. Peter Schäfer carefully sifts through all of the literary evidence from that great monument of late-fifth-century Babylonian Jewish culture with fresh eyes and striking insights. His final chapter, focused on why the Babylonian Talmud could sustain such anti-Christian rhetoric, is a scholarly tour de force."--Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary

"From the opening pages of Jesus in the Talmud the reader senses that something new and important is about to be unfolded. It is, and the unfolding of it is pure Schäfer: straightforward and plain-speaking, argued densely, yet with great clarity, provocative, but finally persuasive. And yes, exciting too."--F. E. Peters, author of The Children of Abraham

"This is an exceptionally engaging book. Professor Schäfer has subjected to close scrutiny all the passages relating to Jesus in the Talmudic and other rabbinic literature produced in Palestine and in Babylonia in late antiquity. His aim is to use them to discover the rabbis' attitude to Christianity. While the force of the argument suggests this book should be mainly of interest to students of rabbinic Judaism, I believe that the subject matter will ensure that it has a much wider readership. It sheds light in places on the way the gospel traditions evolved particularly in Palestinian and Syriac-speaking Christianity."--Nicholas de Lange, University of Cambridge

W. Pretorius - Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae

This is a very interesting book, and the author's arguments are both logical and unique.

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xiii

Introduction 1

1 Jesus' Family 15

2 The Son/Disciple Who Turned out Badly 25

3 The Frivolous Disciple 34

4 The Torah Teacher 41

5 Healing in the Name of Jesus 52

6 Jesus' Execution 63

7 Jesus' Disciples 75

8 Jesus' Punishment in Hell 82

9 Jesus in the Talmud 95

Appendix: Bavli Manuscripts and Censorship 131

Notes 145

Bibliography 191

Index 203