The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation (Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557535795 ISBN 13: 9781557535795

Publisher: Purdue University Press, 2011

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Zev Garber is professor emeritus and chair of Jewish Studies and Philosophy at Los Angeles Valley College and has served as visiting professor of Religious Studies at University of California at Riverside, Visiting Rosenthal Professor of Judaic Studies at Case Western Reserve University, and as president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of two academic series, Studies in Shoah (UPA) and Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies (Purdue University Press), and serves as co-editor of Shofar.

Review:

"This volume is important because it pushes in quite fresh direction. It is, more than that, both honest as dialogue requires and large-spirited in a way that makes new engagement possible. Garber and his collaborators have rendered an important service to us. The ditch has not been crossed, and perhaps it cannot be. “Perhaps,” because we do not know. But for now it is important to remember that Lessing, as he probed the ditch amid deep religious conflict, urged engagement in large-spirited interpretation that made much room for the other. That is not easy among us, given the long-term wounding enacted by Christians against Jews. This volume, however, suggests that a way ahead is possible.  Whether Messiah will “come” or “come again,” we may commonly live in that hope."  - Walter Brueggemann, Review of Biblical Literature

Book News - June 2011

For all the myriad views of Jesus, there is pretty close consensus that he lived and died a faithful Jew, and theologians and biblical scholars here explore the ramifications of that for Jews and Christians then and now. Among the perspectives are the Kabbalah of rabbi Jesus, the suffering of the Jewish messiah and Jesus, the Jewish and Greek Jesus, Jewish responses to Byzantine polemics from the ninth through the 11th centuries, introducing evangelicals to the Jewish Jesus, Edith Stein's Jewish husband Jesus, and the Jewish Jesus in a dialogue between Jews and Christians. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)



Jewish Ideas Daily
June 15, 2011

The past half-decade has seen a spate of books on the topic written by Jews, with titles like The Misunderstood Jew and From Rebel to Rabbi.  In 2007, the Christian scholar Peter Schafer published a challenging study on the place of Jesus in the Talmud.  The newest entry in the field is a collection of essays edited by Zev Garber, The Jewish Jesus: Revelation, Reflection, Reclamation.
While the collection is composed in part of papers presented at a 2009 symposium, the word "reclamation" is a tip-off that the editor's interest in the subject is not merely academic. The Church's task, as represented in this volume, is to foster a more positive and respectful relationship with those who, according to the book's dedication, "practice the faith of Jesus." For Jews, acknowledgment of Jesus' Jewishness opens the door to a deeper and more constructive relationship with those who, in turn, "believe by faith in Jesus." In short, reflection on the Jewishness of Jesus promises to serve as the basis for enhanced Jewish-Christian dialogue.
The contributions to the volume are quite varied. The first section, "Reflections on the Jewish Jesus," focuses primarily on the historical relationship of Jesus to the Jewish communities of his day and the reception of his teachings by Jews living during and shortly after his lifetime.
The second section of the book, "Responding to the Jewish Jesus," provides a glimpse into the long history of Jewish attitudes toward Jesus and Christianity and Christian attitudes toward Judaism. These attitudes are, needless to say, quite at odds with those that Garber seeks to promote. Over the centuries of Christian oppression and Jewish cultural resistance, most "dialogue" took the form of polemic and disputation, in which each side caricatured the other's beliefs. Eugene J. Fisher's essay, which closes the section, suggests that such caricatures, born of ignorance as much as animosity, have not disappeared in spite of the more congenial circumstances in which we now live.
Having written in the past about Christian misconceptions of Judaism, Fisher here turns his attention to Jewish misunderstandings of Christ, Christianity, and Jewish-Christian relations over the centuries. Noting that Catholic education about Jews has changed dramatically since the Second Vatican Council, he calls upon Jewish educators to improve education about Christianity. Because so little is taught about Christianity in Jewish schools, Fisher argues, "many Jews in this country gain what they think is an understanding of Christianity from the media or stories handed down from the shtetls."
Most directly pertinent to Garber's program is the third section of the book, "Teaching, Dialogue, Reclamation: Contemporary Views on the Jewish Jesus." Most interesting, from a Jewish point of view, are the essays of Steven Leonard Jacobs and Shaul Magid on recent Jewish efforts to bridge the gap with Christianity by recognizing Jesus as a legitimate and important Jewish figure. As Magid points out, such efforts began in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when liberal Jews sought common ground with liberal Protestants by holding up Jesus as a paradigm of Judaism's ethical tradition. Such an understanding made sense for Jewish reformers who identified with Jesus' critique of the orthodoxy of his time, and it was well suited to an American landscape dominated by liberal Protestants—particularly Unitarians—who viewed Jesus above all as a teacher of ethics.
In today's cultural milieu, in which even liberal Judaism is quite varied and evangelical Christianity is on the rise, some Jewish thinkers have sought instead to engage with the messianic and Christological elements of Jesus' figure. Yitz Greenberg, for example, has proposed viewing Jesus as a "failed messiah"—the term "failed" being used here not in a pejorative sense, but as an indication that Jesus' redemptive work is incomplete. According to this view, Jesus takes his place among many Jewish leaders who were not able to complete their missions, including Moses, Jeremiah, and Bar Kokhba, leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome in the second century C.E.
A similar perspective is offered by Byron Sherman, who identifies Jesus with the "Joseph messiah," a leader who, according to one Jewish tradition, is to arrive on earth before the final redemption by a messiah descended from King David. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Daniel Matt, taking a different approach, suggest that Jesus be viewed as a tzaddik, a righteous individual who, according to Hasidic tradition, embodies the divine. Much as Greenberg and Sherman accept Jesus as a messiah but not the messiah, Schachter-Shalomi and Matt accept the possibility that Jesus represented a type of divine incarnation without viewing his incarnation as the unique event of Christian doctrine.
It may certainly be argued that beliefs such as these are not beyond the pale of traditional rabbinic Judaism. Yet it is difficult to imagine that they will be widely accepted within the Jewish community any time soon, making them a questionable basis for genuine inter-communal dialogue. Moreover, as none of the Jewish thinkers cited in these essays accepts the core Christian doctrines of the resurrection and full divinity of Jesus, the gulf between mainstream Jewish and Christian views of Jesus remains quite wide.
This does not mean that genuine, respectful, and productive interfaith dialogue is an unattainable goal. On the contrary, the very concept of interfaith dialogue presupposes the existence of religious difference—often fundamental, irreconcilable difference—in the midst of which it is still often possible to find considerable common ground. For Christians, reflection on the Jewish identity of the incarnate Christ may serve as a foundation for dialogue with today's living Jewish community. For Jews, learning to understand and respect Christian views about Jesus—without necessarily accepting them—may be more fruitful than attempting to claim him as one of our own.
Eve Levavi Feinstein is a College Fellow in Harvard's department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.



Choice
June 2012

The Jewish Jesus: revelation, reflection, reclamation, ed. by Zev Garber.  Purdue, 2011.  405p bibl index ISBN 1557535795 pbk, $59.95; ISBN 9781557535795 pbk, $59.95. Reviewed in 2012jun CHOICE.
This excellent collection addresses what it means--both historically and theologically--to take seriously the Jewishness of Jesus. The first of three sections is largely devoted to sharply focused historical examinations of Jesus or classic texts. Bruce Chilton's "The Kabbalah of Rabbi Jesus" and James F. Moore's "The Amazing Mr. Jesus" open fresh perspectives on Jesus by considering him through the lenses of mysticism and midrashim, respectively. The second section explores the relation between Judaism and Christianity in broader, more thematic ways. The titles of fine essays by two veterans of Jewish-Christian scholarship in the section signal the breadth of topics considered: Richard Rubenstein's "What Was at Stake in the Parting of the Ways between Judaism and Christianity?" and Eugene Fisher's "Typical Jewish Misunderstandings of Christ, Christianity, and Jewish-Christian Relations over the Centuries." The final and most diverse section includes Michael Cook's telling critique of Jewish scholarship on Jesus and Shaul Magid's enlightening analysis of four contemporary Jewish thinkers' attempts to "reclaim" Jesus. These 6 essays, along with the 13 others in the collection, exhibit the continuing vitality of scholarship growing out of Jewish-Christian dialogue. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. -- S. Gowler, Berea College
   


Shofar ♦  An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Vo. 30, No. 3, 2012

Zev Garber, distinguished scholar of Judaica and editor of The Jewish Jesus, dedicates this volume to its “courageous and devoted” contributors: “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.”
This dedication helps us understand the primary aim of this volume, which is to show that Jesus was firmly rooted in his Jewish religious identity, that, as Garber claims,“he lived and died as a faithful Jew” (p. 1). This is a view shared not only by the nineteen contributors to this book who are at the fore- front of Jewish-Christian relations, but also by a growing number of religious authorities and scholars, including  even Pope Benedict XVI. In his recent book Jesus of Nazareth, the Pope states that “Jesus lived by the whole of the Law and the Prophets, as he constantly told his disciples” (p. 333). Pope Bene- dict’s affirmation of Jesus’ Jewish religious identity obviously is not intended to diminish Christian faith in Christ, and this is certainly not the intent of Garber and his book’s contributors who show us that Christians may affirm classical Christian dogmas about Christ while also acknowledging Jesus’ com- mitment to Judaism.Pope Benedict also says in Jesus of Nazareth that reading Rabbi Jacob Neusner’s book A Rabbi Talks with Jesus “has opened my eyes to the greatness of Jesus’ words” (p. 69). This statement reflects another of aim of The Jewish Jesus—to promote interfaith learning and mutual respect between and Jews. If the Pope’s appreciation of Jesus’ words can be enriched by read- ing a contemporary rabbi’s book, then surely other Christians can have their views of Jesus enhanced by reading Jewish authors. Garber wants to promote this type of interfaith learning. He trusts that when Christians and Jews learn from each other—particularly but not only about how Jesus was a faithful Jew—they are likely to see each other and each other’s religion in a new light and with greater appreciation.
For me, the essay “Before Whom Do We Stand?” by Henry Knight is a classic example of how Jewish-Christian dialogue can bring such a radical transformation. Knight details how his encounter with Zev Garber and other Jewish scholars and his study and friendship with Elie Wiesel have trans- formed his understanding of the Jewish tradition and his own Christian faith. In this essay, which is characterized by exceptional personal candor and in- tegrity, Knight states: “With each reading
Wiesel helps me see more—more about myself, more about the world in which we live, more about what happened during that night that was different than any other night and more about the people before whom I stand when I stand as a Christian before a Jew named Jesus” (pp. 323–324).
Jews and Christians, such as Garber and Knight, who have been deeply committed to the interfaith movement, are aware of the dramatic changes in the way many Christians view Judaism. The changes began in earnest with the Second Vatican Council’s extraordinary decree Nostra Aetate (1965), which affirmed that God’s covenant with the Jewish people was not revoked. In re- sponse to positive changes by Catholic and Protestant churches, in the year 2000 an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars issued “Dabru Emet [Speak the Truth]: A Jewish Statement  on Christians and Christianity,” which acknowledges that “Christians know and serve God
through Jesus Christ and the Christian tradition.” Yet, despite this positive reference to Jesus, even this ground-breaking statement offers no reflection on the significance of Jesus. This is consistent with the approach of Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century and a great friend of some of the major Christian thinkers of his time.At a conference at the Princeton Theological Seminary on October 28,1964, Heschel gave a talk on “The Humanity of Man” in which he said: “The question is often asked of me by Christians, what is your opinion about Jesus, about Christianity?” Here is his response: “Who am I to give an opinion about one of the sublime mysteries in history, about the relations between God and men? Am I to judge? It would be vulgar, if not blasphemous, for any mortal to sit in judgment about what is intimate and sacred to other human beings.”

In one respect, Garber seems to be following in Heschel’s footsteps when he states: “It is not the  role of the synagogue to judge whether Jesus the Jew metamorphosed into the Christ of faith or that Jesus and the Christ are one and the same individual. Rather, Jews must do their homework and cleanse the people of Israel of any conceived or perceived anti-Christian  bias. . . . In- deed, Christianity is a legitimate partner in tikkun ‘olam, endowing the world in peace, understanding,  and unity” (p. 7). Garber’s aim is to examine the his- torical Jesus, not to judge whether Jesus was divine. But insofar as Garber and the other Jewish contributors  to this volume engage on an examination of the historical Jesus, they do indeed part company with Heschel.
The Jewish Jesus is divided  under three headings: “Reflections on the Jew- ish Jesus,” “Responding to the Jewish Jesus,” and “ Teaching, Dialogue, Recla- mation: Contemporary Views on the Jewish Jesus.” The book was especially conceived for classroom use. At the end of each essay there are questions that will guide the reader to its core ideas to encourage discussion. A number of the contributors, including Stephen Leonard Jacobs, James F. Moore, Henry F. Knight,  and Zev Garber, have been engaged in studying Jewish and Christian texts together for the last
eighteen years. During that time they have developed good intellectual and spiritual rela...

About this edition

• Publisher: Purdue University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1557535795
• ISBN 13: 9781557535795
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 405
• Editor: Garber Zev