Rabbi Talks with Jesus, A

". . . For the Rabbi, argument with another person is the highest form of respect you can pay to him. So the Rabbi argues with Jesus because he respects him so much and he argues about what is important: the apparent conflict between the words of Jesus and the Torah".--Andrew M. Greeley. "By far the most important book for the Jewish-Christian dialogue to have been published in the last decade".--Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

In a highly challenging, contentious exegesis that is almost certain to provoke interfaith dialogue, an eminent scholar of Judaism explains why, if he had lived in Israel in the first century, he would have refused to join Jesus and his circle of disciples. Neusner, whose books include Jews and Christians and (with Andrew M. Greeley) The Bible and Us , argues that the Jesus of the Gospel of St. Matthew called into question the primacy of the family and violated the sanctity of the Sabbath. Casting himself as a local rabbi in biblical times, Neusner engages in an imaginary dialogue with Jesus, a Jew who explicitly claimed that he came to fulfill the Torah, not to destroy it. To Neusner, Jesus's message, summed up as "leave home, follow me," shortchanged the priorities of home, family, community and the social order that the Torah had commanded Israel to bring into being. Neusner's earnest polemic will compel both Jews and Christians to look more deeply at the sources of their faith.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here Neusner, a distinguished theologian and author of more than 400 books on Judaism, conducts an imaginary dialog with Jesus (as portrayed in the Gospel according to Matthew): "In this book I explain in a very straightforward and unapologetic way why, if I had been in the Land of Israel in the first century, I would not have joined the circle of Jesus' disciples." Although the dialog is somewhat one-sided at times, understandably enough, a number of doctrinally valid and insightful points arise, and Neusner effectively sheds light on the question, "Why, while Christians believe in Jesus Christ and the good news of his rule in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jews believe in the Torah of Moses and form on earth and in their own flesh God's kingdom of priests and holy people?" A lively and intriguing work that should interest, enlighten, and challenge thoughtful readers of both faiths. Highly recommended.
- Marcia Welsh, Guilford Free Lib., Ct.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.