The Gospel According to The Jews - Paperback

by Jose Faur (Author)

At the end of the Foreword to his Jesus as Others Saw Him, Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) made the essential point that, "It is only by knowing exactly where we [Jews and Christians] differ that we can hope ultimately to agree." In order to fully appreciate the differences between Christianity and Judaism it is imperative that, just like Christians present their view on Judaism, Jews present their view on Christianity as well. Due to nearly two millennia of persecution, Jews had never been given the opportunity to share with the world their own version of the Christian Gospel. Modern times offer the Jew an exceptional window of opportunity to present the Jewish view on the life and death of Jesus as registered by Jews who knew him and his followers in the land of Israel. The purpose of this work is to explore and further articulate this view. In The Gospel According to The Jews, José Faur develops the history of Jesus on the basis of Talmudic and Rabbinic sources and by reading the Christian Scripture critically. Surprisingly, both the Jewish and Christian sources coincide, providing that one dares read the texts analytically-that is, like a Talmudist.

Author Biography

JOSÉ FAUR is Professor Emeritus at the Law School, Netanya College, Netanya, Israel where he taught since 1996. He obtained his Ph.D. in Semitic Philology at the University of Barcelona in 1964. He taught at the JTS and Bar-Ilan University and published numerous articles in Hebrew, Spanish, French, Italian and English. Previous publications include: Studies in the Mishne Tora (Heb.) (Mossad Harav Kook, 1978); Golden Doves with Silver Dots: Semiotics and Textuality in Rabbinic Tradition (Indiana UP, 1986); In the Shadow of History: Jews and Conversos at the Dawn of Modernity (SUNY, 1992); Homo Mysticus: A Guide to Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed (Syracuse UP, 1998); The Horizontal Society: Understanding the Covenant and Alphabetic Judaism (Academic Studies Press, 2002).